It! The Terror from Beyond Space is an independently made 1958 American science fiction horror film, produced by Robert Kent, directed by Edward L. Cahn, starring Marshall Thompson, Shawn Smith, and Kim Spalding. It was released by United Artists on August 7, 1958, and played as a double feature with Curse of the Faceless Man.

The story involves Earth's second mission to Mars to discover the fate of the first. The single survivor from that crashed spaceship, the expedition commander, claims his crew was killed by a Martian life form. None of the rescue crew believes him until the creature, now a stowaway, begins hunting them on their return trip to Earth.

The film's premise (along with Mario Bava's Planet of the Vampires) has been cited as inspiration for Dan O'Bannon's screenplay for Alien (1979). Principal photography took place over two weeks during mid-January 1958. Small kept changing his mind over whether he wanted plastic eyes installed in the creature's mask, causing aggravation for makeup artist Paul Blaisdell.

It! was the last film of actor Ray "Crash" Corrigan, who was set to play the creature but did not want to travel to Topanga Canyon for Paul Blaisdell to take measurements of his head. Consequently, there were fitment problems with the creature's head: "[Corrigan's]...bulbous chin stuck out through the monster's mouth, so the make-up man painted his chin to look like a tongue". Blaisdell then added a row of fangs to cover Corrigan's chin.

Blaisdell said working for United Artists wasn't nearly as happy as working at AIP. Corrigan turned up drunk on set a few times, refused to follow certain directions from Ed Cahn, and damaged the monster suit, requiring Blaisdell to attend to patch it up. Shirley Patterson was in a constant bad mood, furious to have been cast in a low-budget monster film. Blaisdell said only Marshall Thompson seemed to be enjoying himself.

Variety noted that the creature was the star: "'It' is a Martian by birth, a Frankenstein by instinct, and a copycat. The monster dies hard, brushing aside grenades, bullets, gas and an atomic pile, before snorting its last snort. It's old stuff, with only a slight twist". A retrospective review by Dennis Schwartz compared It! favorably with Alien (1979).

Adaptations

In 1992, Millennium Publications adapted It! The Terror from Beyond Space as a short-run comic book series, written by Mark Ellis and Dean Zachary. A further comics adaptation was released by Midnite Movies (IDW Publishing) in 2010, for a three-issue run.

See also

  • List of films set on Mars

References

Notes

Bibliography

  • Strick, Philip. Science Fiction Movies. London: Octopus Books Limited. 1976. .
  • Palmer, Randy. Paul Blaisdell, Monster Maker: A Biography of the B Movie Makeup and Special Effects Artist. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 1997. .
  • Warren, Bill. Keep Watching the Skies: American Science Fiction Movies of the Fifties 21st Century Edition. 2009. McFarland & Company. .
  • It! The Terror from Beyond Space at AllMovie
  • Original soundtrack of Paul Sawtell's and Bert Shefter's score from It! The Terror From Beyond Space