It! The Terror from Beyond Space

When one watches a 50's space movie, it's very easy to make fun of how outdated they are.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 Sure, under our conception of sci-fi the movie is seriously outdated, but judging it in its time frame, it was a very good movie in its day.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To summarize, it is a very outdated film, but if you want to know how were space horrors in the years before Apollo 11, you will be surprised at how good it is.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

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.

If you'rr a ten year old kid home alone at about one in the morning in a creaky old house in the early sixties, this movie is actually pretty scary. The scenes where the monster keeps his just barely alive victims in the air vents (and actually drags one of them around with him) for who knows what reason are chillingly eery (or eeringly chilly). Good film for nostalgia fans.

I haven't seen this movie in 46 years, but the thing I remember about it is the fact that I was so terrified watching it, at nine years of age at the Lincoln Theatre in Kearny, NJ, that I had to leave before it ended. I didn't sleep well for many nights after that.

There was a scene I remember where a crew member opened an air duct access hatch (or what, as I recall now, looked like one), and a hand fell down in front of him, obviously belonging to a dead colleague of his. The creature had stuffed the body in the ductwork. That was all I could take. I threw my comic book (I always bought one for 10 cents on my way to the movies on Saturday afternoons. My mom would give me 35 cents, 10 for the comic and a quarter for the double feature with cartoons in between) up in front of my face so I couldn't see, and ran up the center aisle, out the doors, and away from that horror. I saw just about every monster/horror/sci-fi movie made in the 1950's on one or another of those wonderful Saturdays at the Lincoln Theatre, and the only other one that made me run out was House on Haunted Hill.

What I wouldn't give for another chance to see two movies and three cartoons for a quarter, through the unjaded eyes of a nine-year old boy, still able to be scared out of my wits by a guy in a rubber suit.

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. ****