“It! The Terror From Beyond Space” (1958) / Z-View

It! The Terror From Beyond Space (1958)

Director:  Edward L. Cahn

Screenplay:  Jerome Bixby

Starring:  Marshall Thompson, Dabbs Greer and Ray Corrigan.

Tagline:  It Breathes. It Hunts. It Kills!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

A rescue team is returning to Earth from Mars.  With them is Col. Edward Carruthers, the sole survivor of the first Mars landing.  Carruthers claims that his crew was killed by an alien life form.  Most of the rescue team believes that Carruthers killed his crew to insure he would have enough food and water to last until help arrived.  That all changes when crew members turn up brutally murdered and it is discovered the alien is on the ship!

If you’re a fan of low budget, 1950s scifi-horror, then you’ll have a blast with It! The Terror From Beyond Space.  What it (It!) lacks in special effects it (It!) makes up with an excellent fast-paced story and a claustrophobic setting.  Dan O’Bannon is said to have used It! The Terror From Beyond Space as the jumping off point for his Alien (1979) screenplay.  If you’ve watched both films, I’m sure you’ll agree.

I applaud Jerome Bixby and his crew’s ability to make the most of the limited budgets/sets.  A perfect example is when they received the alien suit, the mask didn’t correctly fit the actor (Ray Corrigan) playing the monster.  They couldn’t afford to have another mask made and Corrigan’s chin stuck out the mouth hole!  The solution was to paint his chin to look like the monster’s tongue!  Roger Corman would have approved!

It! The Terror From Beyond Space isn’t a great movie, but is a great example of the genre and a lot of fun.  I rate it 4 of 5 stars.