Plot: What’s it about?
As part of the first expedition on Mars, Edward Carruthers (Marshall Thompson) is pleased to be involved, but he is soon accused of murder, with his own crew as the victims. He knows he is an innocent man, but he is loaded up to be sent back home, where he will be forced to face the consequences, since he has no evidence of innocence. But as the ship heads back toward Earth, this crew begins to die off as well, one by one it seems. As Carruthers is not behind these murders, the crew starts to realize he is innocent, but with a killer on the loose, no one is safe. It seems someone or something is stalking the ship’s crew and it seems to be everywhere, from the main rooms to the air vents, just waiting to strike. But when the killer is revealed to be a hideous alien creature, the crew’s situation goes from bad to worse. Now the crew must not only fight to survive, but also demolish the beast before the ship lands. As if they don’t, the creature will reign terror down on the entire planet, which could be disastrous indeed.
As you can tell from the premise, this movie was the inspiration for Alien some years later, but don’t assume that’s all that is noteworthy here. I love the storyline here and it is executed very well, even under obvious budget constraints, of course. I do think this would have worked better with more funds, but then again, it might have taken away from the minimalist approach, which seems to work very well here, as well as in Alien. The tension and suspense are well crafted, but with such a cheese laden monster, it is hard to be scared, to say the least. But if you look past the rubber and focus on the atmosphere, you’ll see what a fun, cool movie this is. Even with a shoestring budget, the filmmakers load in some good scenes and man, do I ever love those air vent sequences, awesome stuff indeed. But this is still high on camp and low on production values, so those who dislike 1950s sci/fi won’t find much to like here. But even if you just want to see the movie that inspired Alien, give this one a shot, you might like it more than you think. MGM’s disc is much like the film itself, minimalist & cheap, but effective and as such, a purchase is more than recommended.
Video: How does it look?
It! The Terror from Beyond Space is presented in a full frame transfer, as intended. A disclaimer runs before the film that says the image has modified, but all the sources I found reported this was a 1.37:1 shoot, which the framing here also suggests. But I don’t suppose too much trust should be placed on what the disc says, since the case states this film is in color, when it is a black & white picture. The image here is quite good however, with a solid looking print and well balanced contrast. The print shows frequent, but minor nicks & debris and while that is a let down, this is still the cleanest edition I’ve seen. No, this is not a pristine visual effort, but for a low rent sci/fi movie from 1958, this is a more than acceptable image, I think.
Audio: How does it sound?
The track here is clean, but on the thin side at times, though I suppose it goes with the territory, since this is an older, low budget movie. I heard minimal hiss and distortion, while the thin elements were usually in dialogue and never to an extreme degree, so no need for panic there. On the whole, the vocals sound good enough, while sound effects are also solid, as far as older mono options go, that is. In the end, this track won’t dazzle anyone, but it more than does the material justice. This disc also includes subtitles in French and Spanish.
Supplements: What are the extras?
This disc includes the film’s theatrical trailer.
