A stalwart of Hammer Films with the likes of The Evil of Frankenstein, Freddie Francis also directed many a genre pic for the rival Amicus, including They Came from Beyond Space, a cheap but enjoyable sci-fi flick based upon a Joseph Millard novel titled The Gods Hate Kansas, a title they clearly should have kept.
After a formation of meteors falls on a farm on Earth, people find their minds controlled by the glowing rock, accompanied by an entirely inappropriate crime-jazz score. Luckily, our hero (Robert Hutton, The Slime People) has a steel plate in his head, so he is immune to the aliens’ ways, although a spaghetti colander apparently does the trick, too.
And while “they” may have come from “beyond space,” they have taken up residence on the moon, where they’re lorded over by the Master of the Moon, played by Michael Gough, aka Alfred from Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher’s four combined Batman movies. Villain or no, it’s hard to hate such a nice old man. —Rod Lott