“They Came from Beyond Space” is a science-fiction movie released in 1967, directed by Freddie Francis and produced by Amicus Productions. The movie is based on the novel “The Gods Hate Kansas” by Joseph Millard. It is a story of alien invasion and mind control that takes place in England. hey Came from Beyond Space used many of the sets and props left over from Amicus’s Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1966) as a cost-cutting measure.
The plot begins with a group of meteorites falling to Earth. A scientist named Dr. Curtis Temple (Robert Hutton) sends his colleague and lover Lee Mason (Jennifer Jayne) to investigate the site of the impact. She discovers that the meteorites are not meteorites at all but are in fact spacecraft. As they approach the spacecraft, they are hit by a beam of light that knocks her unconscious and leaves her under alien mind control.
The aliens have come to Earth to take over the minds of humans and use them as their slaves. The scientists, under the control of the aliens, begin to build a secret base where they can manufacture a powerful weapon that the aliens need for their own purposes. Worried that his only contact with Lee has been her requisitions for millions of pounds’ worth of equipment—including weapons—Curtis decides to visit the site despite his MD’s orders. But before he leaves, a fellow scientist (Geoffrey Wallace) determines that the meteorites have, surprisingly, come from the moon.
Curtis is tailed by an agent from ‘Internal Security.’ Curtis explains why he is there but the agent must phone his superior for permission to give Curtis a full situation report. He enters a phone box to place the call, then suddenly stumbles out, covered with red spots, and falls dying to the ground. A small crowd gathers. A doctor steps forward, but after touching the agent, he too dies. Then each member of the crowd falls ill. The press declares tbat this is ‘The Crimson Plague’. A television commentator assures viewers that although no cause or cure has been discovered, the authorities have developed a secret method of safely disposing of the victims’ bodies.
Curtis manages to sneak into the aliens’ huge underground headquarters, displaying his fighting skills in the process. He discovers the frozen bodies of the plague victims. But he is soon captured and locked in a cell but no cell can hold him as he soon escapes by hiding behind his cell door and jumping the alien who arrives to kill him. Curtis then rescues an brainwashed Lee by knocking her out with a swift blow to the jaw and carrying her off to the home of his friend Farge (Mohyeddin). Curtis realises that the silver plate in his head somehow prevents the aliens from possessing him and he convinces Farge to melt his beloved silver cricket trophies and to create a silver protective helmet for him to wear. Farge then uses ultraviolet light to break the alien control of Lee. She remembers nothing from her time under alien control but is happy to pretend she is still under alien control so drives to the site with Curtis and Farge hiding in the back of her Land Rover.
The three conceal themselves in a rocket just before it blasts off. But they’re soon discovered and brought before the Master of the Moon (Michael Gough), who tells them that the government’s secret plan to dispose of the plague victims’ bodies is to shoot them to the moon. The Master states that the aliens are creatures of pure energy and are using the humans to repair their spaceship, which had crashed on the moon. They want to return to their home planet to die, as they have grown old and tired after light years of travel. The frozen bodies Curtis had found are not really dead. The Master assures them that once the spaceship is repaired, all the ‘victims’ will be returned to normality.
Despite all the civilised chat the aliens prepare to surgically remove Curtis’s silver plate so that they can tap his knowledge. Farge leads the workers in a revolt and saves Curtis. Curtis tells the Master of the Moon that they needn’t have attempted to conquer the Earth, all they had to do was ask for help, and it would have gladly been given. The Master’s eyes well up with tears at the revelation and teh mistake he has made!
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