It! The Terror from Beyond Space

When I first saw this film on late night TV, I was hypnotized by its atmosphere and clean, deceptive surfaces. There was a lot of light and shade and the monster was kept off-screen for as long as possible. The claustrophobia of the situation eventually got to me and I didn't survive my first screening. When the film screened again, I survived it, and I enjoyed the suspense. I liked the monster, too, because at seven year's old, I was oblivious to the zipper up the back.

Even now, I still like "It The Terror From Beyond Space". Clearly, along with van Vogt's 'Voyage of the Space Beagle' (a great novel from a great novelist) and Bava's "Planet of the Vampires", these three works were the inspiration for "Alien". The architecture of "It" clearly wasn't an inspiration for Scott's film, so Scott went and dirtied his ship up instead. And I'd hazard a guess that Bava's footage of the astronauts on the vampire planet is what caught Ridley's attention.

The plot of "It" is akin to "Alien" and so are some of the set-ups. The claustrophobic environment in "It" is still impressive, as is the spare sound design and use of simple sonics.

"It" moves along briskly and features some exciting action sequences as the spaceship's crew members are stalked by the marauding extraterrestrial.

Low budget, sure, but a high concept skilfully realized.