Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyable movie
Review: If, after you view this movie, the story seems oddly familiar, you must have seen "Alien" (or Alien 2 or Alien 3). I don't know how Alien didn't get sued for copyright infringement from the producers of this movie. It's the same story, even the way they dispose of "It". A spaceship inadvertently picks up an unwelcome visitor from another planet that seems to survive and thrive on Human Blood. The visitor slowly and efficiently picks off the crew one by one and each attack seems to be more gruesome than the one before. The crew pits itself against this beast and finally disposes of it. I personally liked Alien, but to me this original version was a much better movie. I like the old Sci Fi stories better than the remakes. They films from the 50s don't rely on special effects and "realism" to scare you, they do it the old fashioned way (the Alfred Hitchcock way) by suspense. This movie is very suspense filled. That it is filmed in black and white only adds to that suspense. The acting isn't academy award quality and the special effects and costumes won't win awards either, but the story is excellent and it is scary in a fun sort of way. The movie is entertaining to watch. It's amazing how all the good Sci Fi movies from the 50's seem to get remade. "The Thing", "Invaders from Mars", "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", "The Blob", "The Fly", "Godzilla" "War of the Worlds" (that remake was "Independence Day" - it even took a computer "virus" to stop the alien invasion in this War of the Worlds remake) etc. etc. etc. And it's also amazing how all the remakes (although technically superior) fall short of the original versions for fun and excitement. (I apologize for waxing nostalgic). Do yourself a favor and rent or buy this movie for an entertaining evening. You won't be disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: A treasure from the 1950's..the original Alien movie
Review: It has been more than 30 years since I last saw this classic, but the impact of this sci-fi film changed the way I view movies. I can plainly remember being on the edge of my seat and genuinely felt as though the characters were in deep jepardy. I'll never forget the scene when the crewman sticks the blow torch into the aliens face to hold off an attack. It scared the be&*^%%$$ out of me. When I first saw 'Alien' I made the connection between the two movies right away and told several others about the 'original alien' movie most of whom had never heard of it. I wish it were still in print because this is a classic worth owning, a real treasure from the 1950's.
Rating:
Summary: The best sci-fi of its time:
Review: It the terror from beyond space is probily the best true monster movie I ever saw. The last ime I saw it on tv was about twenty years ago. I now saw it in vidio. The movie is so intenceit will keep you from getting up and leaving the room. The only snag is there are to many captions on board. Marshall Thompson is good.Ray Corrigan is exellent! I would recomend to all sci-fi fans young and old to by the movie becouse you could watch over and over again and it is still scary. Just a great movie From the Renegade
Rating:
Summary: Beyond 'Its' Space and Time
Review: It was the summer of 1959. Every Wednesday night, the local drive-in charged $1.00 per carload for a double-feature of horror films. None of those dozens of old movies stand out in my mind so much as "It! The Terror From Beyond Space". And I was not the only one so impacted -- for those of us crowded into the back seat of Mom's Studebaker that night, it became the film by which we judged all others of that genre from then on.I was ecstatic when I found it available on VHS years ago -- and not one bit disappointed, either. I hadn't been mistaken; I really had remembered the picture hanging in the office of the space agency director. Just as with several other items unique to the film (women scientists - 2 of them!), I had never even forgotten the last line in the movie. And seeing it again after 40+ years still was (I feel silly admitting this) a bit scary. Although a black-and-white film, it managed to convey the same thrills as the special-effects-assisted "Aliens", and that says some very impressive things about the creative artistry of the folks who made "It! The Terror From Beyond Space". I'm going to go and watch it again right now!...
Rating:
Summary: Beyond 'Its' Space and Time
Review: It was the summer of 1959. Every Wednesday night, the local drive-in charged $1.00 per carload for a double-feature of horror films. None of those dozens of old movies stand out in my mind so much as "It! The Terror From Beyond Space". And I was not the only one so impacted -- for those of us crowded into the back seat of Mom's Studebaker that night, it became the film by which we judged all others of that genre from then on. I was ecstatic when I found it available on VHS years ago -- and not one bit disappointed, either. I hadn't been mistaken; I really had remembered the picture hanging in the office of the space agency director. Just as with several other items unique to the film (women scientists - 2 of them!), I had never even forgotten the last line in the movie. And seeing it again after 40+ years still was (I feel silly admitting this) a bit scary. Although a black-and-white film, it managed to convey the same thrills as the special-effects-assisted "Aliens", and that says some very impressive things about the creative artistry of the folks who made "It! The Terror From Beyond Space". I'm going to go and watch it again right now!...
