Review of It Came from Outer Space (1953) by Steven B — 07 Mar 2009

I can't say that this is a must-see for everyone, since it is very flawed in its acting and script dialogue. And by 2009, we've seen some stories like this again and again in movies and on sci-fi television shows.

But if you are a fan of sci-fi literature and film this might be a good thing to see to understand the history of the genre. It Came From Outer Space was groundbreaking and highly influential. It was one of the first movies about intelligent aliens coming to earth in a spacecraft.

It is very typical of a Ray Bradbury alien story in that fear and distrust of the unfamiliar and self-preservation is a driving force of both the alien and human groups. The main character is an intellectual who has to has to convince the townsfolk not to act rashly and act violently towards that which they do not understand.

Because the aliens are actually friendly, but their appearance and their method of getting repairs done to their ship makes this hard to see. The story is not tight, in fact there are a few holes and contradictions.

The music produced from an instrument called the theremin became very stereotypical for early sci-fi and horror. At this point, however, it was very kitchy and laughable every time I heard it.