Quatermass and the Pit (Five Million Years to Earth)(The Mind Benders) poster & wallpaper
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James Donald, Andrew Keir, Barbara Shelley, Julian Glover, Maurice Good ... see more see more... , Bryan Marshall , James Culliford , Duncan Lamont , Peter Copley , Bee Duffell , June C. Ellis , Hugh Futcher , Thomas Heathcote , Noel Howlett , Charles Lamb , Cec Linder , Hugh Manning , Keith Marsh , André Morell , Hugh Morton , Michael Ripper , Sheila Steafel , Grant Taylor , Anthony Bushell , Robert Morris , Brian Peck , Edwin Richfield , Roger Avon , John Graham

Nigel Kneale's Quatermass TV series spawned a brief film series produced over an eleven-year period; 1967's Quatermass and the Pit, released in the US as Five Million Years to Earth, was the third and... read more read more... (until 1979's Quatermass Conclusion) last of the features. As with previous chapters in the Kneale saga, the film begins with a baffling scientific discovery. This time it's an alien ship, alive after 5,000,000 years, discovered during the excavation of a new subway line. The craft is able to cause psychic disturbances in individuals genetically connected to the machine; it also prompts them to see dead Martians as ghostly entitites nearby. In time, conclusions drawn from these events lead scientists to shocking conclusions about the origins of the human race. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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73% liked it

3,120 ratings

Critics

75% liked it

8 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 38 min.

Directed by: Roy Ward Baker

Release Date: January 1, 1967

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DVD Release Date: October 20, 1998

Stats: 224 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (224)

  • rubystevens
    October 22, 2010
    rubystevens
    the film i set out to watch was called five million years to earth and i was pleasantly surprised to discover that this was actually the famous quartermass and the pit of which i've been hearing for so many years. i know, i'm silly :p the effects look dated and somewhat cheesy ... read morebut the premise is frankly brilliant and quite bleak. it's too bad hammer didn't have a bit more cash to put into this one. i didn't realize that quartermass had a whole series of films either. he was like an early x-files investigator and even had a beautiful lady scientist helping him out here. good stuff
  • 366weirdmovies
    September 29, 2009
    366weirdmovies
    A mystery arises when skeletons and a capsule made of almost indestructible metal are discovered in a subway excavation. Talky, sometimes intriguing horror masquerading as science fiction, with a memorably apocalyptic conclusion.
  • webalina
    August 25, 2007
    webalina
    What a great movie! Scary sci-fi with a conscience.
  • DrLappos
    April 27, 2009
    DrLappos
    I loved these films and saw every one at an early age. They were so disturbing as a boy...brilliant.
  • alanjayh
    October 22, 2008
    alanjayh
    An intellectual and deep sci-fi offering, this movie moves at a slower pace, building plot and theory, but ends fairly abruptly and disappointedly so because of the meticulous build-up....good acting and so-so effects, this movie will make you think more than entertain you..
  • swayland7
    November 29, 2011
    swayland7
    Quatermass and the Pit (1967) -- [4.5] -- I usually enjoy Hammer Films, but this one nearly put me to sleep. There's some payoff, and a nice bleak ending, but before that point it's just 70 minutes of British people standing around looking puzzled. And isn't it funny how space al... read moreiens in the '60s always look like insects?
  • KassandraVictoriaOrgasm
    June 8, 2011
    KassandraVictoriaOrgasm
    A Martian spaceship is unearthed at the "Hobes End" (think "In The Mouth Of Madness) subway station in London. Highly imaginative and memorably well done.
  • jam233
    July 27, 2009
    jam233
    Very imaginative and intriguing British sci-fi movie, very well done with a great cast, good screenplay and a fascinating premise.
  • capkronos
    October 4, 2007
    capkronos
    Workers at the Hobb's End Underground Transport unearth skeletal remains that seem to date back five-million years. They also hit a strange non-metallic plate that ends up being part of an alien spacecraft. Perplexed by the substance, which is harder than diamond and resistant to... read more the 3000 degree flames from a blow-torch, some conflicting experts are called in to investigate. Derelict apartments across the street from the excavation site have strange claw marks on the walls. A hidden compartment on the ship also houses some dead, medium-sized, horned, green, insect-like creatures. But it's really the ship itself that poses the strongest threat. And what is lying dormant in all of our minds. The military, of course, continually butt heads with the scientists and call the whole discovery a hoax (a "German propaganda item" from World War II).

    But Professor Bernard Quatermass (Andrew Keir) thinks otherwise and proposes a theory that offends just about everyone involved; managing to question both creationism and evolution. Quatermass comes to the conclusion that millions of years ago, aliens landed on Earth, removed primitive apes and took them back to their home planet (which may have been Mars) for experimentation. They continued to do so, each time making them more intelligent until man was eventually born? He could be right, but not necessarily. The government definitely is on the wrong track and open up the site to the general public. The dormant evil is unleashed and those exposed to it become mindless and violent. Buildings collapse, fires start, citizens go on a rampage and London will eventually be completely leveled if Quatermass and chief archaeologist Dr. Roney (James Donald) can't stop it. Barbara Shelley co-stars as Barbara Judd, an assistant who has visions of an alien colony and becomes possessed, eventually getting socked in the face by Quatermass himself! Julian Glover is the close-minded militarist who's fried into crispy critter.

    All four of the principal actors are excellent in this intelligent, thoughtful, sometimes humorous and multi-layered science-fiction film, which raises an impressive number of interesting questions.
  • tk7and7is
    June 25, 2006
    tk7and7is
    If there is a God in heaven, this intelligent, scary, nigh-perfect Brit sci-fi'er will become available again.

View All Quatermass and the Pit (Five Million Years to Earth)(The Mind Benders) Reviews

Critic Reviews

Variety Staff
May 14, 2008
Variety Staff, Variety

Routine, somewhat distended development blunts impact of this British-made programmer. Full Review

Renata Adler
May 21, 2005
Renata Adler, New York Times

All of its pseudo-scientific talk seemed to short-circuit the audience's interest -- in it and in themselves. Full Review

May 14, 2008
TV Guide's Movie Guide

The third and best of the Quatermass films. Full Review

May 14, 2008
Film4

One of the high points of Hammer's film production, and a worthy addition to the cannon of films and TV realisations of the products of Nigel Kneale's probing, prescient imagination. Full Review

June 24, 2006
Time Out

The brilliant pre-Von Daniken anthropological theme of Kneale's script still guarantees interest. Full Review

James Rocchi
November 7, 2002
James Rocchi, Netflix

This is a movie with, to be blunt, a twenty-dollar budget -- but billion-dollar ideas. Full Review

Ken Hanke
August 7, 2002
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Methodical in its pacing, building a level of dread with a payoff that fully justifies that atmosphere. Full Review

Andy Klein
April 7, 2005
Andy Klein, Los Angeles CityBeat

No review available.

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