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Invisible aliens stationed on the moon have had enough of Earth's atomic tomfoolery. So they use reanimated dead bodies of humans to let the nations of the world know they mean business, delivering an ultimatum that Earth better surrender to them or else! Now a group of people gather together in a bunker laboratory to work on a way to defeat the invisible invaders while zombies lurk outside.

Edward L. Cahn directed this campy and cheap sci-fi movie with a muddled anti-nuke message. The special effects are poor with an overuse of stock footage and a monotone narration (one of the staples of no-budget sci-fi flicks back in the day). Still, Cahn produces a reasonable amount of atmosphere and it kept my interest throughout. The short runtime helps. It stars washed-up stars John Agar, John Carradine, and Robert Hutton, along with Jean Byron (of Patty Duke Show fame) and venerable character actor Philip Tonge. Other reviewers have pointed out that the movie might have inspired Night of the Living Dead. Whether that's truly the case or not, I don't know, but it is certainly something for movie buffs to chew on. Not a particularly good picture but fun in its way. Fans of '50 sci-fi will like it more than most.

Invisible invaders arrive in invisible spaceships and warn Earth they can and will take over the planet in three days. To do this they take over the bodies of the recently dead. Sound familiar? Well hold on because this 1959 thriller got here before PLAN NINE FROM OUTER SPACE (1959), LAST MAN ON EARTH (1962), and NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968). John Carradine picked up a quick paycheque playing Dr. Karol Noymann, a scientist killed in a lab explosion who becomes the first one resurrected by the aliens. (Interesting enough "Karol Noymann" was also the name of a scientist in the 1957 sci/fi'er THE GIANT CLAW directed by Fred F. Sears. Coincidence?) Air Force officer John Agar and spineless scientist Robert Hutton spend way too much of the 66 minute movie fighting over who gets to fall in love with femme physicist Jean Byron. The briefly seen alien invaders look suspiciously like the title monster in IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE; and since Edward L. Cahn directed both pictures it is highly likely that he did not want to waste a chance to re-use the costume. Many movies ask us to suspend our disbelief but this one demands we leave all logic outside before we enter the cinema. The aliens, via Mr. Carradine, inform us that they invaded the moon 20,000 years ago and destroyed the civilisation living there. They have also managed to make everything on their planet invisible, which probably means they spend a lot of time bumping into things. The destruction of Earth is accomplished by stock footage from action serials and newsreel footage of real life disasters. B-movie fans will note that Hal Torey, playing a farmer killed by Agar in self defence and then returned to life as an invader, proved such a memorable figure that MTV exploited his image in commercials and on t-shirts for much of the late 1980's. Also showing up briefly is Chuck Niles who played the mad hunchback in Jerry Warren's memorable TEENAGE ZOMBIES. John Agar had fought monsters before in TARANTULA, THE MOLE PEOPLE and many others. He finally became a monster himself in the rarely seen 1962 thriller HAND OF DEATH. Robert Hutton would soon meet up with THE MAN WITHOUT A BODY (1959) and THE SLIME PEOPLE (1963). For all it's low budget short-comings this is a fun film; just the sort to make a Saturday afternoon enjoyable.

That famous film phrase, actually incorrect by military terms, kind of sums up the way a lot of viewers must feel about this movie. The film isn't that bad in concept, but mistakes, goofs and continuity fluffs drag it down far more than it should be. The acting is standard for the genre. Agar is the predictable Air Force major, in yet another military and science versus the invaders epic. They're all there: the obligatory lead scientist, his beautiful daughter, the cowardly fiancée (who obviously eventually loses her to Agar), plastic commanding general and an assortment of dead brought to life to conquer the world ("Plan 9 From Outer Space" did this bit three years before but didn't get released in 1956 because Ed Wood ran out of money). The goofs include radioactive air that somehow can not get up under a loosely-fitting protective hood; a standard truck cabin that is somehow protected from radioactivity coming inside even when the door is opened and the driver is only wearing a suit; ropes that loop conveniently around a fallen invader lying at the bottom of a pit filled with acrylic; and, oh yes, film footage so old you will wonder which century these invaders came to earth anyway. So there you have it. Over and out. ~

This is typical 1950's B movie fare but I think it is a few notches above the rest. Ok, the acting is a bit hammy and campy even with the talents of John Agar, John Carradine and Jean Byron. The idea of the film is unique. Aliens, invisible to humans land on earth, inhabit the bodies of the dead to take over the planet. There are some stretches of boredom as frantic scientists and military personel try and figure out a way to combat the "invisible invaders", but at certain times this movie can give off a few chills. The reason for this is because at certain times, the movie resembles "Night Of The Living Dead" some 9 years earlier. The scenes of the "invaders" rumbling around as the recently revived dead are quite effective. The dead are almost as convincing as they were in "NOTLD". They roam around seemingly with no purpose though they do have one, arms outstreched, emotionless faces with darkened eyes. Quite effective and chilling in certain areas. Rest assured this movie is not "NOTLD" and pretty much is typical B fare but it does provide glimpses of a soon to come clasic and can give you a chill or two. I'd say rent it or better yet, buy it for your collection. It's fun!

Invisible Invaders (1959)

** (out of 4)

Incredibly silly film about an invisible alien who comes to Earth to once again try to wipe us all out. Thankfully for us humans Maj. Bruce Jay (John Agar) is on hand to try and save us. INVISIBLE INVADERS has the reputation of being one of the worst films ever made but I think that's a tad bit too harsh for a number of reasons. The biggest for me is that it's hard for a 66-minute movie to be the worst ever made because the filmmakers are at least smart enough to not keep giving us stuff to make the movie run longer than it should. The 66-minutes actually go by rather fast for the most part and this is always a good thing. Another thing this film has going for it is that we're given some familiar names that cult and "B" movie fans are going to know. Agar certainly looks a bit tired here but maybe he just wasn't feeling good during the production. He's at least entertaining and has no problem carrying the film. John Carradine appears briefly at the start of the picture and while he's certainly not reaching the levels he did in THE GRAPES OF WRATH, it's still fun seeing him. Jean Byron plays the female/love interest and does a nice job as well. Robert Rutton is also in the cast and adds some charm. The special effects are pretty bland as usually we just gets piles of dirt "moving" to show us the invisible creature or we get branches moving. These certainly aren't groundbreaking but at the same time they could have been a lot worse. There's some stock footage used throughout with the funniest bit happening when a plane crashes, due to the aliens, but the stock footage is from a test run and you can see the "X" mark to where it's supposed to hit.