THEY CAME FROM BEYOND SPACE (1967)

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *drama*

CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *cosmological*

This low-budget “alien possession” tale was adapted by Amicus producer Milton Subotsky from an American SF-novel, THE GODS HATE KANSAS. I have not read the original novel, but Subotsky and the all-Brit cast do a creditable job of transferring the action to the British Isles, so that BEYOND seems of a piece with such similar Brit-works.

BEYOND’s main character is scientist Curt Temple (Robert Hutton), who frequently collaborates with his girlfriend and fellow scientist Lee Mason (Jennifer Jayne). Prior to her departure to collaborate with another scientific group, Curt humorously remarks that he doesn’t want other scientists to find out that Lee is the “real brains” of their partnership.

Then bodiless aliens descend to earth via a meteor-shower, and within the film’s first fifteen minutes they take possession of Lee and her fellow eggheads, all of whom immediately speaking in highly affected tones. They set up their own base, co-opting the resources of the British government. Curt becomes aware of Lee’s strange behavior and investigates the base, though he’s unable to convince the authorities of the group’s sinister plans.

Since both Curt and Lee are very flat character-types, her constant rejections of his attentions doesn’t carry much resonance. There’s some potential for romantic conflict when a blonde town-girl tries to chat up Curt during his period of rejection. But though she later succors Curt after his possessed girlfriend shoots him with a stun-ray (complete with a groovy “spiraling circles” effect), the town-girl fades out of the story and is one of the characters slain by an apparent plague. The plague is one of the aliens’ stratagems for keeping the authorities away from their operations, but Curt sees through their charade. In the end Curt penetrates the base and “deprograms” his girlfriend. However, at the eleventh hour the aliens reveal that they haven’t really killed anyone and that everyone who apparently died will be made whole. The film ends with Curt vowing to help the aliens out of their difficulties.

THEY CAME FROM BEYOND SPACE is a pretty ordinary low-octane thriller, but there are at least a few lively moments here and there. That’s more than I could find in Amicus’s same-year SF-flick THE TERRORNAUTS, also adapted from a little-known American SF-novel.