Rating:
Summary: Mars needs your precious fluids...spare a pint?
Review: It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958) relates a plot that was used again, and with much greater success, by Ridley Scott in 1979 with his blockbuster film, Alien. It!, released in 1958, takes place in the fantastic future world in 1973, when Earthmen have successfully accomplished the feat of stepping foot on Mars. We had such grand visions of the future back in the 50's, didn't we? Flying cars, robot servants, and interplanetary travel...
The film starts off talking about a manned expedition to Mars that goes wrong, horribly wrong. Apparently the ship crashed and now a second ship arrives to learn what happened to the first expedition. On arriving, they find only the captain of the ship still alive, and evidence seems to indicate that he may have killed his crew in order to make the rations last longer, increasing his own chances of survival. The captain of the ill-fated expedition tells a different tale, one involving a shadowy figure that took his crew, one by one, leaving him alone on the red planet. Taking the captain back as a prisoner to be put on trial for his supposed crimes, the members of the spacecraft soon learn that that is not all they are bringing back from Mars. Seems a rather large alien stowed away on the ship, and apparently feeds on human fluids and such. The battle for survival begins as the powerful, unstoppable creature tears through the ship, hunting the crewmembers in its' need to feed.
This was really a fun movie, and there was a decent amount of suspense and excitement, despite many scenes that may have you chuckling, like ones where various crew members light up cigarettes, or the women serving the men coffee and performing other menial tasks, or the large, rotund astronaut who could have never possibly passed any physical requirements for space travel in the real world. The alien doesn't look half bad for a movie made in 1958, but I did find it hard to believe it could slink around unnoticed in the ship for a long as it did without being detected. I think the filmmakers were going for a reptilian look, and succeeded to a certain extent, but the creature suit obviously hindered mobility for the actor inside, causing the creature to shuffle like an old man with rheumatoid arthritis. And the spacecraft...not the best design for a lunar vessel, but I've seen much worse. There were some nifty surprises along the way, ones I'll let you discover one your own. Throughout the movie the crew members use various weapons to try and kill the alien creature, guns, grenades, even a bazooka...all things I would think you'd not want to use in a seemingly flimsy ship you're using to travel through space, but hey, what do I know?
The print provided here is pretty good, but does exhibit some minor speckling at times and the audio is crisp and clear. No real special features except for a trailer for the film of pretty poor quality. One of the advertising gimmicks used for the film was $50,000 was offered through a `world renowned insurance company' for the first person that could offer proof that the alien, or `It', did not exist on Mars. I wonder if anyone tried to claim the money?
Cookieman108
Rating:
Summary: Mars needs your precious fluids...spare a pint?
Review: It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958) relates a plot that was used again, and with much greater success, by Ridley Scott in 1979 with his blockbuster film, Alien. It!, released in 1958, takes place in the fantastic future world in 1973, when Earthmen have successfully accomplished the feat of stepping foot on Mars. We had such grand visions of the future back in the 50's, didn't we? Flying cars, robot servants, and interplanetary travel... The film starts off talking about a manned expedition to Mars that goes wrong, horribly wrong. Apparently the ship crashed and now a second ship arrives to learn what happened to the first expedition. On arriving, they find only the captain of the ship still alive, and evidence seems to indicate that he may have killed his crew in order to make the rations last longer, increasing his own chances of survival. The captain of the ill-fated expedition tells a different tale, one involving a shadowy figure that took his crew, one by one, leaving him alone on the red planet. Taking the captain back as a prisoner to be put on trial for his supposed crimes, the members of the spacecraft soon learn that that is not all they are bringing back from Mars. Seems a rather large alien stowed away on the ship, and apparently feeds on human fluids and such. The battle for survival begins as the powerful, unstoppable creature tears through the ship, hunting the crewmembers in its' need to feed. This was really a fun movie, and there was a decent amount of suspense and excitement, despite many scenes that may have you chuckling, like ones where various crew members light up cigarettes, or the women serving the men coffee and performing other menial