Monday, March 9, 2020

X THE UNKNOWN 1956 (SHOUT FACTORY) BLU-RAY

I have waited for this title to be released on Blu-ray for a long time, and that time finally arrived.

This classic Hammer film stars Dean Jagger as Prof. Royston, a scientist who works with atomic radiation. After several soldiers are burned by a mysterious radiation that has emerged out of a strange fissure in the Earth he is called in to investigate.

There are several more people killed by burns and then there are several break-ins where large quantities of radioactive materials are stolen. Both the police and the Scottish Government are puzzled by the killings, until the cause of it all shows itself.

The creature is a mud-like substance that is actually a living creature from the bowels of the Earth that has slowly growing and is now seeking food above ground. A Government investigator named McGill (Leo McKern) aids Royston in trying to kill the monster.

This is a top notch story written by Jimmy Sangster and directed by Leslie Norman. The story flows perfectly and never slows down for a moment. Jagger and McGill play off of each other perfectly and the rest of the cast includes Edward Chapman, Anthony Newley and Michael Ripper. All do a great job in their respective roles.

This movie has never been available on DVD before and it is a sheer joy to see this finally arriving via Shout Factory. The picture looks very good and the disc also includes the original trailer, the World Of Hammer episode entitled "Sci-Fi" and a brand new documentary called "The Men Who Made Hammer" and this one is about Jimmy Sangster.

This is a great addition to any horror Blu-ray collection and if you like good sci-fi this is for you. Also I would recommend this for fans of the Hammer Quatermass series as the film is very reminiscent of "The Quatermass Xperiment" in many ways.

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