Amicus Productions
Back in the 1950s and ’60s, Hammer Films was the king of British horror having revived classic monsters like Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster and the Mummy with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. Hammer’s rival Amicus got into the horror game as well, but became famous for their anthology films like Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors, Torture Garden, The House That Dripped Blood, Tales from the Crypt, Asylum, Vault of Horror and From Beyond the Grave. Science fiction was not a staple of British film production outside of the Quatermass series, and Amicus did produce the only two theatrical film adaptations of Doctor Who with Peter Cushing in the title role, and then jumped back on the sci-fi bandwagon of the late ’60s with two films shot back-to-back: The Terrornauts and They Came From Beyond Space. Now, Kino Lorber has cleaned up They Came From Beyond Space for a brand new Blu-ray release.
Review
The story of the film, based on the novel ‘The Gods Hate Kansas’ by Joseph J. Millard, concerns a cluster of meteorites that have crash landed in a field in a V formation. Dr. Curtis Temple (Robert Hutton) has been studying UFOs and is contacted to lead an investigation into the objects. Unable to attend due to a medical condition which involves a metal plate in his skull, Temple sends his assistant Lee Mason (Jennifer Jayne) with a team to investigate and report back with their data. But after striking one of the objects and becoming psychically linked to the beings inside, Lee and her team become puppets to help the aliens accomplish their mission which involves traveling to the moon. Temple is concerned when communication from Lee ceases, but he is told his doctor has released him to travel to the site where he discovers all is not right in the small town of Cornwall. With the help of his friend Farge (Zia Mohyeddin), Temple attempts to stop the alien activity and save Lee and her team.
It all sounds rather interesting but the execution of the film is rather pedestrian. Director Freddie Francis does the best he can with what he’s got to work with, but the film suffers from a terrible script and a low budget that even Francis’ directorial style can rescue. Another problem Francis faced was Amicus’ insistence that the film be family friendly, so when a plot device like the ‘Red Plague’ is introduced, the horror of the situation is diffused by a goofy explanation to soothe the children’s nerves. The film’s budget constraints seem to stem from The Terrornauts being filmed first so there just wasn’t enough money to pour into They Came From Beyond Space outside of a couple of shots of a rocket launch model.
The acting in the film is serviceable. American Hutton was cast because both Amicus and Hammer always wanted an American lead to help sell their films to the US market (which is why Hammer cast Brian Donlevy in the early Quatermass films), and Hutton happened to be at a cocktail party with the film’s producers. Hutton got his shot as a leading man in Hollywood while actors like James Stewart and Clark Gable were in the military but his performance here is bland at best. Jayne is able to give a more interesting performance as her personality has to change once she’s connected with the aliens. Bernard Kay makes his entrance evoking John Steed from The Avengers, and the great Michael Gough’s appearance late in the film amounts to a glorified cameo in a costume and set as cheap looking as anything on that era’s Doctor Who television series.
Video & Audio
Kino Lorber’s Blu-ray gives the film a much better presentation than it deserves with a sharp, clear image from a new 4K scan that even makes some of the flat lighting look good. It also reveals the cheapness of some of the sets. Colors are appropriate if not the hyper-saturated palette Francis usually worked in (although there is one inexplicable scene that does use colored lights to its advantage) but the image overall is solid and filmlike. The mono audio is also clear, no evidence of hiss, and the dialog is appropriately front and center, never drowned out by the minimal use of music or sound effects. There really is nothing to complain about with the presentation.
Special Features
Aside from a collection of trailers for this film and other Kino Lorber releases, the main draw should be the audio commentary by film historian David Del Valle and filmmaker David DeCoteau. Unfortunately, they are as disinterested in the film as the viewer will be upon a second viewing, speaking briefly about Hutton, Jayne and Francis while waiting more than an hour for Michael Gough to finally make it into the picture. They speak more about every other film Amicus and Hammer made than they do about the film they’re watching, offering brief anecdotes about what’s on screen and chiding the poor production value. I was actually hoping they would have more insight into They Came From Beyond Space, but this audio track had very little to offer, which was a disappointment.
Overview
Back in the 1950s and ’60s, some of the independent studios would come up with a title and a poster to sell a film to theater owners, and the poster was usually more vivid and exciting than the movie itself. I don’t know if that was the case with this movie, but the poster artwork is definitely more interesting than anything in the movie and features the cast in outfits that only appear on the poster. The included trailer is also a hoot, completely misselling the film’s story with more than a bit of hyperbole, but if you watch the trailer first, it would certainly make you want to see the film.
I can’t fault any of the work Kino Lorber did with this movie for the Blu-ray release (and the trailer below is a very poor representation of the Blu-ray’s quality), but unless you’re die-hard fan of Amicus Productions and need the film to complete your collection, the casual buyer may want to think twice before laying down the money for a purchase.
Kino Lorber generously provided Hotchka with the Blu-ray for reviewing purposes.
They Came From Beyond Space has a running time of 1 hour 25 minutes and is not rated.
Amicus Productions
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