This movie in some weird, fever dream way does manage to build a kind of weird compulsive atmosphere - once the obnoxious Norman Sterns (Corveth Ousterhouse) has been disposed of by the monster, I have never been happier to see a bad actor being eaten alive off screen. He was dreadful.
Probably the worst bit of direction in the whole movie and what really lets the whole thing down for me (ignoring the bad acting, dodgy continuity, unexplained double actions, crappy Day for Night shots, sudden lurches into slow motion in very static 'chase' sequences, and all the long tedious slow zooms in on the bubbling puddle etc. etc.) is the phenomenal decision of the director to have the housekeeper character visit the captives via a route that let her be IN THE CELL with them - while our villain gloats from the other side of an impressive steel door. A steel door which the heroes plot to blow up with dynamite it's so strong. (They just happened to have some in the Jeep. Palaeontologists carry always carry a few sticks with them.) There is no reason for the housekeeper to be in there with them. Nothing in the scripted dialogue or plot says she has to be in there and neither of the captives think that it might just possibly be a good idea to follow her out when she leaves, or bash her on the noggin and take her keys, or anything practical like that.
Nope, they just sit there. Stupid people.
Stupid Stupid Movie.
Legally downloadable from The Internet Archive. http://www.archive.org/details/ItsAlive
Probably the worst bit of direction in the whole movie and what really lets the whole thing down for me (ignoring the bad acting, dodgy continuity, unexplained double actions, crappy Day for Night shots, sudden lurches into slow motion in very static 'chase' sequences, and all the long tedious slow zooms in on the bubbling puddle etc. etc.) is the phenomenal decision of the director to have the housekeeper character visit the captives via a route that let her be IN THE CELL with them - while our villain gloats from the other side of an impressive steel door. A steel door which the heroes plot to blow up with dynamite it's so strong. (They just happened to have some in the Jeep. Palaeontologists carry always carry a few sticks with them.) There is no reason for the housekeeper to be in there with them. Nothing in the scripted dialogue or plot says she has to be in there and neither of the captives think that it might just possibly be a good idea to follow her out when she leaves, or bash her on the noggin and take her keys, or anything practical like that.
Nope, they just sit there. Stupid people.
Stupid Stupid Movie.
Legally downloadable from The Internet Archive. http://www.archive.org/details/ItsAlive