It! The Terror from Beyond Space Blu-ray

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

(aka "The Vampire from Beyond Space" or "It! The Vampire from Beyond Space")

Directed by Edward L. Cahn
USA 1958

Summoned to the silver screen by sci-fi specialist Edward L. Cahn (Curse of the Faceless Man)—and too terrifying to even have a name!—“It” is a seemingly invincible monster that is hell-bent on killing everybody on a mission to Mars. This life-devouring alien brushes aside bullets and even nuclear blasts—making it one very cold-hearted Cold War-style invader. When his crew is brutally murdered on a Mars expedition, Commander Carruthers (Marshall Thompson, First Man into Space) becomes the prime suspect. Taken into custody and facing a court-martial back on Earth, he discovers that the real killer—a grotesque, slithering “It”—has stowed aboard the earthbound ship. But the indestructible creature has already begun a harrowing in-flight rampage, knocking off the members of the crew one by one. Now, as the spaceship heads home toward a panic-stricken Earth, the remaining crew must find some way to stop the unstoppable…“It.”

***

One of the best of the medium-budgeted science fiction flicks of the 1950s, It! The Terror from Beyond Space is set in "the future" 1973, to be exact. An rescue ship travels out to Mars to retrieve the only survivor of a space probe that has experienced some sort of cataclysm. That survivor, Col Ed Carruthers (Marshall Thompson) is accused of murdering his fellow crewmen. But Ed claims that the killer was a Martian monster, and hopes to prove his assertions by signing up for a second journey to the Red Planet. Before long, the crew members of this second expedition are being systematically killed off, and it looks as though Ed is up to his old tricks. As it turns out, however, Ed was telling the truth: there is a monster on board, the savage descendant of the once-mighty Martian civilization, who snuck on board when an irresponsible crew member left the door open. The monster stays alive by absorbing the vital body fluids of its victims-and there seems to be no way to stop this parasitic creature! If the plot of It! The Terror from Beyond Space seems vaguely familiar, it is because it was one of the primary inspirations for the 1979 sci-fi classic Alien.

Posters

Theatrical Release: August 14th, 1958

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Review: Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

Box Cover		CLICK to order from: Bonus Captures:
Distribution	Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:09:20.541
Video	1.85:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 35,796,622,738 bytes Feature: 22,516,156,416 bytes Video Bitrate: 38.86 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate Blu-ray:
Audio	DTS-HD Master Audio English 1600 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1600 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit) Commentaries: Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Subtitles	English (SDH), None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Kino 1.85:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 35,796,622,738 bytes Feature: 22,516,156,416 bytes Video Bitrate: 38.86 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • tidbITs: Ephemera from Beyond Space - Featurette by Film Historian Craig Beam (44:05) • NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historians Tom Weaver, Bob Burns, Larry Blamire and David Schecter • NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian Craig Beam • NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian/Screenwriter Gary Gerani • Theatrical Trailer (1:09) Blu-ray Release Date: October 24th, 2023 Standard Blu-ray Case inside slipcase Chapters 8

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (November 2023): Kino have transferred Edward L. Cahn's It! The Terror from Beyond Space to Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "Brand New HD Master – From a 2K Scan of the 35mm Fine Grain". We reviewed the bare-bones Olive Films Blu-ray releases from 2015 HERE and have compared captures below. The new 1080P is remarkably superior. It is crisper, tighter, cleaner and doesn't have the compression artifacts of the 2015 HD presentation. The Kino is a strong upgrade.

NOTE: We have added 62 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Kino use a DTS-HD Master dual-mono track (24-bit) in the original English language. It! The Terror from Beyond Space has few aggressive moments that come through with modest depth. The was score by Paul Sawtell (Five Steps to Danger, Island of the Blue Dolphins A Game of Death, Inferno, Silver City, The Fly, Denver and Rio Grande, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea etc. and with Bert Shefter - teaming with Sawtell - on The Bubble, She-Devil and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.) and score by , sounding clean with consistent dialogue in the lossless transfer. Kino offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Kino Blu-ray offers THREE new commentaries. The first is by New York-based film researcher and historian Tom Weaver (co-author of Universal Horrors: The Studio's Classic Films, 1931-1946) with input from historian of props, costumes etc., Bob Burns - writer and science fiction illustrator, Larry Blamire and Monstrous Movie Music’s producer, David Schecter discussing the score. They fill the 1-hour 10-minutes pleasantly while exporting extraneous, selective, information from, always fun, Weaver's database of nearly 600 interviews of actors, writers, producers, directors. There is also a new commentary from film historian Craig Beam - who has done commentaries on many of the Outer Limits and Night Gallery Kino Blu-ray series. He discusses many production details including actor Ray "Crash" Corrigan, the monster suit and how he was often drunk on the set. The third commentary is by film historian / screenwriter Gary Gerani (co-author of Top 100 Sci-Fi Movies.) He discusses It! The Terror from Beyond Space as the inspiration for Ridley Scott's Alien and several sci-fi films that had a trapped creature on a spaceship. Gary is always informative and enjoyable and he covers unique points not referenced in the other two commentaries. Also included is the 3/4 hour tidbITs: Ephemera from Beyond Space featurette by Craig Beam discussing many of the wave of similar sci-fi films of the era, with posters, details on the make-ups artists and granular specifics on It! The Terror from Beyond Space. It's visually very well done and I really enjoyed it. Lastly, is a theatrical trailer for the film and a handful of other sci-fi genre flics from the 50's and 60's. There is a slipcase O-card cover and reversible cover artwork (see below.)

Edward L. Cahn's It! The Terror from Beyond Space was independently made with a modest budget. The creature costume has its own colorful history and eventually became the property of United Artists, appearing in their 1959, so-bad-it's-good, Invisible Invaders. As the extras attest, there were a number of 50's sci-fi titles that utilized "IT" for the titular creature including It Came from Outer Space, From Hell It Came, It Came From Beneath the Sea, and It Conquered the World as well as a number that had a plot involving space travel to Mars; Rocketship X-M, Flight to Mars, Conquest of Space, The Angry Red Planet, Robinson Crusoe on Mars etc.. But It! The Terror from Beyond Space is very notable for its inspiration for Ridley Scott's Alien, and many more, with a spaceship stowaway creature stalking the crew eliminating them like Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians. I saw similarities in 2017's Life with Jake Gyllenhaal. At the press conference is when officialdom relates the rescue mission they state that Earth may now be forced to bypass the Red Planet in future space explorations "because another word for Mars is Death". Take that Elon Musk. For people who love this genre - reviewer acknowledges himself in the mirror - Kino's new 35mm Fine Grain-transfer Blu-ray of It! The Terror from Beyond Space, with three super commentaries and exceptional 45-minute featurette, is a must-own. We give this our highest recommendation!