The Incredible Invasion

The Sinister Invasion (1971)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

This here was one of the four Mexican films Boris Karloff filmed before his death and this is one that was released after the horror icon had passed. In the film he plays Professor John Mayer who in 1890 has created a ray machine, which he shoots into space. The ray just happens to cross paths with a flying saucer and the aliens decide to come and destroy it but to do so they take over the body of a serial killer. Also known as ALIEN TERROR, THE INCREDIBLE INVASION and about a dozen other titles, this film is probably the most entertaining out of the films Karloff did below the border but that's really not saying too much. This is a hard film to fully understand as the plot never makes too much sense but I'm going to guess this is due to two directors making the picture (Jose Luis Gonzalez the Mexican stuff, Jack Hill the Karloff material). It's also worth noting that the aliens here are so stupid that they have to be the children of those seen in PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE. OK, one understands why they want to destroy the ray but they've got the technology to do so without taking over the body of this killer. This killer just ends up causing so many problems and yet the aliens keep on using him. The entire subplot with the killer is quite strange to watch but it does add a rather surreal feel to the picture. As for Karloff, he's certainly showing signs of his health issues but he's pretty good here. Unlike the other three films where he's basically just an extended cameo, he actually gets a pretty big role here, which is nice to see. The rest of the supporting players aren't as memorable but we've all seen much worst. The production values are cheap and it's obvious you're not in the 1890s but this could have been much, much worse. With that said, this was released a couple years after Karloff's death and you really have to wonder who would want to see something like this other than those curious die-hard Karloff fans.

Boris Karloff helped the producer and director put this film on the screen. Boris dispite his illnesses and inability to walk around, made this film a classic for all Karloff fans. "Alien Terror" or "The Incredible Invasion" should never have been made, very poor acting with the exception of Karloff, poor photography and sound. It is sad that this film was the last feature film Karloff ever made.

This movie likely won't be of much use to the bulk of humans infesting the surface of the planet Earth. But it may interest Boris Karloff fans and amateur theatrical detectives who like to dissect bad movies like lab specimens. What you get here is one of the most disjointed and bizarre films ever made, a combination of what appear to be two films edited to seem like a larger whole. The first movie consists of about thirty minutes of footage featuring Boris Karloff playing a white suited scientist who invents a disintegrator ray device. The were filmed on soundstages in southern California, with some ending up in this film and others in FEAR CHAMBER, THE SNAKE PEOPLE and HOUSE OF EVIL.

The second movie was filmed after his scenes were completed in Mexico and attempts to match the Hollywood scenes with actors -- some the same -- wearing similar costumes on similar sets, reciting more or less similar toned dialog & engaged in similar actions. Idea being that they are on one side of the room and Karloff on the other: Sometimes characters who were present for both sessions walk back and forth between the scenes, which is quite strange. Their hairstyles and lighting changes subtly, creating a disjointed viewing experience that overwhelms whatever the script was about.

If memory serves, a space alien in what can only be described as an Art Neveau flying saucer gets wind of the disintegrator ray and decides it is too great a threat for mankind to posses. The alien looks like Yahoo Serious and wears a silver lame space jump suit that reminded me of David Bowie from THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH. So did some of the flying saucer's design elements, consisting mostly of beakers with colored fluids bubbling through them. The spaceship is mostly shown from the inside too, requiring the viewer to sort of have to take the director's word for it's existence.

The alien takes possession of various cast members and compels them to sabotage the disintegrator ray, which is probably for the best after the local military gets wind of the situation and decides they want a portable version to serve as a weapon. This results in several conversation scenes where characters veer from the California shoot to the Mexican footage. It's a great lesson in how a film can be constructed, and we can only hope that we can learn from it or the seventy three minutes it runs is a waste.

Fans of Boris Karloff will likely be pleased, he's on screen a bit in this one and looks great in that white suit which sharp viewers will recognize as the same one from THE SNAKE PEOPLE, likely filmed earlier that day. Others are well warned to try something else.

Boris Karloff once again gives a performance that outclasses a shoddy production. The last of the four Mexican-American cheesy B's that the genre star made before his death, it stars Karloff as John Mayer, a scientist in 19th century Europe. He's perfected a ray machine; it attracts the attention of a rather harmless looking spaceman. Believing that Mayers' invention must be destroyed, the spaceman (Sergio Kleiner) forces lady killer Thomas (the hulking Yerye Beirute) to work for him, and the psycho infiltrates the Mayer household.

Also starring Enrique Guzman as young scientist Paul Rosten, Christa Linder as Mayers' lovely niece Laura, and an appealing Maura Monti as Mayers' disfigured assistant Isabel, "The Incredible Invasion" a.k.a. "Alien Terror" may be just the thing for some lovers of cinematic trash. Granted, it can be slow and dull at times, with uninspired direction and a silly script co-written by actor Karl Schanzer (whom you may remember as the sleazy lawyer in "Spider Baby"). It doesn't have any real atmosphere, and the score is hilariously ineffective. But it does offer some fun, provided you're partial to this sort of thing to begin with.

As with the other movies, this had Mexico-lensed scenes helmed by Juan Ibanez, and Jack Hill (the B movie great who gave us classics like "Coffy", "The Big Doll House", and "Switchblade Sisters") handling the L.A. studio scenes. (Jose Luis Gonzalez de Leon is credited as a co-director.) Sadly, Karloff's failing health is apparent; he couldn't move about very much, and required the use of a mobile oxygen unit, but he's still effortlessly delightful, giving as much as he can to a fairly standard kind of genre character.

It may be of some interest to people to compare these four movies and decide how best to rank them. This isn't the most entertaining, but neither is it the worst of the bunch.

Five out of 10.

It has poor lighting, poor sound(as everyone except Karloff is dubbed, and on one occasion even he is dubbed, by someone doing a very bad impression. The editing is bad, although this may be down to a poor quality hacked up print, but in general it looks like a cheap film with Karloff's stuff looking like it could all have been shot in a couple of days. There are some classic funny bits, unintentional. I don't know why but I find a woman (possessed by an alien) slapping a man till he just punches her and knocks her out quite funny. *slap slap slap* *thwack* man wins. The plot was not that unusual but it was quite hard to follow what was going on even if you were paying attention. Karloff had a cool voice. 2/10 - Maybe slightly watchable for occasional funny bits.