“In science-fiction films, the monster should always be bigger than the leading lady.” One of B-movie auteur Roger Corman’s most famous quotes stems from only his second picture in the genre, It Conquered the World. And when, just moments from the end, you finally clap eyes on its unintentionally comical Venusian villain, a waddling, oversized root vegetable which looks incapable of conquering a flight of stairs, let alone the entirety of human civilization, his admission makes total sense.
Designed by special effects maestro Paul Blaisdell, whose skull was nearly pierced while controlling its hotchpotch of wood, rubber and latex from inside, the big baddie known as Beulah even left its cast thoroughly bemused. "Roger! I could bop that monster over the head with my handbag!" remarked leading lady Beverly Garland on first sight. It didn’t help matters that Corman, relying a little too heavily on his engineering background, insisted that its high-gravity home planet would have rendered it unfrighteningly short and squat.
