Invaders from Mars is a 1986 American science fiction horror film, directed by Tobe Hooper from a screenplay by Dan O'Bannon and Don Jakoby. It is a remake of the 1953 film of the same name, and is a reworking of that film's screenplay by Richard Blake from an original story by John Tucker Battle. One night, a young boy sees a spaceship landing near his house. He tells his father to investigate and vanishes. Soon, more people disappear, only to reappear and act unusual. He learns that aliens are controlling the earthlings with the intent of invasion, but no one believes him.
this movie has a crazy wholesome Spielberg style opening, then things slowly curdle into INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. I have always loved the slow paranoia of both Body Snatchers movies, and the way things slowly dissolve. Just like THE THING, trust slowly breaks down, tension rise, and by the time you realize what happening here there is almost nothing you can do about it. first dad goes, then mom, then your just a little kid trapped in a house with total strangers.
Its colorful, eerie, Beautifully directed, and... just a bit slow.
Thankfully right around the time i started getting bored (35mins) we get a look at this alien base over the hill, and all the amazing Practically done Martians within . The Martian drones were performed by two people back-to-back in one suit. A little person was carried in a sort of backpack on the back of a normal-sized performer. The little person would operate the drone's mouth and smaller arms (as seen when the drones load their weapons) while the full-sized performer made the creature walk and used ski poles to move the longer arms (as seen when the drones "salute" Mrs. McKeltch). The full-sized performer faced the rear of the suit and had to walk backwards so that the creature's knee joints would bend in a "not-human" fashion when it walked. Several actors performed the drones, working in shifts, which meant each performer who did the "walking" for a Martian needed his own custom-made footwear. Stan Winston was working on this film and Aliens (1986) at the same time, and his level of detail and craftsmanship is a large part of the reason this movie is still talked about.
For the remainder of this movie we are stuck with Hunter Carson (David Gardner) who is the real life son of Karen Black (Linda Magnusson). You would think that there connection would help there performance, but unfortunately Karen is cringe to the very last. this movie was nominated for two awards at the 7th Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Supporting Actress for Louise Fletcher and Worst Visual Effects. Both of these "awards" don't make any sense to me all, but i suppose that's the cast with most Hollywood award shows.
Instead of slowly building the paranoia like i had hoped it would, this movie slowly loses my interest even with all of the effects.
7/10
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