La Fusée de l'épouvante

Out of the fifties 'B' Science-Fiction monster movies, this easily ranks as the best. It's most notable as the film that ALIEN is an unaccredited remake of, thus giving it a certain historical significance.

The intriguing plot is about the rescue of the only marooned survivor (Col. Carruthers) of an ill-fated expedition to Mars. The authorities, pig-headed as usual, falsely assume that he murdered his fellow crew members, so that he'd have more provisions to survive; hence he is being brought back to Earth to face court-martial for murder. (There is also a somewhat interesting plot reversal here: Most movies of this nature usually begin with the ship leaving Earth, enroute to its otherworld destination, while, in this case, the "story" is believed finished, and begins as the characters take-off from the other planet, returning to Earth). As the rescue ship is leaving Mars, a lurking, ominous shadow is seen in the lower compartment. (A frightening, atmospheric moment, accomplished through sheer economy and simplicity).

Carruthers insists of his innocence to his fellow captors, claiming that his original crew mates were slaughtered by a hostile, unseen presence on the desolute red planet, but three-guesses as to their reaction to his unusual plea. Naturally, he can't prove it, and 50's space authorities were not very alien conscience at the time. (As a side-thought, "unseen menace" may remind you of that highly "original" BLAIR WITCH).

As everyone sacks out, a hapless supporting charactor whose name is at the bottom of the casting list (guess what will happen to him?) hears something in the lower compartment. Despite your futile "don't go down there, you jerk!" pleas, he does just that, and is appropriately killed (more like thoroughly obliterated) by the shadowy figure with insatiable blood lust on its mind. In the victim's case, dereliction of duty and sheer cowardliness would have been the wise decision. The scene is actually well-directed (for a change) and develops much suspense, as the entire film surprisingly does.

The crew finally catches on that they have an unwanted ship crasher on board, and try every possible means at their disposal to eliminate it, but the unknown creature seems to copping an anti-death attitude. Proving to be an even more clever, worthy adversary, 'IT!' also hides out in the ventilation shafts of the ship (now that should ring a bell). Cahn's forceful direction generates considerable tension as the malevolent stowaway works its way up from one level of the confined ship to the next, eventually leaving the remaining characters trapped at the top. The movie's suspense is blunt and right to the point: "IT!' has to kill them or starve, hence they have to kill "IT!" or die. Nothing like those "no two ways about it" choices. Rent it, or check for it on cable if you wish to know the outcome.

For a low-budget quickie, IT! is quite impressive and memorable. The dreaded sense of claustrophobic tension, rendering the characters' helpless entrapment, is highly effective. This is a production in which the limited budget and small sets actually work in favor of the plot's scary ambience. The black & white photography (Yes, it's one of those!) helps to enhance its dark, creepy mood, and the sense of apprehension is quite high. (Modern day color freaks never seem to take that into consideration). The plot is also somewhat cynically ironic: If the creature hadn't stowed away on the ship, Carruthers would have most likely been found guilty of the charges against him.

The intelligent script (see what I mean about "rareity") was penned by noted Science-Fiction author Jerome Bixby (remember Twilight Zone's "It's a Good Life")? The picture's taut editing eliminates any extraneous dross. (ALIEN tended to drag in its first hour with its sophomoric dialogue, and why did it have to include that stupid and ultimately counter-productive sub-plot of Ash being a robot, and further dragging the story down to another big bad conspiracy cliche? UNNECESSARY!!!)

Director Cahn astutely keeps the rubber-suited monster off-screen and in the shadows through-out most of the proceedings, keeping your paranoid imagination on constant alert. Unfortunately, perhaps at the studio's commercial insistance, it is a little over-revealed at the climax, but I haven't claimed this to be the perfect masterpiece. The performances, though nothing award-winning, are nevertheless cool enough so that one becomes sincerely concerned as to their fates. Not many movies in recent times ever come close to achieving that. They can be over-produced from here to eternity, and usually only succeed in being gloriously annoying.

This film's story is not really totally original (what is?), for it is based on A.E. Van Vogt's "VOYAGE OF THE SPACE BEAGLE." All ALIEN fanatics should track down an old used copy to see where the initial influence came from.

As long as you're not craving another CGI wind-ding, you may find it worthwhile. Just don't expect the women to be Ripley precursors. This was still the sock-knitting fifties, sad to say.

