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.

Title: Invaders from Mars (1986)

Director: Tobe Hooper (the man!)

Cast: Karen Black, Hunter Carson, James Karen

Review: Tobe Hoopers resume includes many great films (Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Lifeforce, Poltergeist)...and many so-so ones (Spontanious Combustion, The Mangler). Invaders from Mars the re-make of the original alien invasion flick from the 1950's is one of his good ones. Not great, just good.

Early on in the film an alien spaceship crashes in David Gardners back yard, slowly but surely everyone in town starts acting weird...soon David must be the one responsible for stopping the aliens from conquering his home town...and maybe the world! This movie is a remake of the 1950 original, and just by the simplicity of the story you can tell that. It has that simple, light hearted, almost innocent feel that the movies had back in those days. But Hooper adds his only brand of weirdness and surrealism to the film that makes it feel like its some sort of nightmare you might have had while falling asleep watching midnight alien invasion films on your TV. Its the type of movie in which people start acting not quite themselves and you get that " something is wrong here" vibe going on, not unlike Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

The aliens look great thanks to Stan Winstons always excellent work. But I must admit they do seem kind of harmless. They don't seem like they could be a threat. I mean yeah they got huge gaping mouths with rows upon rows of teeth...but they feel dumb and stupid. For example they have these big ass laser guns attached to their noggins...but they get overtaken by the us army in the blink of an eye? Still, they look cool. Specially their leader who looks like a huge giant brain that comes out of a slimy worm-whole type of thing. If you ask me he also looks pretty harmless....but who cares! They are supposed to be evil! And they are trying to take over earth! Kill them! The sets are awesome, the interior of the the ship is great looking, it kind of has an organic look and feel to it. But it always beats the hell out of me why aliens from mars would have disco lights inside of their ship. You kind of get the feeling that at any moment an alien DJ is going to pop up and spin a couple of cool tunes on his two turn tables and a microphone. Anyhows, the over all effect looked cool so I ain't complaining.

Obviously production values ain't the real problem with this flick. Its sets and creatures are awesome looking.

The acting is what hurts this film a bit. Karen Black and the Kid just didn't do it for me in certain scenes. The kid sucked as an actor which explains why we probably haven't seen much of him in any other movie. His dialog was to robotic. Like he just read it and blurted it out without any actual thought or preparation as to what he was supposed to be going through in the scene. Sorry dude, but facts are facts. The only actors worth mentioning are the evil teacher and James Karen as General Wilson kicking alien ass all over the place.

Invaders from Mars is the type of film you want to show your little kid brother or cousin or son if you want to start him into horror. It goes in my collection right along side other great kid friendly horror films as The Monster Squad and The Gate. Give it a shot.

Rating: 31/2 out of 5

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.

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.

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.