review for It Conquered the World on AllMovie

A pointy-headed Venusian carrot-monster with a bad underbite controls men's minds in this goofy but lovable alien-invasion picture from American International. Lee Van Cleef plays a scientist who warns his superiors not to send a rocket into space. When he starts to obsess on picking up audio signals from Venus, his best friend (Peter Graves) imagines that Van Cleef is losing his marbles, as does his own wife (Beverly Garland). Soon, however, satellites disappear and the alien monster comes to Earth, cutting off all electricity and sending out flying bat-mites to bite several key officials, possessing their minds. The best scene has Graves' possessed wife saying she has a "present," then sending a flying bat-mite his way. There's a strange subplot about a general being ordered to kill the President, as well as some surprisingly good performances by the talented leads. Even Paul Blaisdell's silly monster doesn't take the edge off this entertaining low-budget chiller, which was remade by Larry Buchanan as Zontar, the Thing from Venus.