L'invasion vient de Mars

I'm not sure what to make of Tobe Hooper. He can direct all time classics like Poltergeist and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but he also creates odd misfires like this movie.

Invaders From Mars is almost totally ruined by hammy, awkward acting. This is partially due to incompetence, especially on the part of the young lead actor, but it feels likely that the actors were actually directed to perform this way, in order to emulate the corny, over the top acting style of 1950's horror and sci fi films. Indeed the entire movie is an homage to this era of filmmaking. Instead of taking the premise of a 50's monster movie and updating it with modern special effects and filmmaking methods, it feels like Tobe was trying to make the exact kind of film that would have been made in that period, including corny dialogue and rubbery monsters.

On one hand this movie is trying to be straight up horror, and on the other it's trying to be a 1950's pastiche, and those two tones clash. The young lead seems plucked from one of those old boys adventure stories. The movie needs him to have genuine emotional reactions in order for the horror to be fully effective. We need to see him be afraid and shocked and sad as any boy would be in this situation, but instead he is always plucky and courageous and never seems to be too fazed by the surreal and terrible things happening around him. The lead actress is there only to scream and look scared and to move the plot forward.

The Martian monsters created by John Dykstra and Stan Winston are generally great, especially in their first on screen appearance, but they seem more and more creaky and rubbery as the film progresses, which might have been intentional in order to maintain the 50's homage style. The flying spaceship shots are excellent.

I think this could have been an 80's horror cult classic if it had dropped the hammy acting and committed fully to its horror premise. Because the performances are wooden and cliched, nothing in the movie feels consequential. The movie is fun for the special effects alone, but it mostly feels like an awkward missed opportunity.

The movie itself is pretty campy and you can't expect a whole heck of a lot out of it, just some cheesy 80's sci-fi fun, but what stands out for me was that I was an extra in this movie and got to experience the making of the movie first hand! I remember, I was in elementary school and got the opportunity to be in this movie. The first day that I participated was at the school scenes. At first I was one of the kids that was playing outside in the yard and then I was one of the kids walking in the hallway of the school. I can't recall if I was in the classroom, I haven't seen the movie since right after it came out and I just ordered the DVD so I'll have to check it out.

The other day that I was on set in a state park that was in Malibu, CA where they filmed several different scenes. One of which was a yellow school bus with kids/drones on it. I was in that bus, just staring forward with no expression, as per the direction from Tobe Hooper.

It was a fun experience and my first time ever in the movie biz so I'll always have a special little place in my heart for this movie. Good times!

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.

Invaders from Mars (1986)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Tobe Hooper's disappointing remake of the 1950s classic about a young boy (Hunter Carson) who witnesses a UFO land in his backyard and soon realizes that aliens are overtaking various people in town. The only person who will believe him is a teacher (Karen Black) and the two quickly find themselves hunted by the aliens. There were a lot of remakes going on during this era so it makes since that someone would try to remake INVADERS FROM MARS but The Cannon Group probably should have left it to someone else while they just worried about their Charles Bronson and Chuck Norris pictures. Or, perhaps they could have added Bronson and Norris to this thing and at least delivered some fun. This is a really lifeless, over-long and rather pointless remake that doesn't have much of anything going for it. Just about the only good thing that can be said about the film belongs to the special effects, which were pretty good. I thought the landing of the spaceship was rather effective with the lights being used and the monsters certainly looked very good. I also thought the set design of the cave was well done but sadly everything else here is just a bust. The biggest problem is the direction by Hooper who just doesn't bring any energy to anything going on. No matter what a scene calls for the director completely misses the boat and this includes the early scenes with him trying to show this "loving" family. There's so much sugar added to these scenes that you can't help but roll your eyes. Then when the boy comes under attack you'd expect there to be some suspense but there isn't. There are even a few hints at some comedy but this doesn't work either. The final forty-minutes of the film goes into action mode with all sorts of gun play, explosions and other craziness but these scenes too fail to gather up any excitement or energy. The performances really aren't anything to write home about either. Black is about as over-the-top in her emotions as one could get. Carson, as the young boy, isn't charming a bit and comes off more annoying than anything else. Timothy Bottoms plays the father and isn't all that entertaining. James Karen, from THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, is also so over-the-top that it seems like he thinks he's in some spoof. Even former Oscar-winner Louise Fletcher goes overboard as the psycho teacher. Jimmy Hunt, the boy from the original film, gets a fine cameo. INVADERS FROM MARS is considered one of the biggest disasters from the 80s and it's easy to see why Hooper's career started to go down. With such a budget they really should have came up with something much better but at least we have the original to go to.

Horror genre icon Tobe Hooper takes the directorial reigns and creates this remake of the fine film of the same name from the 50's. This Invaders from Mars is a lot different in many ways. Wheras the original was strictly a science fiction film about the dangers of alien attack and a hidden agenda about who you could trust from a child's point of view, this version goes for laughs as well. Sometimes these "laughs" detract from the thematic structure of the film. Basically the story is the same, but there are ample distinctions as well. A young boy sees a cosmic entity land just beyond his house, discovers changes in his parents, and eventually enlists the aid of a school nurse and later the military to crush the alien threat from Mars. Hooper does some obvious homage type stuff, all of that working very well I thought. The lighted path to the hill had an almost surreal look to it and was reminiscent of the original. Hooper had a school name after Menzies, the director of the original film. The child star falls short in his role exuding limited credibility, but most of the other performers are adequate. Lovely Karen Black plays the nurse, and Timothy Bottoms and Laraine Newman portray the youngster's parents. James Karen camps it up as the general in charge of the military. The performance problem for me was Louise Fletcher. Sure, she makes for a great witchy teacher, but her campy performance was a bit much at times - too incredible. Hooper also over does it with some of the special effects. The Martian creatures really look quite ridiculous with fat bodies and mouths the size of Volkswagens. But some of the effects are pulled off nicely, such as the sand tunnels and the men being devoured in the middle of a sandy pit. This remake, while I firmly believe an unnecessary remake, has some fun aspects to it and is if nothing else an interesting and diverting film. I am not at all sure of what hooper was trying to achieve at the end of the film, but I did feel it was quite contrived and departed from the spirit of the film's unity.