It!

Herbert Leder's IT!, or CURSE OF THE GREAT GOLEM (the name the film really should have had) is one of the most bizarre and eclectic little monster movies ever made. It's a misunderstood or better yet misguided little project that had really good intentions, a decent cast, a respectable mid-line budget, some decent writing, but ultimately falls a little flat. My association with the film and enthusiasm for it is nostalgic: This used to play on our Monster Movie Matinée and Eivom weekend afternoon/evening local film slots. At the age of 11 or so I thought it was one of the coolest movies ever made ... my more mature mindset sees it's flaws but still loves every stupid, stiff, very British minute of it.

Roddy McDowall plays a very strange young man named Pimm who works for a respectable British antiquities museum and happens upon a statue slated for display there which may or may not be one of the last of the Golems -- clay juggernauts of destruction made by Hebrew alchemist/artist mystics to protect their people from outside oppression. They are infinitely strong, completely indestructible, and have absolutely no will of their own. The problem is that such power corrupts humans infinitely as well, and once you get started on being the most powerful 24 year old nebbish on the planet it's hard to make yourself -- and It -- stop. Especially when you can't get rid of the damn thing. The film is broken up into three stages: Part one involves a series of strange unexplained deaths in and around the museum that McDowall rather slowly realizes must be the work of the Golem. Part two involves his quest to learn how the thing works and his rapid descent into near madness after he learns the secret. And part three involves his ultimately futile attempts to get rid of the thing as it ruins his life, rampages across the countryside, drives him completely insane, and finally walks off into the ocean after the British Army tries to blow it up with an atom bomb. Presumably it is still wandering around down there somewhere.

Along the way we meet various people who touch on Pimm's life, most notably his stuffy museum curator bosses, the pretty daughter of one of them (Jill Haworth), a couple of British police inspectors (one of them cult horror legend Ian McCulloch), and a visiting expert professor on Golemology from America. We also get to meet Pimm's mother, who is dead, and her partially embalmed body is Pym's partner in life. He "borrows" rare jewels from the museum for her to wear, fixes her tea and after dinner toddies while he talks with her about the day's events, and introduces her to others with a kind of blasé offhandedness that suggests we are getting it wrong by reacting with horror to the corpse. The scene where Pimm, the Golem and his mother terrify a museum matron is the best laugh in the movie. All the while the power of the Golem is getting under his skin, leading to the film's finest scene where he asks a Hebrew scholar to translate a script that had been etched into the Golem's side. The subsequent scenes of destruction as the Golem runs rampant pale to the chills sent down the spine by the old man's solemn intonation.

Another great scene is when Pimm loses control of a situation and orders the Golem to commit murder for him, and it is at that point that the narrative begins to spiral out of control. We see a few scenes of carnage but for the most part the film is McDowall's, and fortunately even in 1966 he was a good enough actor to more or less carry the project. His Pimm has an odd ambiguity about him that is certainly "evil", yet sympathetic in the way that is very reminiscent of Anthony Perkins' PSYCHO character. We actually feel suspense hoping he will not get caught and perhaps figure out a way to free himself from the curse of the Golem, but alas he torches an elderly librarian, barricades himself in a secluded manor, and pouts like a spoiled brat when Jill Haworth tells him he is about to be blown up with an atom bomb.

All this is a good premise, but aside from a single incident when Pym looks at the Golem's arm's to see them bent, looks back up in astonishment at it's face, then back down at the arms to see them straightened, then back again to gawk at the stone face, the film lacks any kind of artfulness, existing more as an act of "craft". At one point Pym even tries to light the thing on fire by spilling fuel oil all over it and the director allowed him to shake the can and snarl "This will finish you ..." like he was Daffy Duck. One other problem the film has it is that it was made at the wrong time: By 1966 London was going "mod" and this film is about as square as they come. Hammer Films was making big waves with their Gothic shockers and a stiff, somewhat talky movie about a giant walking slab of clay didn't have much resonance compared to Christopher Lee in his Dracula cape. IT! was more or less forgotten except as off-hour TV viewing for 11 year old boys who would think it was the coolest thing ever made, perhaps.

