It Came From Outer Space

WARNING: This review is hidden because it reveals the content of the film.
Click here to show this review. Despite the cheesy title and the goofy-looking DVD cover," It Came From Outer Space" is actually a pretty good 50's alien movie. The movie generates suspense and it kept me guessing throughout.

When amateur astronomer and science fiction writer John Putnam (Richard Carlson) investigates an object falling from the sky, he discovers an alien ship in the impact crater. The ship is quickly buried by an avalanche, but not before at least one of its residents manages to escape. Not even John’s attractive girlfriend Ellen (Barbara Rush) believes his story so when the aliens start taking over people’s bodies, it’s up to John to save the day.

This picture was actually released before more famous alien invasion movies like "The War of the Worlds" cemented aliens as evil invaders bent on global domination. In this movie, you don't really know if the aliens are good or bad until the very end. They seem to show some realistic, rational explanations for some of their actions, but for others not so much. Some of these choices might be mistakes on the script and story level or they might be deliberate red herrings. It seems from the ending that the aliens are meant to be seen in one way, but some of their actions are just inexplicable. Don’t get me wrong, I like the movie and think it’s genuinely good, but if they’re not malevolent, why do they keep abducting humans and if they are, why don't they replace or eliminate everyone that learns the truth about them? Once the movie is over, some of the aliens’ actions don't really make any sense. While it plays out this actually works in the movie's favour, keeping it nice and twisty. You wonder if our main character is doing the right thing, or if he is about to accidentally plunge humanity into a war with space weirdos.

I think one of the main reasons why I was able to just go with the flow of this story is because of the protagonist and the supporting characters. John is quite interesting to follow as he tries to uncover what's going on. Kathleen Hughes is pretty memorable in a small but sexy role for instance. I get the feeling that a lot of the material initially written for her was cut, but what’s left is great. Some of the other characters start off interesting but lose their charm as the movie goes on. Jack's girlfriend Ellen for example, starts off as a pretty smart woman that's not afraid of what other people will think of her but basically degenerates into a woman who just screams a lot once we see what the aliens are capable of.

The special effects for the film are quite good and the film was shot in 3D, with many shots using the technology well."It Came from Outer Space" manages to have layered shots without resulting to gimmicky bits where people playing with yo-yos or anything like that. If you were watching it in 2D you wouldn't even know there was another option available it’s so well integrated. The space ship effects are great and so are the miniatures.

The movie isn't a grand masterpiece. The character dialogue is well written and fun to listen to, maybe even too well written. Although you won't mind hearing it, the rather poetic description that a lowly electrician gives about the strange noises he has been hearing is out of place. I also think it was a mistake to show us the aliens. They don’t look very convincing. Considering they can take over people’s bodies, I would have shown them for just an instant, if at all, but the shots linger. It's one of the better entries in the 50's alien/monster movie genre. It's got some good memorable moments and it's very entertaining to watch without being perfect. You won't be overly distracted by some of the blunders of the film and you'll actually be impressed with the end results."It Came From Outer Space" is a fun alien movie that will keep you guessing. (On DVD, April 14, 2013)