Quatermass 2

Hundreds of meteorites land in the area, drawing Professor Bernard Quatermass into a quest for government support for a lunar colony. He sends Marsh to assess the site and gauge potential threats to his project. The meteorites hint at something larger than a natural phenomenon.

They discover a huge domed complex under construction, clearly tied to the meteorite activity. The layout mirrors plans for a lunar colony, suggesting a hidden purpose behind the project. The discovery confirms Quatermass’s suspicion that something secret and ambitious is taking shape.

Marsh finds an undamaged meteorite shaped like a small rocket. When it cracks open, it releases a gas that leaves him with a strange V-shaped mark on his face. The mark signals a deeper connection between the meteorites and the facility's true function.

Uniform-clad guards arrive at the site, armed and bearing similar V-shaped marks. They arrest Marsh, knock Quatermass aside, and force the professor to retreat from the area. The encounter reveals a tightly controlled operation with a mysterious, possibly hostile agenda.

Quatermass contacts Inspector Lomax, who aided him in a prior case, to uncover the truth behind Winnerden Flats. Lomax connects him with Vincent Broadhead, a member of Parliament pressing to expose the veil of secrecy. Together they begin piecing together why the facility operates with such secrecy.

Broadhead accompanies Quatermass on an official tour of the domed facility, which is described as a plant for synthetic food. The scale and secrecy of the operation hint at a much more disturbing purpose. The atmosphere suggests a deliberate ambivalence between public explanation and private reality.

Broadhead slips away from the party and secretly enters one of the domes. He is later found dying, covered in a corrosive slime, warning that something inside the dome must be discovered. His death deepens the sense that aliens have infiltrated the human system.

Quatermass and Lomax realize the complex is breeding and housing alien life. They notice guards and even the police commissioner show the same V-shaped marks, revealing the aliens' manipulation of key figures. The investigators resolve to expose the truth despite official resistance.

Quatermass and Lomax recruit journalist Jimmy Hall, who is initially skeptical but agrees to witness Winnerden Flats. They face hostility at the local community centre where locals are kept uninformed. A meteorite crashes through the roof, injuring barmaid Sheila, and armed guards shoot Hall, sparking a melee and a growing mob.

The villagers and the investigators barricade themselves inside the pressure control room within the complex. A chaotic melee ensues as guards attempt to reclaim control and suppress the uprising. This siege marks the turning point where the human resistance confronts the alien-driven operation.

Quatermass sabotages the plant's life-support system, enabling only pure oxygen to flow into the domes. The alien creatures inside are unable to survive Earth’s atmosphere and begin to die. The act is a decisive step toward ending the invaders' control.

Brand, Quatermass's assistant at the rocket complex, is killed by invading guards, but before dying, he launches an atomic rocket toward the near-Earth asteroid believed to be the alien staging point. The plan aims to destroy the extraterrestrial base from space.

The individual aliens combine into a 150-foot-tall mass that bursts from the domes, threatening to overwhelm the village. The rocket detonates, destroying the asteroid and the alien base. With the base exposed to Earth's atmosphere, the giant masses collapse and die, and the humans regain their memories.

As the alien threat ends, the V-shaped marks disappear from the affected humans and their memories of being controlled by aliens fade. The town returns to normal, though the experience leaves a lingering doubt about what happened.

With the immediate danger gone, Lomax contemplates how to present a believable final report. Quatermass questions how final that report can be, hinting at the ongoing mystery and the cost of uncovering alien manipulation within society.