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.
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.