It! (1967 film)

It!
Directed by	Herbert J. Leder
Produced by	Robert Goldstein (exec. producer) Herbert J. Leder Tom Sachs (assoc. producer)
Written by	Herbert J. Leder
Starring	Roddy McDowell Jill Haworth Paul Maxwell Alan Sellers
Music by	Carlo Martelli
Production company	Gold Star Films Ltd.
Distributed by	Warner Bros.-Seven Arts
Release date	15 November 1967 (1967-11-15)
Running time	97 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

It! (alternate titles: Anger of the Golem, Curse of the Golem) is a 1967 British horror film made by Seven Arts Productions and Gold Star Productions, Ltd. that features the Golem of Prague as its main subject. Herbert J. Leder is a producer, screenwriter, and director. Leder also produced, wrote, and directed Nine Miles to Noon (1963), The Frozen Dead (1966), and The Candy Man (1969). The film was made in the style of the Hammer Studios films both in sound and cinematography. It! stars Roddy McDowall as the mad assistant museum curator Arthur Pimm, who brings the golem to life.

A London museum's warehouse burns down leaving undamaged a statue that the museum curator, Mr. Grove, identifies as "Mid-European Primitive." Grove is mysteriously killed while inspecting the artifact when his assistant, Arthur Pimm, is sent to fetch a flashlight for him. This begins a series of unexplained deaths and calamities connected with the statue, which is later positively identified as the Golem of Judah Loew of the 16th century. An inscription in Hebrew heightens the suspense and horror of the plot:

Arthur Pimm, a Norman Bates character, who keeps his mother's corpse in his apartment and borrows museum jewel exhibits to adorn it, brings the golem to life by placing a small scroll containing the Hebrew word "emeth" ("truth") into its mouth, which he finds in a compartment located at the top of the golem's right foot. The golem then becomes Pimm's accomplice in murder and mayhem contrary to its original purpose to defend its community. When the golem is suspected of bringing about the catastrophic destruction of Hammersmith Bridge, Pimm tries to destroy it. This is impossible as the inscription predicts: "for neither by fire, nor water, nor force, nor anything by man created" can it be destroyed. This is borne out in the final scenes of the film by the detonation of a small nuclear warhead in an attempt to stop it.

Caught up in all of this is Ellen Grove, the daughter of the first deceased curator, who is a love interest for Pimm, but falls in love with Jim Perkins of the New York Museum, who identifies the golem and seeks to acquire it for his museum. Perkins exposes Pimm to the police, and Pimm is committed to an insane asylum. He breaks out of the asylum and kidnaps Ellen with the help of the golem. Pimm holes up in the museum's annex in the country, known as "The Cloisters." Jim Perkins dramatically saves Ellen from the nuclear explosion that vaporizes Pimm and "The Cloisters" but not the golem, which retreats into the sea.