Invasion vom Mars

The remake of the memorable 1953 'Invaders from Mars' is also pretty memorable but not in quite the same manner.

Both films have the unusual narrative told from a prepubescent young lad's perspective and both are folded up inside a dream/nighmare plot device.

Both versions have serious incursions into the less satisfying areas of b-movie magic: thin characters and thin storylines but find some redemption from schlock and surprises.

This version has a lot less "surprises", and sadly less of every redeeming and estemable trait.

On the positives the director has a good eye for crane shots with a good roving birds eye view within a few scenes. There's some very peculiar and and distinctively "80's" Martian designs. The idea of copper being some form of fuel and the goofy uses that this gimmick is put to are all kinda OK.

This version of 'Invaders from Mars' definitely makes more of a play on the boys feeling of being a child in an adults world as it builds the dread and tension into his situation. This isn't missing in the interpretation of the original version but here there are a few more domestic touches to set the effect off.

That's it for me though in offering praise, overall I can see why this film has a certain cult following but is otherwise not well remembered by the majority of people.

As a film it is sadly incomplete and unconvincing and as a remake I rate it as inferior to the original. All in all I give a 4/10 rating and that's for the little domestic touches on the earlier stages of the "invasion" plus the 80's practical effects magic which this film does partially posses. I don't really recommend the film but if you can see it for free and you like the kind of films that it us in part a homage to then there is stuff here worth seeing.

Hooper and his writers seem to want to both parody the 1950s classic and, at the same time, to be a straight remake of it. Trouble is that this simply isn't possible. It looks great throughout, with superb, shadowy photography and generally good production design (though the Martian drones look more silly than anything else). Some of the actors, particularly Karen Black and Louise Fletcher, are very good; some, unfortunately including lead Hunter Carson, are not very good.

But the main failing is that the tone is so inconsistent. Some scenes are played for horror, and work; some are played as if the intent was comic, and they don't work. If the intent was to actually scare us, after being taken over by the Martians, the parents should have acted creepy -- but instead, they act silly, which is hardly the same thing. It's not the fault of Bottoms and Newman -- they could have played the roles however the director and script suggested -- but rather a failure to go for broke. In the original film, after returning from the sand pit, the father brutally slaps his son. Here, the big weird touch is that he fills his coffee cup with sweetener. Doesn't quite have the same impact.

And what's with the frogs? Kids LIKE frogs; they don't regard them as creepy. There should never have been a scene without the boy in it, but there are several. There should have been some touches of surrealism to fit the all-a-dream scenario. Dream logic isn't like waking logic, but it's stringent nonetheless; this film ignores logic. In the original, the Martians take over the parents, the neighbor kid, the cops and the military -- exactly the targets a boy would expect. Adding a teacher wasn't a bad idea, but the other targets here, including a busload of kids, don't make any sense. Why would the Martians want to control a bunch of children?

The effects are good but not as well-conceived as they might have been. The sand funnel that captures people is fancier in this remake, but much eerier in the original. And Christopher Young's score is a disaster.

The opportunity was here to make a technologically-improved version of a much-loved classic original, but for the most part, the film doesn't live up to its potential.

From the swooping and thus hard to read opening credits, to the almost universally bad acting, to the generally schlocky special effects, everything about this movie seems to shout that the creators wanted to "out do" the original. Sadly, the net result is a clumsy and overwrought movie that stumbles over itself too many times to ignore.

Simply put, a big disappointment and an inadvertent testimony of acclaim to the much better executed first version.

The boy David Gardner (Hunter Carson) is the son of George Gardner (Timothy Bottoms) and Ellen Gardner (Laraine Newman). One stormy night, he sees a spaceship landing on the beach nearby his house and he tells his beloved father that promises to investigate in the morning. George goes to the spot and vanishes, and Ellen calls the police. The two officers walk to the place and also disappear. Out of the blue, George returns home emotionless and acting in a strange way, and David notes a cut on his back neck. David goes to school and learns that the aliens are somehow controlling earthlings including his teacher Mrs. McKeltch (Louise Fletcher). He goes to the infirmary and the nurse Linda Magnusson (Karen Black) asks him to tell what is happening. After the interview, she sees evidences that David is scared and telling the truth. What can they do to avoid the invasion?

"Invaders from Mars" is a good remake of the classic 1953 sci-fi film. The original movie was made a couple of years after the end of WWII when the army was the symbol of defense of the country. Tobe Hooper introduced more humor in the story and the result is very entertaining. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Invasores de Marte" ("Invaders from Mars")

Note: On 31 July 2022, I saw this film again.

This is not a movie to be viewed from a serious perspective. But even sci-fi aficionados seem to have been losing their sense of fun over the years, which may be why this remake has been panned so badly. The whole movie is viewed from a young boy's dark imagination, right down to the ridiculous Mr. Potato head aliens. Even the camera angles are taken from child's height. And within the bizarre dream world of adolescent fears and disempowerment springs forth a really fun movie. Within this context, the remake of Invaders from mars remains true to the 1950's genre with some tongue in cheek. Relax, grab some popcorn, and warp back to the 50's, when your imagination didn't have to be fed with a spoon.