tasks, or the large, rotund astronaut who could have never possibly passed any physical requirements for space travel in the real world. The alien doesn't look half bad for a movie made in 1958, but I did find it hard to believe it could slink around unnoticed in the ship for a long as it did without being detected. I think the filmmakers were going for a reptilian look, and succeeded to a certain extent, but the creature suit obviously hindered mobility for the actor inside, causing the creature to shuffle like an old man with rheumatoid arthritis. And the spacecraft...not the best design for a lunar vessel, but I've seen much worse. There were some nifty surprises along the way, ones I'll let you discover one your own. Throughout the movie the crew members use various weapons to try and kill the alien creature, guns, grenades, even a bazooka...all things I would think you'd not want to use in a seemingly flimsy ship you're using to travel through space, but hey, what do I know? The print provided here is pretty good, but does exhibit some minor speckling at times and the audio is crisp and clear. No real special features except for a trailer for the film of pretty poor quality. One of the advertising gimmicks used for the film was $50,000 was offered through a 'world renowned insurance company' for the first person that could offer proof that the alien, or 'It', did not exist on Mars. I wonder if anyone tried to claim the money? Cookieman108
Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly taut 50s SF thriller; excellent quality DVD
Review: It! The Terror from Beyond Space is not one of the SF greats, but it coulda' been a contender, to paraphrase Marlon (Terry Malloy) Brando. Somehow, despite the budget, something went very right with this movie. It's a huge cut above veteran schlockmeister producer Robert E. Kent's usual fare (e.g. Hong Kong Confidential, Curse of the Faceless Man, Riot in Juvenile Prison) and other typical financially-challenged SF flicks of the era. The temptation is to credit the literate script by Jerome (Jay Lewis) Bixby, whose writing credits include classics like the great "It's a Good Life" episode of the original Twilight Zone, a half-dozen Star Trek scripts, and Fantastic Voyage (story credit), although he also penned horrible dreck like Curse of the Faceless Man and The Lost Missile. Even Eddie Cahn's typically flat, leaden direction seems a bit more inspired than usual (compare this with Zombies of Mora Tau or Creature with the Atom Brain). The story (often touted as the inspiration for Ridley Scott's Alien) basically just knocks off The Thing from Another World, only set on a spaceship, with crewmembers being picked off one at a time by the stowaway reptilian monster. Cast members include familiar good-guy Marshall Thompson (Cult of the Cobra, Fiend without a Face, Daktari) as Col. Carruthers (accused of the murders of his fellow crewmembers while on Mars), Shawn Smith (actually former B-western cowgal Shirley Patterson in her last film) as crewmember/love interest Ann Anderson, veteran Hollywood starlet on the skids Ann Doran as Dr. Royce, ubiquitous character actor Dabbs Greer (instantly recognizable from The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Green Mile, and hundreds of other TV and movie appearances) as her husband Eric, and former Monogram western star/professional gorilla Ray "Crash" Corrigan as "It". A surprising amount of atmosphere and tension is generated, particularly in the first third or so of the movie. It's hard to tell if the low-key cinematography by Kenneth Peach (Outer Limits) and sometimes deliberate obscuring of the creature were intentional "artistic" decisions, or merely used to hide the legendary ill-fitting headpiece of the Paul Blaisdell-designed monster suit. At any rate, the less that's shown of "It" the better the film works; when they start showing closeups of the rather silly-looking creature it dramatically reduces the total effect. (Scott wisely avoided repeating this mistake in the unofficial 'remake'.) Though the film unfortunately fails to sustain the initial mood and suspense, and suffers unavoidably from 50s cheesiness at times, it's still far more engrossing and thoughtful than the vast majority of typical 1950s B-flicks. Definitely worth a look for pulp SF fans; maybe a little too 'straight' and dull for bad movie connoisseurs.
The DVD presentation by MGM-UA is spare but of superior quality. While not as stunningly sharp and clean as some of their other releases (e.g. Bucket of Blood, Pit and the Pendulum), the source print overall exhibits excellent brightness, contrast, grayscale, and shadow/highlight detail. There is some very light speckling throughout and the rare damaged frame, but otherwise it looks great. Sixteen chapter stops, French and Spanish subtitles, and a very good-to-excellent if rather scratchy trailer are the extras. Well worth the bargain price for any 50s SF enthusiast.
Rating:
Summary: A spaceship with an alien monster aboard (sound familiar?)
