They Came from Beyond Space

Trailer—They Came from Beyond Space

source: They Came from Beyond Space

particularly in the classic "Outer Limits" episode "Corpus Earthling" which I know was based on a different source material yet it more effectively tells a very similar story... THEY CAME FROM BEYOND SPACE itself proves very disappointing especially at its climax during which three human beings (our heroes) must find a means to defeat and outwit the entire alien menace completely on their lonesome because no one will believe their story. The ending simply requires too much suspension of disbelief on the part of the viewer to be effective...although Michael Gough as The Master of the Moon does provide some fun, albeit too short, moments.

They Came from Beyond Space (1967) * 1/2 (out of 4) Amicus production has some meteors crashing in a field but when scientist goes to crack into them, an alien race starts taking over their minds. Soon everyone is under the spell of the aliens but thankfully one man (Robert Hutton) has some steel in his head, which keeps him from being infected. I love a lot of Amicus movies and I've often enjoyed their films more than their rival Hammer but there's not too much love that can be shown to this movie, which is pretty to look at but deadly dull in terms of entertainment. The biggest problem is that it appears Francis, usually a top-notch director, falls asleep at the wheel because the movie has a deadly slow pace that doesn't help anything. To make matters worse is the screenplay, which is full of one dialogue scene after another and nothing being said is all that intelligent. The movie moves way too slow to begin with so adding all this dialogue isn't going to help matters. Hutton sleepwalks through his role but to his credit he doesn't have much to work with. Jennifer Jayne isn't that memorable and Michael Gough appears bored out of his mind. The "Swingin' 60's" certainly lends its hand to the visuals of the film, which are quite colorful and nice to look at. The sets aren't that bad either but this doesn't save an otherwise boring film.

When a meteor shower crashes in a farm in Cornwall in the countryside of England, a team of scientists travels to the spot investigate the debris. Dr. Curtis Temple (Robert Hutton) is not allowed to go since he is recovering from an accident and has a silver plate implanted in his head. But he recommends his girlfriend Lee Mason (Jennifer Jayne) to be his substitute for the investigation. However alien forces take over the scientists' brains and use them as slaves to build a secret facility in the farm. Dr. Temple drives to the rural area and finds that the inhabitants are dying of a lethal plague. Further, he is immune to the alien's possession and to the plague. Dr. Temple rescues Lee from the aliens and together with a colleague and Lee wearing helmets, they return to the farm and embark in a rocket to the moon. Soon they meet the Master of the Moon (Michael Gough) and they learn the intention of the aliens. "They Came from Beyond Space" is a movie so lame, corny, illogical and laughable that entertains. The storyline is not bad, but the screenplay, direction, acting, set decoration and the annoying music score are awful. It is funny to see Robert Hutton acting as if he were a character performed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone or Chuck Norris in the top of their careers. The weight of the stowaways Dr. Temple, Lee and his fellow does not affect the launching of the rocket of the supply of oxygen, and watching them climbing a stair while the rocket is launched is hilarious. The corny conclusion is so terrible that closes this messy movie with golden key. My vote is three. Title (Brazil): Not Available

This film begins with a very strange phenomenon. A group of apparent meteorites land IN FORMATION on the Earth! Obviously, there is some intelligence behind this. But, when researchers try chipping a piece off the stones, an alien spirit flies from the rocks and takes over the bodies of these people—and others cannot initially see that they have possessed these poor souls as they appear " normal. However, considering how weird these possessed people soon behave, it's apparent to some that something is seriously wrong. When a doctor goes to investigate what happened to the researchers, he finds that the entire town appears to be possessed. While they don't kill him, he is threatened, attacked and tossed out of town. Later, he finds a government agent who believes his account---and soon that guy falls down—dead with a plague-like disease that killed him almost instantly! When the Doctor tries to go back to the town, again and again the townsfolk threaten him with bodily harm and tell him that what they are doing is for the good of mankind! Considering they already appeared to have killed a man, have possessed many people and are building SOMETHING in this town, their explanation seems hard to accept! Pretty soon, the entire town seems like a giant prison camp and NOTHING is going to be allowed inside. So, it's now up to an unlikely hero—a supposedly medically unfit middle-aged man to save the planet---or at least break in and see what they're up to. He sure doesn't look like Rambo or one of the Dirty Dozen, but amazingly this old guy sure kicks butt! In many ways, the plot is rather reminiscent of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS as well as VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED (the original—not the crappy remake). The film abounds with menace from another planet but unlike INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, it's less clear that the aliens are actually evil or at least completely evil. It also bears some similarity to two episodes of the original "Star Trek" series—the one where almost god-like beings occupy the bodies of three of the Enterprise crew ("Return to Tomorrow") as well as the one where very powerful beings from Andromeda commandeer the ship ("By Any Other Name). Now this is odd, because these two episodes appeared only two weeks apart in 1968. Perhaps, and I have no way of knowing this, but perhaps the people who made these two episodes were inspired by IT CAME FROM BEYOND SPACE—the plots are just so very similar. Regardless, the movie is exceptional despite its low rating of 4.0. The plot idea and simplicity of the film is to be admired—showing good sci-fi does not need to cost a fortune or have amazing special effects. Interesting and well worth seeing—I wonder, though, why such a good film is now in the public domain.

