1958’s It! The Terror from Beyond Space is a B-Movie through and through, but it rises above expectations to deliver a decent sci fi film.
What Is It?
This film follows an expedition that travels to Mars to determine what happened to the failed first mission. They discover that the previous rocket crash-landed there, and only the commander survived, claiming that he and his crew were attacked by some sort of creature. The second ship takes the commander back with them to Earth, where authorities plan to Court Martial him. But they find that creature–which they did not believe to exist–has boarded the ship before leaving the planet, and it begins to kill off the ship’s crew members one by one.
Legacy:
This B-Movie gem came out in 1958 and takes a somewhat realistic look at space travel while also providing the basic template for movies like Alien and other films where some sort of creature runs amok on a ship picking off the crew.
A Closer Look:
It! The Terror from Beyond Space came out at time when lurid B-Movies were all the rage at the drive-in, but this one delivers a higher level of quality and stands out among similar films from that era. Despite its superficial similarities to Alien, Dan O’Bannon denies that It! provided any inspiration for his film (he claimed he wanted to do a darker version of the alien beach ball sequence from his own Dark Star), but it undeniably foreshadows that 1979 movie and you can see where it has been imitated (unintentionally or not) many times since in other genre films.
Apart from its influence and significance in film history, It! is a good, if not spectacular, piece of science fiction film-making. As with many genre films from that time, especially those featuring a monster of some sort, it is a B-Movie through and through. The special effects are rather cheesy, though judiciously used, and the monster himself probably ranks as one of the worst among the early genre films, giving us one of the least memorable of the rubber-costume, Halloween-mask baddies of that era (quick check: can you even picture this monster in your head if you have not seen the glimpse in the trailer above or watched full the movie in the past year or so?). But surprisingly, despite its production limitations, It! delivers a halfway decent science fiction tale.
The script came from Jerome Bixby who penned many science fiction short stories and also contributed several episodes to The Twilight Zone, Star Trek and several other genre TV shows (and he also wrote the script for the cult classic film The Man from Earth, watch for an upcoming post on that). The movie handles space travel rather intelligently for the time and also gives a plausible explanation for the monster and why it’s such a vicious killer (though not necessarily for why it is so indestructible). On the down side, the acting is nominal, though not bad for a 50’s B-Movie, and the directing and pacing is ploddingly slow.
Don’t go into It! expecting top-notch science fiction, and you won’t be disappointed. Just look at it as a decent enough early sci fi cheapie and you will better appreciate its merits. And at 69 minutes in run time, it counts as a pretty quick watch. It may not be a classic, but it counts as a cult favorite that is worth seeking out.
Why Was There No Sequel?
Box Office Mojo does not have any performance numbers for the film, so I am not certain how well this one did financially. But sequels were not just assumed for films at that time like they are today, even the ones that drew strong ticket sales. Some sci fi/horror films did get sequels, like The Creature from the Black Lagoon, but apparently there was not enough interest in making a return trip to the Mars that the It! creature came from.
Should It Be Rebooted?
Sure, this would be a fun one to revisit. Ideally, it could be done as a retro-reboot, keeping that similar, low-tech look and feel from its era. And it could be done without spending a ton of money. This and other films from the 1950s could all work well as reboots that provide better production quality while also paying homage to their B-Movie roots. And they could also be used to create a shared-universe that would offer franchise potential. There could be a whole gold mine here!
Interesting Facts:
The promo poster for the movie that showed up in many theaters when It! The Terror from Beyond Space came out guaranteed $50,000 to the first person who could prove that “It was not on Mars now”. Word is that NASA may still be trying to claim that prize (that $50k from 1958 is worth about $400k today) to help make up for all its budget cuts . . .
The monster was played by Ray “Crash” Corrigan, a frequent western actor who also appeared in many movies dressed in an ape costume, including The Ape and Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla. This was Corrigan’s last film before he retired.
Where Can You Watch It?
The film has been released on DVD and Blu-ray, and you can also purchase it VOD. It is not currently available on any of the major streaming services that I can see.
