The British film IT! (not to be confused with IT, IT, IT'S ALIVE, or "IT'S ALIVE!") was an interesting picture combining the madness of PSYCHO and the uncontrolled menace of THE COLOSSUS OF NEW YORK. Roddy MacDowell plays a man named Pimm, assistant curator of a prominent London museum. He's been smuggling precious stones and other artifacts out of the museum so his mother can wear them for a short moment before their return. The thing is, Mrs. Pimm is a dried-up corpse, dead for several years now, but Pimm keeps chatting with her as if she were just fine! That'd be spooky enough, but Pimm soon finds himself obsessed with a stone statue -the sole artifact which survived a warehouse fire. Circumstances also indicate that the statue may've killed Pimm's superior! Looking into it, Pimm discovers the statue to be the legendary Golem -a living statue intended to serve the Jews, but prone to uncontrolled rampages! Soon enough, Pimm has ignored all the warning signs and restored life to the statue. Now the most powerful force in the world is subject to the commands of a lunatic! Intriguing premise is handled soberly, aided by a strong cast. If the film really stumbles, it's in what appears to be the result of a rushed production. The first half plays fine, but the second half frequently plays as if there just wasn't enough coverage and the editor had to piece together what he had. The climax of the picture is increasingly rushed and digest-like, in fact. This seems a bit of a shame, given how deliberately-paced and moody the earlier bulk of the film is. Still, for a B monster movie, it's got a lot going for it. MacDowall, of course, is magnetic, and the monster he brings to life is a simple, yet effective design. IT! would make an interesting comparison with CURSE OF THE FACELESS MAN, a 1959 adventure similarly concerned with a museum-displayed stone figure which seems to have a life of it's own.
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