Review of It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958) by Ray D — 01 Mar 2008

So here's the thing-- a few year's back, the producers, et al of It! The Terror from Beyond Space apparently sued the makers of ALIEN for ripping them off....and WON!

There are certainly similarities -- the movie starts with a spaceship that has arrived in response to a distress call in outer space, the responding spaceship isn't sure what happens, and the crew accidentally lets a hostile alien on board before leaving the planet, the alien picks the crew off one-by-one in true horror movie fashion, and the film ends with the alien monster being blown out of an airlock into the void after all attempts to destroy it have failed. So if you don't like the end of Alien, blame the makers of IT! The Terror From Beyond Space, apparently.

However, in as much as there are some similarities, there's a great many differences, and it's not just that top-billed Marshall Thompson is no Sigourney Weaver. It! is a cheaply-made b-movie from the 1950's, and that means 1950's science fiction! Instead of an unnamed distant world that takes years to get to, the planet that the ship lands on at the beginning is mars. The rocket itself is one of those 1950's science fiction rockets right down to the pointy tip and tail-fins, that has a little flame that comes out the back. It's adorable. The alien isn't a slimy Giger-designed monstrosity, but some guy with a build like a pro-wrestler in a rubber lizard suit. He gets onto the ship when one of the crew members accidentally leaves the door open(!!!) and during the sequence where he's stalking and picking off the crew, gradually leaving them trapped in the, err, tip of the ship, the crew tries to fight back with machine guns (!!) grenades (!!!) and a bazooka (!!!!!!) all to no avail. In the confined quarters of their spaceship.

It's a good thing that when Ridley Scott was being inspired by this stuff, he didn't keep the original alien design. As goofy as Alien is spooky and effective, but since the entire film only lasts 68 minutes, it's hard to hate.