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Directed by Herbert J. Leder
Starring Jill Haworth
Paul Maxwell Roddy McDowall
A pretty weak 1960s horror film with Roddy McDowell in an Anthony Perkins-like role as an assistant museum curator, "It" is nonetheless a pretty fun old movie -- an one that attempted the beauty of McDowell's luscious co-star (Jill Haworth, later of "Tower of Evil") to maximum effect.
The film opens with a fire at a Lonon museum warehouse -- depicted via stock footage. The museum curator and his assitant, McDowell, head out to assess the damange. There, they run across a seemingly untouched statue that the curator examines. While McDowell walks off, the curator dies quite suddenly. We get the idea that the creepy looking statue is somehow responsible.
Roll credits.
This film came out seven years after "Psycho," so to spice things up director Leder made McDowell's character as Norman Bates-like as possible -- having him live with his mummified deceased mother! Not that it has too much relevance to the story going forward. After a guard is killed by the statue, we soon learn that the artifact is the legendary "golem" of ancient Hebrew history. It will serve any master that manages to put a magic parchment in its mouth. But it's destructive as well.
Naturally, McDowell -- whom we also learn is a thief, in addition to living with a mummy -- finds the parchment and places it in the statue's mouth. The statue soon starts walking about, killing his new boss and even destroying a bridge.
While McDowell attempts to court museum employee Haworth, he has a rival in the form of an American museum dude who is in town to buy the statue. Meanwhile, he has an explicit dream featuring a nude Haworth: the movie's 1967 money shot.
Things get even stranger when McDowell holes up in a chateua with a kidnapped Haworth, while his statue slave stands guard. The British military try to destroy the statue and finally decide the only option is to go nuclear!
Yeah, it's an extremely moldie oldie from the '60s, but pretty fun. It was released on DVD in the U.S. in 2008 with a splendid looking transfer as a double bill with the superior "The Shuttered Room."
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-- Review by Lucius Gore
Posted by k+l on May 5, 2009 Great! now im afraid of clowns tho!
Posted by k+l on May 5, 2009 oops wrong IT!
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Rank this film on a '666 scale' of one to six (left to right).
Based on 2068 votes.
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