Freddy Francis, he of Day of the Triffids and countless other solid horror/fantasy pictures really serves up a nightmare here. It looks good and has a great 60's soundtrack to it. However, it does seem to have the feel of a bad 'Avengers' episode to it. The story is basic 'Body Snatchers' fodder with the lone good guy crusading against countless numbers of alien invaders. Basic storytelling at it's lowest level. It does get really confusing at the end though... *************SPOILERS************ The part where the head bad guy played by Michael Gough shook his head and decided to become good about ten seconds from the final credits was an absurd and embarrassing cop-out. **********END************ Fun to watch and mock. But only once. I couldn't bring myself to watch it again.

I've seen They Came From Beyond Space a couple of times now and found it quite enjoyable. Some strange objects from outer space land on a farm in Cornwall. These are at first thought to be meteors but is confirmed they are not when some of the locals smash them. Inside, there is an alien force that takes over their minds and gradually, more people get taken over by these aliens, which come from the Moon. A doctor investigating this avoids being taken over as he has a metal plate in his head as the result of injuries from a car crash. He sneaks in the farm after watching a rocket take off and takes his girlfriend, who has been taken over with him and uses her to see if the way he and a fellow doctor have come up with to destroy the aliens works. It does and the girl is back to normal. They head back to the farm and manage to get onto a rocket and end up on the Moon, where he meets the leader and finds out what exactly what the aliens intend to do to Earth. They Came From Beyond Space is fairly creepy in parts, helped by the music score. Now to the cast, which includes several sci-fi/horror regulars: Robert Hutton (The Slime People, Invisible Invaders), Michael Gough (Konga, Horrors of the Black Museum), Jennifer Jayne (The Crawling Eye), Zia Mohyeddin, Benard Kay (Toture Garden) and Maurice Good (Quatermass and the Pit). This movie is worth watching if you get the chance. Very enjoyable. Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

Mister... there is a giant black and yellow biohazard drum in your living room. Oh wait that is an elevator. Don't look at the pointy rocks - if you do, some jazzed up version of the Lawrence Welk Orchestra indicates you have been possessed by aliens. Really - I am not kidding. And if you have to fight these aliens you can do it to the triplet-tum of a tenor drum. The music makes this movie loosely based on "The Gods Hate Kansas" absolutely a lesson in why sound tracts should match the movie. There was no connection at all. Add that to some time lapsed photography of my grandmothers fluorescent kitchen lights, abundant use of every tried and true sci-fi sound effect, and winning dialogue like "and I also happen to be in love with you!" and this movie belongs in the running for your underground cheese collection you can't admit that you watch - much less own.

Freddie Francis, who gave us Day of the Triffids and The Deadly Bees, among others, presents They Came From Beyond Space. Mr. Francis, who seems to have been Great Britain's answer to Roger Corman, obviously tried hard to make intelligent, compelling sci-fi movies, but was apparently restrained by tight schedules (and budgets). This movie (based on a novel called "The Gods Hate Kansas"[???])is about a group of hyper-intelligent aliens who take over the minds of a group of brilliant scientists so they can enslave humans and build a spacecraft to allow the aliens to leave the moon, where they've been stranded, and return to their own planet. And the goofiness only begins there. There are many unintentionally funny moments in the movie (maybe not completely unintentional - it's hard to tell), such as the scene where the Main Scientist Guy discovers that the meteors that have landed in a Cornish farmer's field have come from the moon. The diagram that's apparently supposed to prove this is an ink drawing on a restaurant place mat with a large circle (maybe traced from a coffee cup bearing the bold legend "MOON". Wow, I'm convinced! There are many other funny scenes, but I don't want to reveal them for fear of spoiling the movie for our readers. And spoilers they would be, for this movie, as goofy as it is (sometimes even looking like an old episode of Batman with Adam West) is actually very good. It is well written, the dialog is generally above average, the acting is good, and there is some genuine suspense. It's also refreshing to see a Pakistani actor cast in a prominent role, not as the Main Scientist Guy, but as the Auxiliary Scientist Guy, a brilliant man in his own right who assists Our Hero. In short, this movie is worth seeing. You'll laugh, you'll be thrilled, etc. etc., etc. Best of all, you can probably get it on DVD for less than $10.