<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958), a prototypical 1950s monster movie, is often said to have borrowed some of its plot points from noted SF author A. E. van Vogt’s classic novel The Voyage of the Space Beagle. Along with Mario Bava’s Planet of the Vampires (1965) and Curtis Harrington’s Queen of Blood (1966), it is also widely regarded, in turn, as providing the unofficial inspiration for Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979).

It! was one of three SF films scripted that same year by Jerome Bixby; the others were Curse of the Faceless Man, also directed by Edward L. Cahn, and Lester William Berke’s The Lost Missile. Bixby’s short story “It’s a Good Life” was adapted by Rod Serling into a memorable episode of The Twilight Zone, and he later contributed to both Fantastic Voyage (1966) and the original Star Trek.

Cahn directed dozens of Our Gang shorts between 1939 and '42, and his hundred-plus credits include many genre films of the '50s. Among the best known are The She-Creature (1956), Voodoo Woman and Invasion of the Saucer Men (both 1957), all of which teamed him up with Paul Blaisdell, who created makeup and special effects on a shoestring for American International Pictures (AIP).

Blaisdell designed the titular terror in It!, which was released by United Artists, and planned to don the costume himself, as he had in many of his AIP outings. But ultimately the suit was worn by the more massive Ray “Crash” Corrigan, a Western veteran making his last screen appearance, so that what appears to be the monster’s oddly protruding tongue is, in fact, Corrigan’s concealed chin.

Produced by Robert E. Kent, who was one of Cahn’s most frequent collaborators, the film was scored by the prolific team of Paul Sawtell and Bert Shefter, which had long experience in the genre. Leading man Marshall Thompson also appeared in Fiend Without a Face (1958) and First Man into Space (1959), but is probably best remembered today as the star of the TV series Daktari.

Spoiler Warning: Plot details and/or information about the ending follow. If you wish to enjoy the work first, stop reading here and return at another time.

Set in 1973, the story begins as Col. Edward Carruthers (Thompson), the only survivor of an expedition to Mars, is rescued by Col. Van Heusen (Kim Spalding), who plans to bring him back to Earth to face a courtmartial for murder. A bullet hole is found in the skull of one crewmember, and when Carruthers says it resulted from a melée with a monster that killed the others, he is disbelieved.

After an airlock is left open, “It” stows away prior to the ship’s departure for Earth, and Gino (Richard Harvey) disappears during the search for its first victim, Joe Keinholz (Thom Carney). Gino is found dying in an airshaft by Maj. John Purdue (Robert Bice), who retreats when It attacks (thus clearing Carruthers), ripping through metal and impervious to gas, guns, and grenades.

Keinholz’s body is found to be drained of all fluids, suggesting that It is a kind of space vampire, which has evolved to survive in the dry Martian climate. Carruthers and Lt. James Calder (Paul Langton) leave the ship, planning to come in on a lower deck and electrify the stairs, but their failed attempt leaves Calder barricaded with a broken leg and an acetylene torch to defend himself.

Mauled by It, Purdue and Van Heusen are in need of blood to combat a Martian infection, and while It is in the reactor room, Carruthers plans to descend and obtain some, aided by Eric Royce (Dabbs Greer) and Gino’s brother, Bob (Richard Benedict). But the delirious Van Heusen unshields the reactor, and Bob is killed as It breaks free, forcing the survivors to ascend into the control room.

Noting that It has oversized lungs to compensate for the thin Martian atmosphere, they put on their space suits, planning to release enough air from the ship to asphyxiate their alien assailant. Calder struggles to an airlock while It claws up through each successive hatch cover, and as It tries to extricate itself from the final hatch, Van Heusen sacrifices himself to open another airlock, killing It.