Ray Bradbury has far too much imagination.
John Putnam (Richard Carlson) is a writer living in the Arizona desert. He is also an amateur stargazer. His girlfriend is Ellen Fields (Barbara Rush). She is also the local schoolteacher. John is considered an outsider to some. His biggest not fan is the local sheriff Matt Warren (Charles Drake), who also feels protective of Ellen. One night, John and Ellen see a meteorite crash in the desert. John's friend Pete Davis (Dave Willock) owns a small helicopter. John wakes him up and has him fly him to the crash site. Once there, John climbs down into the crater to get a look a the meteorite. John sees a spaceship before a landslide covers it. No one believes what he sees.
"It Came From Outer Space" was released in 1953 and was directed by Jack Arnold. Not only are we talking about aliens from outer space as outcasts, but John is too. And he's an Earthling. So, is it any wonder that when the aliens crash land they get such a cold reception? And a deadly one too.
The monster movie part is so good. There’s suspense and spooky music. Something that you can’t quite see out of the corner of your eye. You really can’t see it, but you can feel it. The scenes where you see from the monster's perspective are eerie and distorted. And when the aliens take over the form of a person it’s as if they are wearing a shell. A human costume without emotion. Then things start to happen that you know are not what they should be, but you can’t put your finger on it. It’s a well-done monster movie. The monster itself no, but it’s still a thriller. And if anybody else had written this movie other than Bradbury it would have been just a monster movie with bad looking monster. So, if all this is too much for you and all you’re looking for is a regular monster movie.
I have seen this movie many times. It’s one of the standards that every child that’s ever watched a horror movie has seen. When you’re young it’s a scary, spooky Science Fiction movie with a monster from outer space. And when you’re a kid that’s enough. But when you’ve grown, and you watch it again it takes on a different meaning. An added meaning. Not so much a monster from outer space as it is a monster from earth. Us. Our intolerance and our inhumanity. It’s a lesson in being different and the difficulties that can bring. And it’s all Ray Bradbury’s fault.
And what better way to illustrate our mental deficiencies than with a Theremin. Some of these classic horror movies are really lessons in life. The good parts and the bad. That may be why we are unconsciously attracted to them. We think it’s for the monsters. But there’s more than one kind.