Just to make sure, "It! The Terror From Beyond Space" is the 1950s science fiction film with the monster from Mars. "It Came From Beneath the Sea" is the giant octopus, "Them!" is the giant ants, and "The Thing From Another World" is the carrot monster. "It! The Vampire from Beyond Space" is just "It! The Terror From Beyond Space" with a slightly alternative title, whereas "The Terror From Beyond Space" is the same movie with the "It" dropped. You will be responsible for this material on the final examination and you can get bonus credit if you can figure out which classic science fiction film featuring a chest bursting alien with acid for blood follows pretty much the same plotline as this 1958 film.

The story is set in the year 1973 when Challenge 141, the first manned mission to Mars ends up with everybody but its captain, Colonel Edward Carruthers (Marshall Thompson of "Fiend Without A Face"), killed by an alien. After six months the rescue ship, Challenge 142 commanded by Colonel Van Heusen (Kim Spaldin), arrives to take Carruthers back to Earth. But Van Heusen does not believe Carruthers' story about a killer alien and puts him in custody pending a court martial back home. However, the Martian (Ray Corrigan), a sort of reptilian creature of apparently indeterminate gender given the gender neutral pronoun in the title, sneaks aboard the rocket ship before it take off and starts killing the crew on the return voyage by absorbing the blood of its victims. Since Carruthers is locked up and does not have the ability to absorb the blood via osmosis, it seems he was telling the truth.

Besides the killer alien aboard there are a couple of women to protect. Dr. Mary Royce (Ann Doran) and nurse Ann Anderson (Shawn Smith). The latter is the only one to give Carruthers the benefit of the doubt, so he likes her. But things do not look good for the Finelli brothers, Bob (Richard Benedict) and Gino (Richard Hervey), and you just know one of them has to buy it so that the other can get mad. Unfortunately all of the obvious ways of killing the alien do not work, which means they are going to have to get creative. You might be disappointed in the ending, not to mention the less than adequate special effects of the ship traveling in space, but then keep in mind that this film came out in 1958 and that it was out decades before "Alien" and the special effects are way better than "Plan 9 From Outer Space." The acting is standard for such movies and you have already made your peace with such limitations by now or you have given up on this genre.

"It!" was directed by Edward L. Cahn and it is far and away the best of his B sci-fi films, which includes "The Creature with the Atom Brain," "Invasion of the Saucer-Men," and "The Invisible Invaders." The difference is clearly the script by Jerome Bixby, who is best remembered for his story "It's a Wonderful Life" that was adapted as one of the most memorable "Twilight Zone" episodes. Bixby knows that he has a limited number of sets to work with and figures out how to maximize the use of the claustrophobic sets. The story takes place over a time frame of only a few hours so things move right along in this 69-minute film. The crew keeps coming up with ways of killing the alien and when one does not work, which usually means another crew member is dead, they discuss things some more and keep on keeping on.

As was the case with "The Thing," the monster is rarely seen directly outside of the shadows so you get to focus more on the suspense and less on whether Paul Blaisdell's monster costume passes muster (pretty much a combination of "The Thing from Another World" and "The Creature From the Black Lagoon"). There was also an interesting gimmick for this release with a "world renowned insurance company" offering $50,000 to "the first person who can prove that 'It' is not on Mars now!" But this film really did not need to stoop to such nonsense because "It" is an above average representing of the genre at that time in movie history.

A monster (who looks like he's always smelling an awful smell) sneaks aboard a rescue ship only to be put on two slices of bread and covered with mustard...I'm sorry, I was talkin' 'bout turkey. The monster scares the crap out of 50's spacemen and women and kills people. Bombs and guns don't destroy it either, but the amount of pomade in the hero's hair could've easily...After the monster thins out the cast a little, it is then thwarted by--GAH! I can't tell ya. Wouldn't be fair. BUT IT'S A DOOZY.
Great creature flick. Buy this.

Thanks to her 17-year-old son this mother has made acquaintance with Edward L. Cahn, noted director of 50s-era B scifi flicks. And I'm pleased to have done, too! Whatever upper-crusty film society generally opines (or not) of B movies, Cahn's works are more than respectable. They're intelligent, stylish and noteworthy and have proved the inspiration for several other efforts in the scifi genre. As pointed out, IT became the inspiration for ALIEN.

The plot involves a disturbingly unstoppable creature that wanders aboard a spaceship (which is big and shiny and doesn't wobble awful much while cruising the starry depths of space) from off of the planet Mars (the Mars-scape is delightfully arty) and proceeds upon a feeding spree. No one is safe, time is running out for the eight men and two women on board. (The women are a nice touch. They serve coffee smilingly, and when disaster strikes provide blood transfusions and suitably worried expressions.) What, if anything, will successfully halt IT that flinches not at electric currents strong enough to kill 30 men, and nuclear radiation powerful enough to put down 100?

Well. I shan't give away the ending ~ and it's a clever one, too. Cahn's budget might have been miniscule but his efforts and ideas weren't. And incidentally, this movie made big money. In goodly part because of its A+ plot, A+ monster, and nifty B movie fun.

One of the latest additions to my movie collection is the classic movie It! This is a ground breaking film full of all the things that make some of these movies so enjoyable.

A rescue mission is sent to Mars to find survivors from a crash. One survivor is found and he is charged with the deaths of the rest of the crew as he has no explanation for their disappearance. But before they leave the surface, something gets into the ship and soon the crew becomes aware that something is not right on the ship. Then the bodies are found and the crew goes on the defensive. Impervious to bullets and grenades and capable of tearing open the hatches, the creature poses an immediate threat to everyone on board. What follows are scenes of the crew trying to stop the creature and remain alive.

It! is possibly the first film dealing with an unstoppable monster on a ship. For its age, this film is quite violent. There are hilarious scenes where the female members of the crew are left to clear the tables while the men sit and talk. File cabinets fill the ship. Other low tech equipment abounds. A fun film and a true classic.

It was the summer of 1959. Every Wednesday night, the local drive-in charged $1.00 per carload for a double-feature of horror films. None of those dozens of old movies stand out in my mind so much as "It! The Terror From Beyond Space". And I was not the only one so impacted -- for those of us crowded into the back seat of Mom's Studebaker that night, it became the film by which we judged all others of that genre from then on.

I was ecstatic when I found it available on VHS years ago -- and not one bit disappointed, either. I hadn't been mistaken; I really had remembered the picture hanging in the office of the space agency director. Just as with several other items unique to the film (women scientists - 2 of them!), I had never even forgotten the last line in the movie. And seeing it again after 40+ years still was (I feel silly admitting this) a bit scary.

Although a black-and-white film, it managed to convey the same thrills as the special-effects-assisted "Aliens", and that says some very impressive things about the creative artistry of the folks who made "It! The Terror From Beyond Space".

I'm going to go and watch it again right now!...