Review: Just to make sure, "It! The Terror From Beyond Space" is the 1950s science fiction film with the monster from Mars. "It Came From Beneath the Sea" is the giant octopus, "Them!" is the giant ants, and "The Thing From Another World" is the carrot monster. "It! The Vampire from Beyond Space" is just "It! The Terror From Beyond Space" with a slightly alternative title, whereas "The Terror From Beyond Space" is the same movie with the "It" dropped. You will be responsible for this material on the final examination and you can get bonus credit if you can figure out which classic science fiction film featuring a chest bursting alien with acid for blood follows pretty much the same plotline as this 1958 film.
The story is set in the year 1973 when Challenge 141, the first manned mission to Mars ends up with everybody but its captain, Colonel Edward Carruthers (Marshall Thompson of "Fiend Without A Face"), killed by an alien. After six months the rescue ship, Challenge 142 commanded by Colonel Van Heusen (Kim Spaldin), arrives to take Carruthers back to Earth. But Van Heusen does not believe Carruthers' story about a killer alien and puts him in custody pending a court martial back home. However, the Martian (Ray Corrigan), a sort of reptilian creature of apparently indeterminate gender given the gender neutral pronoun in the title, sneaks aboard the rocket ship before it take off and starts killing the crew on the return voyage by absorbing the blood of its victims. Since Carruthers is locked up and does not have the ability to absorb the blood via osmosis, it seems he was telling the truth.
Besides the killer alien aboard there are a couple of women to protect. Dr. Mary Royce (Ann Doran) and nurse Ann Anderson (Shawn Smith). The latter is the only one to give Carruthers the benefit of the doubt, so he likes her. But things do not look good for the Finelli brothers, Bob (Richard Benedict) and Gino (Richard Hervey), and you just know one of them has to buy it so that the other can get mad. Unfortunately all of the obvious ways of killing the alien do not work, which means they are going to have to get creative. You might be disappointed in the ending, not to mention the less than adequate special effects of the ship traveling in space, but then keep in mind that this film came out in 1958 and that it was out decades before "Alien" and the special effects are way better than "Plan 9 From Outer Space." The acting is standard for such movies and you have already made your peace with such limitations by now or you have given up on this genre.
"It!" was directed by Edward L. Cahn and it is far and away the best of his B sci-fi films, which includes "The Creature with the Atom Brain," "Invasion of the Saucer-Men," and "The Invisible Invaders." The difference is clearly the script by Jerome Bixby, who is best remembered for his story "It's a Wonderful Life" that was adapted as one of the most memorable "Twilight Zone" episodes. Bixby knows that he has a limited number of sets to work with and figures out how to maximize the use of the claustrophobic sets. The story takes place over a time frame of only a few hours so things move right along in this 69-minute film. The crew keeps coming up with ways of killing the alien and when one does not work, which usually means another crew member is dead, they discuss things some more and keep on keeping on.
As was the case with "The Thing," the monster is rarely seen directly outside of the shadows so you get to focus more on the suspense and less on whether Paul Blaisdell's monster costume passes muster (pretty much a combination of "The Thing from Another World" and "The Creature From the Black Lagoon"). There was also an interesting gimmick for this release with a "world renowned insurance company" offering $50,000 to "the first person who can prove that 'It' is not on Mars now!" But this film really did not need to stoop to such nonsense because "It" is an above average representing of the genre at that time in movie history.
Rating:
Summary: It! The Essence of 50's Sci-Fi!
Review: Let's face "It," you either love 50's sci-fi, or you don't! If you are one of the lucky who love it, then this is, unquestionably, another of those movies that you'll surely love. It has everything a 50's sci-fi lover loves: painted outer space backdrops, a rubber-suit monster, subservient female astronauts, and a classic missle-shaped rocketship with a sparkler propulsion system. Yes, it's classic 50's sci-fi, and this is the essence of it's charm. It has all the standard nostalgia that the lover's of it's kind have grown to expect and endear. This is the type of movie that should be forgiven for the limitations of it's time and appreciated for it's story--a story which is actually, on it's own, exceptionally good for any time. Yes, any lover of the genre will appreciate it's originality--the fact that never before had a monster been brought back from an alien planet on a ship. Never before had a monster on a ship picked-off astronauts one by one, as it slipped through air ducts. Yes, this reminds me of another of my all-time favorite films from another time and place. "It" also reminds me that great special effects are only a small part of what makes a movie a classic. So, sit back, turn out the lights, forget what the year is and where you are, and enjoy It!
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