This is one of the many early sci-fi movies released in the 1950s. Standard for these types of B-Pictures was to put more drama and excitement in the film, than real science. Few directors during that day and age ever sought good solid factual science facts, instead they wanted good old fashion monster vs Earthling type action. They were hooky and poorly made, but without knowing it, they created the nightmare memories of our youthful dreams. As a result, they gave audiences what they sought, trills and cheap entertainment. The story in this film is the foundation of modern films like 'Alien' and for its day had formulas which worked. Marshall Thompson plays Col. Ed Carruthers and Ray "Crash" Corrigan, the stunt man for many other films, plays the Space Monster called " It ." Dabbs Greer plays Eric Royce. Although it is an early sci-fi movie, when seen through the sleepy eyes of a youngster, at the Drive-In theaters of the day, it's nothing less than a Classic. Fun for anyone with a yearning to be frightened by a space monster. ****

When one watches a 50's space movie, it's very easy to make fun of how outdated they are. Of course, now that we know how to travel to space it is easy to say it, but in those movies, they had to imagine how would it be to do that. It's unfair to judge them with the knowledge we have now.

With that said, I think that "It! The Terror from Beyond Space" is one of the best 50's space horror b-movies that was done in those long lost years. Sure, under our conception of sci-fi the movie is seriously outdated, but judging it in its time frame, it was a very good movie in its day.

The story is as follows: In 1973, the first mission to Mars failed, so another spaceship was sent to rescue the crew . Only Col. Edward Carruthers is found alive, and thus is the only suspect of the murders of the rest of his crew. But Carruthers claims that he was not the killer, something else did, and now it is inside their ship.

Suspense and mystery are handled very well in this movie, with a script that later was used as inspiration for the highly influential "Alien" more than 20 years later. Sci-fi writer Jerome Bixby creates a very well thought plot that, while it has typical 50s odd one-liners, it still moves straight-forward and both the plot and the characters are developed to a good level.

Certainly, the acting is not the best, and maybe this is were the film lacks quality. Nevertheless, Marshall Thompson as Col. Carruthers, carries the film with grace as the main suspect of the killings.

The SFX are of mediocre quality even for its age, nevertheless, director Edward L. Cahn does the intelligent thing and keeps the creature in the darkness, making the menace of what lurks in the shadows a more powerful presence. Black and White photography helps with the task, and gives the film a noir beautiful look that in color would not had worked that good.

To summarize, it is a very outdated film, but if you want to know how were space horrors in the years before Apollo 11, you will be surprised at how good it is. Also, this film is a MUST see for fans of the "Alien" series. Among the best 50s B-movies. 6/10

When I first saw this film on late night TV, I was hypnotized by its atmosphere and clean, deceptive surfaces. There was a lot of light and shade and the monster was kept off-screen for as long as possible. The claustrophobia of the situation eventually got to me and I didn't survive my first screening. When the film screened again, I survived it, and I enjoyed the suspense. I liked the monster, too, because at seven year's old, I was oblivious to the zipper up the back.

Even now, I still like "It The Terror From Beyond Space". Clearly, along with van Vogt's 'Voyage of the Space Beagle' (a great novel from a great novelist) and Bava's "Planet of the Vampires", these three works were the inspiration for "Alien". The architecture of "It" clearly wasn't an inspiration for Scott's film, so Scott went and dirtied his ship up instead. And I'd hazard a guess that Bava's footage of the astronauts on the vampire planet is what caught Ridley's attention.

The plot of "It" is akin to "Alien" and so are some of the set-ups. The claustrophobic environment in "It" is still impressive, as is the spare sound design and use of simple sonics.

"It" moves along briskly and features some exciting action sequences as the spaceship's crew members are stalked by the marauding extraterrestrial.

Low budget, sure, but a high concept skilfully realized.

Most folks who've watched this and Alien see the obvious similarities. In fact, Alien is what we all kind of imagined as kids watching this film and seeing it with the non-critical eyes of youth.

Regardless, this is a top drawer B movie effort that rises far above its limitations with solid acting, a fine story, eerie and claustrophobic settings with effective lighting, a quick pace and no lag-time.

If you haven't seen it, get the MGM Midnight Movie DVD double with Monster that Challenged the World, another superb B Movie sci-fi thriller that is as good as this one, and has an insect-like monster that you might recognize as the forerunner of the giant bug of Men in Black.