It! (1967 film)

Did You Know?

• The film was released in the United States as a double feature with The Frozen Dead.
• It was released on DVD on 9 December 2008 by Warner Home Video as part of a Horror Double Feature with The Shuttered Room.
• Seven Arts Productions acquired Warner Bros. Pictures in 1967, so the film was released by Warner Bros.-Seven Arts.

Plot

A fire at a London museum warehouse leaves only one object untouched: a statue the curator, Mr. Grove, calls "Mid-European Primitive." While examining it, Grove sends his assistant Arthur Pimm for a flashlight and is mysteriously killed. Strange deaths and disasters follow, all linked to the statue, which experts later identify as the Golem of Judah Loew from the 16th century. Pimm, a disturbed man who keeps his mother's corpse in his apartment and decorates it with stolen museum jewelry, discovers a hidden compartment in the Golem's right foot.

Inside is a scroll with the Hebrew word "emeth" ("truth"). Placing it in the statue's mouth brings the Golem to life. Instead of protecting its community as intended, the Golem becomes Pimm's partner in murder and chaos. After the Golem is blamed for destroying Hammersmith Bridge, Pimm tries to destroy it but fails, because an inscription says it cannot be destroyed "by fire, nor water, nor force, nor anything by man created."

This proves true when a small nuclear warhead is detonated to stop it. Meanwhile, Ellen Grove, the curator's daughter, is caught in the middle. Pimm loves her, but she falls for Jim Perkins from the New York Museum, who identifies the Golem and wants it for his collection. Perkins exposes Pimm to the police, leading to Pimm's commitment to an insane asylum.

Pimm escapes with the Golem's help and kidnaps Ellen, taking her to the museum's countryside annex called "the Cloisters." Perkins rescues Ellen just before the nuclear explosion vaporizes Pimm and the Cloisters. The Golem, however, survives and retreats into the sea for reasons unknown.

Reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin noted that the audacious and interesting idea of reviving the Golem story required a sizeable budget and spectacular special effects, both of which were lacking. It observed that the demolition of Hammersmith Bridge was rather feeble, but praised the Golem itself as a gem, with an effective transition from a static state to ambling locomotion. The narrative was described as serviceable but evolving in fits and starts, never quite deciding what to do with the character of Pimm.

The opening scene, showing Pimm living with his mother whose uncommunicativeness is explained by her being a clothed skeleton, properly suggested something odd about him, and this macabre fun was justified by the ending in which mother has a part to play. The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 2/5 stars, calling it a dismal attempt to resurrect the Golem legend for Swinging Sixties audiences, with Roddy McDowall as an assistant museum curator living with his mother's mummified corpse, reviving the Golem to do his psychopathic bidding.

It described the film as a confused mix of black humour and horror lacking style, invention and budget. Jason P. Vargo from IGN awarded the film a score of 4/10, calling it a sub-par creature feature. Leonard Maltin gave the film two out of four stars. David Camak Pratt from PopMatters, reviewing the double feature DVD release, awarded it three out of 10 stars, calling it uneven and ridiculous, and criticizing the Psycho-like plot points as both obvious and pointless.