They Came From Beyond Space (1967) starring Robert Hutton, Jennifer Jayne
Synopsis of They Came From Beyond Space
They Came From Beyond Space: Scientists go to a field in England to look at the strange formation from a meteor shower. They are taken over by an alien life force and fall ill with an ailment that causes drops of blood to appear all over their bodies.
Review of They Came From Outer Space
In short, They Came From Outer Space is a far cry from “classic sci-fi”. It’s like a mix between Invasion of the Body Snatchers and It Came From Outer Space. I doubt that the similarity in titles is a coincidence.
The basic plot is:
- It’s an invasion from outer space, with humans being controlled, ala Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
- No, wait! It’s some poor space aliens who’ve accidentally crashed, and are only using the humans to repair their ship. Afterward, they’ll leave peacefully, and free the humans. Like It Came From Outer Space.
- No, wait! Back to alien invasion.
- No, wait again! Back to the arrogant, super-evolved into pure intelligence aliens, who look down as human beings like ants.
In short, it’s a mishmash. The acting’s okay, but not great. Probably the greatest flaw is that the audience doesn’t care much about any of the characters. Supposedly, this was made by the same folks who make The Terrornauts, with the same sets, etc. simply since they had time left over. Although the same situation led to the creation of Roger Corman’s Little Shop of Horrors, the result here is underwhelming.
Cast of characters
Robert Hutton (Invisible Invaders, Cinderfella) … Dr. Curtis Temple. The protagonist of the film. He’s protected from the aliens controlling his mind, due to a metal plate in his skull after a car accident.
Jennifer Jayne (The Crawling Eye) … Lee Mason. The lovely female love interest. In the course of the film, she’s controlled by the aliens. Can our hero rescue her? Do you really need to ask?
Zia Mohyeddin (Lawrence of Arabia) … Farge. The assistant, who does not have a metal plate in his head to protect him. So, Dr. Temple makes a protection device from a metal colander, made from melting down his silverware. Seriously.
Michael Gough (Konga, Batman) … Master of the Moon. The head of the aliens.
Editorial review of They Came From Beyond Space courtesy of Amazon.com
Step back in time to the era of classic science fiction movies. Astronomers investigate a mysterious meteorite shower in a rural English farm field, – exceptional because the space rocks all fell in a V formation. Dr. Richard Arden, preeminent in the field of extraterrestrial study, is not permitted to accompany his colleagues, including his girlfriend Lee Mason, because he is still recovering from the effects of a recent motor accident. The scientists are summarily taken over by some alien force, and others in the area are dying from a mysterious “crimson plague,” which covers their bodies with drops of blood. Temple seems the only person immune to both maladies, so if he can discover the reason for this immunity, he may yet foil the alien plan to take earthlings back to the moon for their own sinister purposes.
Product Description
From Freddie Francis, the legendary director of The Evil of Frankenstein, Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors, The Skull, The Psychopath, The Deadly Bees and Tales That Witness Madness, and Milton Subotsky, the acclaimed screenwriter of Dr. Who and the Daleks, I, Monster, Tales from the Crypt, The Vault of Horror and At the Earth’s Core, comes this fast-paced sci-fi thriller in the tradition of Invasion of the Body Snatchers! When meteorites crash-land in the perfect formation of the letter V, the Ministry of Extraterrestrial Life on Other Planets (MELOP) springs into action! Britain’s leading professor on the subject is in charge of finding out what’s going on before it’s too late. Fortunately, he’s got a metal plate in his head which prevents the aliens from taking over his mind and forcing him into slave labor on the moon! They Came from Beyond Space is an out-of-this-world, out-of-your-mind sci-fi sensation!