Saturday, March 08, 2014

Movie review - "They Came from Beyond Space" (1967) **

The book Amicus: The Studio that Dripped Blood describes this has one of the worst films made by the studio but it actually isn't that bad, with a perfectly serviceable plot: meteors fall in a field in Britain, scientists are sent to investigate and wind up having their souls taken over by aliens.

There is a major debit in the performance of Robert Hutton, playing a scientist who is protected from the aliens' influence by a steel plate in his head. Movie leads didn't come more bland than Hutton, and his monotone performance weighs this down - which is particularly harmful in the scenes with Zia Mohyeddin, who plays his girlfriend who gets possessed. It's also laughable how irresistible he's meant to be to women.

The low budget hurts, and its far too talky when there should be action, especially in the first half. And the second half is silly. But Freddie Francis' direction keeps things lively, Michael Gough is fun as an alien, and you'll enjoy if approached in the right spirit.

No comments: