Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
It gave Birth to Aliens, May 18, 2001
This is a great '50's Sci-Fi movie. It's relatively unknown. I don't know anyone who has seen this movie until I've let them see my copy. My theory is that the movie "Alien" is based on this film: A space ship returns home from visiting a far-off planet (to pick-up Marshall Thompson who is under suspicion of killing all of the expedition memebers) but not before accidently picking up extra "cargo"...an alien life form that hides in the storage room that systematically kills one crew member after another. It was the same creature that Marshall Thompson knew about that killed memebers of his expedition but he can't prove it, and now the same creature has joined their flight home.There are two things that make this film great: 1.) A pretty decent story that keeps the "monster" out of sight until you really need to see it. The mystery builds as we only see shadows of the creature on the wall as it kills crew members. We are given little hints though that something is wrong on board, like unusual oxygen consumption, that keep the story moving along. 2.) This is a '50's movie so it's great fun to watch and make fun of what was considered to be space travel back then. Take for instance the interior of the space ship. Heavy metal WWII-era cabinets, stairs, primitive controls, etc. Then (and here's the best part) there is the means of trying to kill the "creature". Grenades are used in an attempt to kill it and the crew, equipped with 45cal. automatics, fire randomly at the creature. Keep in mind, the crew is INSIDE a space ship in space! Oh well, I guess it wasn't known that space was void of oxygen or what the perils of shooting holes throught the walls of the ship were back then. If you can forget the bit of '50's silliness, the storyline holds together through to the end of the film and one cannot help but see the parallels to many of the newer space/creature/sci-fi movies of late.
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35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
When it comes to terror, this one's got IT!, March 18, 2002
By A Customer
...The movie sounded way too scary to miss ... "It! The Terror From Beyond Space." I wasn't disappointed. To enjoy this film today as an adult, you really need to watch it in the context of its time. Yes, the dialogue is dumb. Yes, the acting is stilted. Yes, the women scientists serve coffee to the male crew. Yes, the monster's a guy in a rubber suit - albiet a very scary looking rubber suit. You wouldn't want to run into this guy in a dark hallway during a break in filming. It's typical '50s sci-fi stuff: Humans encounter mean, nasty alien who goes about devouring the crew one by one until they finally figure out how to kill it. Where "It!" and it's soul mate "The Thing From Another World" leave the rest of their '50s sci-fi genre behind is in the intense, edge-of-your-seat building of suspense. In the case of "It!" first you only see the monster's lizard-like feet, as it prowls the ship undetected. Then we see the shadow on the wall, as "It!" breaks one of the crew members in half like a twig. Then there's the close encounter with "It!" in the darkened air shaft. Or the guy trapped behind some boxes in a corner with just a dying blow torch between him and an extremely cranky monster. You get the point. It's no wonder the creators of "Alien" used this film as their template. So, slide this sucker into your DVD player, turn out the lights, and pretend it's 11:30 on a Friday night back in the early '60s. Time for "Nightmare Theater" and "It!" Pleasant dreams.
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40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable movie, September 6, 2001
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.
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