The companion piece to Keyhoe is It Came from Outer Space, set in the Mojave Desert all self-respecting UFOs prefer to be seen. The people having the close encounter are ordinary folk—although Richard Carlson does play a rather conveniently placed scientist—who grow alarmed when the aliens take over the minds of some of their number, as they are wont to do. It turns out that the invaders are friendly—their spaceship has crashed and they need help to fix it and promise to give the zombies back unharmed in a couple of days when the job is complete. The task then becomes to protect the aliens from the terrified townsfolk who are whipping themselves up into a lynch mob, until such time as the ETs can make their getaway. But the honourable intentions of the Martians did not prevent the film from being promoted as a horror movie.