Invasion

This is a great movie. I love sci fi B movies, especially British ones, and this something of a classic. The story is not the most original, but it does have a few twists and turns that I wont give away here. It's very atmospheric, and the black and white photography is off a very high quality. The one complaint I would have is that there isn't really any kind of invasion in this movie. The title is a little mis-leading to say the least! But don't let that worry you. This is an entertaining movie with worthy acting and directing that gives you a glimpse into the post-war mentality of middle England. And aliens. Don't forget the Chinese aliens.

One night in Britain, electronic devices stop working briefly and a strange fog. A man returning from a party hits a strangely dressed man on the road. When he is taken to hospital they find he may not be totally human. With two more aliens on the loose the hospital finds itself under siege inside a force field. The captured alien tells stories of prisoners and a cruel society - however which of the aliens are really the threat?

This is a very simple sci-fi film. To set it in context I watched it with Species 2. Now Species 2 had a huge budget and plenty of special effects, whereas this didn't have any - it's aliens are basically Asian actors and actresses rather than big rubbery effects. The story is very effective and it manages it by never fully playing all it's cards. We're told several stories from the different aliens and it's not right until the end that the truth is revealed. It's not fantastic, but it's a quite good story that gets more dramatic when the hospital is encased in a force field.

The main reason the film succeeds is it's production and direction. The direction draws menace from shadows and innocent everyday items and adds a great tone to the film that special effects wouldn't have done. The production adds to this - the use of music is excellent - for example near the start a military unit is watching a radar screen with dramatic music, when the radar cuts off so does the music - the silence being eerily effective.

The weaknesses are mainly around the aliens - they're not great actors and it shows when they have to do any length of talking. Other than that it's perhaps a little too slow and simplistic for modern audiences.

Overall it's a very atmospheric thriller that makes up in mood what it lacks in special effects.

This film had a kind of haunting effect on me for over 25 years.

There is a scene in it where a man (later to be realised a doctor) drives his car away from a building in a manic fashion, trying to get away from something, and crashes, he stops dead, literally dead as his car hits an invisible barrier. Then other people come out of the building and comment on how it's their turn next etc. You know that moment in time has come back to me on a number of occasions through life and until last year I didn't have the faintest idea what film it came from. Then one night I stayed up until the early hours - the vegetable slot - and started watching this Very Low Budget but Very Intriguing film. Good lord, it must have been put together for a few shillings in the old money but HEY was it watchable. And then this same scene came up and it was like a sheer relief that a question that went unanswered for so long was finally solved.

If you get the chance, see this film. Don't expect Hollywood budgets or special effects 'cos they're not present - what you will see is the kind of solid acting and credible performances that only come from a cast who take pride in what they are doing; committing something to celluloid for the benefit of others and something sadly lacking nowadays - real movie art.

Not a masterpiece but certainly very worthy.

Invasion is not a bad movie, but neither is it particularly good. I think the enthusiastic reviews are reaching. I will say, it is an awfully strange movie. The protagonists can't figure out whether the aliens are "Chinese" or "Japanese." All they know, or think they know, is that they are - "Asian" - and that apparently there is an alien Asian invasion. It seems like this component of the movie is supposed to lend some kind of air of mystery or exoticism, or perhaps mere novelty, to the story. It's muddled so you really can't ever tell what the filmmaker's intentions were. I would love to read an interview to hear what they were thinking.

In any case, as other reviewers have noted, the movie is atmospheric, has some nice B&W cinematography, and an effective, understated score. Unfortunately the heroic act of Edward Judd toward the end relies on a very weird stroke of luck, which is reflects the unevenness of the script, which is fine in parts but nonsensical in other parts. (Funnily, Judd is just as grim and sweaty in Invasion as he was in The Day the Earth Caught Fire, a far superior movie from a few years earlier.)

Being a fan of 1950s and '60s British sci-fi, it was very much worth the money. While I can't see myself watching it repeatedly the way I do classics like Village of the Damned, Day the Earth Caught Fire, and the Quatermass productions, it is worth tracking down if you like the particular temperament of the classical era of Brit sci-fi.

Fyi: I couldn't find this movie streaming anywhere so I bought a region 2 DVD for 12 bucks, including shipping, from Amazon. It's the Studiocanal edition. (I've included a few photos so you can make sure you're ordering the addition you want to order or so if you get the wrong version you can justifiably return it.) The picture is properly letterboxed at 1:66, which was the standard UK aspect ratio of the time. The picture is surprisingly good, with no blurring of grays and blacks, sharp lines between tones, with the blacks being surprisingly deep. The DVD includes a trailer, which, oddly, is narrated by the guy with an American accent, as well as the smallest photo gallery I've ever seen on a DVD, maybe six or seven pictures. Frankly, it's amazing this movie got a DVD release, so beggars can't be choosers.

Made with a shoestring budget ,without stars (at least unknown to me),with very few special effects (Ed Wood style),the story takes place in a hospital where an E.T. (who looks like an Asian person)is cured.We learn he was actually a prisoner and that pretty soon,"the others" are going to take him away.An invisible wall -which is very economical in the end!-surrounds the clinic and the temperature rises and makes the staff sweat.

Shot in black and white ,it is a curious little film ,more MTV style than a flick for movie theaters.An Asian nurse has been added for good measure.