7/10 nonetheless: Deserves a restoration for DVD where IT! could prove to be a cult hit of some magnitude ... and if anyone ever is of the mind to put one together, give me a call.

When a museum warehouse burns down, the only item left intact is a stone statue from Czechoslovakia.

However, when the museum curator and his assistant go to inspect it...the curator winds up being killed.

His assistant is a bizarre young man, who lives with his mother's desiccated corpse.

And he steals jewels, in order to deck her out.

After the death of his boss, he gets excited, because he feels that he should be next in line for the job.

But the owner of the museum goes over his head, and hires an outsider...who's a bit of a fascist...to take his place.

That's when he discovers the mysterious powers possessed by this equally mysterious statue.

And it's ability to kill...

Because it turns out that it is a Jewish Golem from 1550...the oldest known of it's kind.

And, as the centuries have past...it has only become more impossible to destroy.

All you need to get it to do your bidding is a magic scroll.

And a few deaths later...he finds this scroll, for himself.

Now he holds unfathomable power in his hands.

But will all this power go to his head?

First things first, he uses it to take out his new boss, so as to implant himself as the new curator.

He's been trying to woo his old boss's beautiful daughter...and get he and his mother a new house.

So he seeks to exploit the Golem's power to achieve these ends.

A fellow curator from an American museum tries to warn him that using the abilities of the Golem for selfish reasons, could cause it to go rogue.

But is it already too late?

Has he lost control of this supposedly mindless killer?

He's certainly lost control of his own ego, anyways.

Now, the only way to stop them...is for the military to intervene.

Ultimattely leading to the film's explosive conclusion...

Produced by Britain's 7 Arts, the film is shot in the style of a Hammer Horror film.

And considering such, it has really beautiful colour and mise en scene.

It's biggest flaw is it's attempt to spin in the bizarre psychology of the main character, which seems a bit forced...even unnecessary.

And the ending is also a bit rushed.

That being said...the story really is quite entertaining.

6 out of 10.

I saw this film in the theater when It came out when I was 11 years old. I'm surprised how much I remember of It after viewing It over 40 years later. The basic premise is if a Norman Bates type character(Roddy Mcdowall) had a Golem to do his bidding. It scared me in 1966 and its great fun to see again. The Golem reminds me of the tree creature in "From Hell It Came", great Saturday matinée movie fun. Roddy McDowall is always fun to watch and would have made a passable Norman Bates. His character in It, Arthur Pimm , Is sometimes crazed, sometimes remorseful, sometimes sad and definitely quite madly insane. The writer/director was also responsible for penning the "Fiend Without A Face", which still holds up as one of the most frightening movies of the 50's.

Disturbed museum curator is haunted by a hideous hulking stone statue, but when he discovers the power to control the indestructible thing he seeks out harsh vengeance.

Well-made British horror film is an engaging and unique treat for those that enjoy clever and untraditional genre films. The story is solidly engulfing and nicely paced, pulling the viewer into the mystery of the Golem statue and its deranged master. The late great Roddy McDowall does a splendid performance, as usual, as our lead who's on the verge of madness. The supporting cast isn't half bad either, though they admittedly pale compared to McDowell. The other big star of this film is the Golem statue itself. The makeup work on the imposing statue is quite good and the image of that statue is something that's stayed with me for over 10 years.

All around, a solid genre film that's definitely worth tracking down for both fans of British horror and fans of McDowell.

*** out of ****

'It!' AKA 'Curse of the Golem' (1967).

Been many years since I've seen this one - had a chance to see it again recently. It is an odd film, something a bit different from the normal horror films.

The first of the film is how the statue came in to the hands of Arthur Pimm (McDowall) and the museum he works for, then comes some history on the statue of the golem, and after about 40 minutes you will watch Arthur (Roddy McDowall) go mad with power for he controls the golem. But how can the golem be destroyed?

Not a bad film - it's quite fun! BTW it's Roddy McDowall's performance that makes this film good.

7/10