Its Friday
so that means another killer movie from that fabulous decade that brought us
cars with giant fins, atomic horrors, and creatures from outer space. This time
around I chose some creepy alien action as we see what happens when mankind
decides to step foot on Mars.
The story
kicks off with an expedition/rescue team getting ready to leave Mars. They were
dispatched to find out what happened to the first rocket that landed there.
They find only one survivor and he has an unbelievable story about a creature
that came out of nowhere and carted off his crew one by one. They are taking
him back to Earth to face justice for what they think are his crimes. They take
off and on the way home realize that they aren’t alone. The creature has snuck
aboard and is killing them off while sneaking around the air ducts. Nothing
will stop the creature including bullets, grenades, a bazooka, and poison gas.
What will kill it? I guess they could blow the airlock.
I have to
mention the obvious. People trapped on a spaceship with an alien that is immune
to their weapons. It sneaks around the air vents attacking them. Nothing stops
it until they blow it out of an airlock. That sounds familiar right? Well this
is the movie that many old school fans say inspired Alien. I’m not so sure that
is the case, but it does seem awfully familiar. As for the movie itself I’m a
big fan of this one. The plot is solid and paced quickly. We jump right into
the action with the monster showing up quickly and dispatching the first
crewman just a few minutes in. From there on we get to watch the crew forced
into an ever-smaller section of the ship as they are forced to flee the
creature. This leads to a claustrophobic feeling as they are trapped and just
killing time until the creature reaches them because they have nowhere else to
go.
This creature is awesome! |
This is
the fifties, so the creature is just a guy in a rubber suit, but it is a decent
looking one. The body is nothing special, but we do get to see an alien face
that is sort of disturbing. I know that to today’s audience it doesn’t have much
of an impact, but I remember a younger me being terrified by it. Sometimes you
can’t be so jaded by all the new monsters and have to get in touch with your
inner kid to enjoy the old stuff. This is one of the better creature designs
from the fifties. The deaths are pretty tame, but we do get a cool gag with a
rifle being bent and the creature tearing thru the hatches is also great.
What can I
say? I love these old movies and It! Terror from Beyond Space is one of the
best you will see. It has a great setup, a cool monster, and a plot that gets
to the good stuff and never lets up. If you like old horror and sci-fi this is
the movie for you. But then if you like these flicks I imagine I’m preaching to
the choir. Consider this one highly recommended.
© Copyright 2018 John Shatzer
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