freakboy on film: IT! (1967)

Thanks to my damaged eyes, I don’t read text messages.  My phone reads them to me and this can sometimes result in confusion.  A friend texted me about the plot of EMBRYO, and in the same message, asked me if I had seen it, starring Roddy McDowell.  I assumed she was asking me if I had seen EMBRYO, even though saying Roddy starred in it seemed an exaggeration.  I mean, he makes a memorable appearance in it, but EMBRYO is Rock Hudson’s film through and through.  My friend then responded to my thoughts on that film, but concluded her message by once again asking me if I had seen it.  I felt like I was losing my mind, so I slipped on my Mad Scientist Glasses and took a screenshot.  After zooming in on her question, I realized she wasn’t asking me if I had seen EMBRYO.  She was asking if I had seen a film I had shockingly never heard of before.  IT! is a 1967 film from the UK that is like THE GOLEM and PSYCHO were stuffed together in a blender. 

Is that a cone on its head or is it just happy to see us?

After a fire destroys a storage building containing artifacts from Prague, museum curator Mr. Grove and his assistant, Mr. Pimm, search the rubble for anything salvageable.  The only thing left is a towering statue.  Grove reads part of an inscription and mysteriously dies.  Pimm doesn’t witness this, but uses it for his personal gain.  He is now acting curator and expects to spend more time with Grove’s grown daughter Ellen.  As an added bonus, being the museum curator makes it easier for Pimm to “borrow” jewelry from display cases to bring home for his dead mother to wear for a day or two.  Yes, dead mother.  Her skeletal remains sit in a rocking chair in Pimm’s flat.  This ghastly twist is revealed early on and shows Pimm’s disturbed mental state. 

Mother just wants to look fabulous!

It’s no surprise then when Pimm, after it’s revealed the statue is a Golem, uses the statue to kill and to impress Ellen by bragging he has the power to destroy a bridge.  However, Ellen only has eyes for Jim Perkins, a man from New York sent to authenticate the Golem.  Mr. Perkins is going to take the statue and Ellen to New York, which causes Pimm and the plot to go completely off the rails! 

We all go a little mad sometimes!

Pimm steals a hearse, kidnaps Ellen, and along with his dead mother and the Golem, holes up in a little castle.  He also holds castle caretaker Miss Swanson hostage and forces her to have tea with his dead mother and the Golem, but tragically, we never see this potentially hilarious and uncomfortable gathering.  Meanwhile, Mr. Perkins has figured out everything and now the British Army is trying to save Ellen and stop Pimm and the Golem.  What will happen?  Will Ellen be saved?  Will the army detonate a small nuclear warhead to stop Pimm and the Golem or will Miss Swanson be forced into another macabre tea?  You’ll have to watch to find out! 

Only the bust knows!

Roddy McDowall is perfectly Roddy McDowall as Arthur Pimm.  The rest of the cast is fine but this is McDowall’s film.  Writer/director Herbert J. Leder keeps viewers confused by showing some things, but not others.  Revealing Pimm is harboring his mother’s corpse so early causes a strange vibe to run through the plot.  Uneven is the best way to describe IT! but it is crazy fun, at least in the last 20 minutes. 

In conclusion…
IT! is a slow burn and only gets really bonkers when Pimm takes everyone to the castle.  Unlike some of the films I’ve reviewed for Rebecca of Taking Up Room’s SO BAD IT’S GOOD BLOGATHON over the years, I freely call IT! a bad film.  It’s a bit tedious at times, but the craziness makes it fun to watch.  So, if you’re a Roddy McDowall fan or you crave some low-key delirious storytelling, IT! might be the film for you! 

Freak Out, 
JLH

P.S. click a pic for more SO BAD IT’S GOOD films…

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A totally biased Reading List for 2026…null
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