Invaders from Mars

[Gerry]

Kind of quiet in here this week.  Is everyone on summer vacation?

I watched INVADERS FROM MARS last night.  Anyone else seen this one?  What a riot!  A 10 year old kid sees a spaceship land in the field/sandpit behind his house then sees his parents, some cops, the neighbor girl, and a general get sucked down into the spaceship and have their minds taken over.  The movie was hilarious!  I couldn't believe how much filler material they had in this thing to make 80 minutes.  They must have used 30 minutes of stock footage of tanks alone, including about 10 minutes of them loading the stupid things onto flatbed traincars while patriotic music plays.  Then during the chase scene at the end they kept repeating the same scenes over and over of monsters (with very visible zippers) and soldiers chasing each other around in underground tunnels.  But the best part was when the little kid had a flashback of scenes of THE ENTIRE MOVIE superimposed over the image of him running away from the spaceship before it explodes.  

All I have to say is if you like goofy 50s sci-fi, you've got to see this one.

[Andrew]

It's a fun little film with some good-natured paranoia along the lines of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers."  The remake was not nearly as much fun, despite some interesting creatures.  I like the strange musical sound that plays when someone is "sleeping with the ant lions."

Andrew

[Paul Westbrook]

Yes, I have seen both the 50's classic, as well as the remake,  in 1986, which was a special effects laden spectacle, which practically concealed the absurdity of the story itself.

[Gerry]

And you have to love the alien in a fish bowl!  Where can I get one of those?  Can you send away for them like those little sea monkeys they used to advertise in the back of comic books?  I always wanted sea monkeys!

[peter johnson]

That alien leader head octopus thing in the glass bubble scared the wee-wee out of me as an impressionable 9 year old when I first saw it on Saturday morning TV.  I still get an involuntary jerk of recognition when I see that publicity still in horror mags, etc.
Check out the Duck's Breath Mystery Theatre comedy records for several parodies on this film.  Dr. Science says also says this film scared him silly when he was my age -- we must have been watching the same TV shows!!

[Andrew K]

I think the film is somewhat overpraised, but I don't think it is campy, or good for nothing but cheap laughs. Director William Cameron Menzies does an admirable job, and it has some of the most interesting production design in a 50s film this side of Forbidden Planet. The remake is a mess and it marks the beginning of Tobe Hooper's long slide into mediocre efforts like The Mangler.  With the exception of The Fly, most of the attempts at remaking fifties SF movies have fallen short, in spite of the advances in technology.  Both Body Snatchers remakes were good, but they were nowhere nearly as powerful as the original.

[Gerry]

I think FORBIDDEN PLANET could be successful remade.  Imagine what they could do with the id monster with today's special effects.  It's a fairly straight forward plot, too, so it would take an idiot to screw it up.  Just use the exact same plot, but up the ante on all of the effects, production design, violence & gore, and--what the heck--let us see Altaira naked in and out of the swimming pool.  She is an innocent after all, and that would up the tension between the sex starved ships officers and Dr. Morbius.  I think either Gretchen Mol (THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR) or Robin Tunney (END OF DAYS, THE CRAFT) would make a great Altaira, both have just the right amount of looks and vulnerability.

[Matthew.G.A]

Yep i was a kid when i saw it! Real scarey to me then too! I learned "never walk on sand dunes at night"! I always thought it was funny that this kid walks into an observatory, that happened to be next door,and the scientist knew everything about what the kid saw! Also , in the remake,when the kid is hideing in the school basement there is alot of junk around? Well there was the "Alien in the glass sphere" from the original amoung the pile! It may be the original prop!

[Steve.]

Invaders from Mars. Most of those 50s sci-fi flix had practically the same plot - nobody believes the young 'uns - until it's too late! IFM is one of the cheesier examples, I haven't seen the remake so I can't pass comment. A remake of Forbidden Planet shouldn't provide any problems, especially script-wise - it's based on Shakespeare's The Tempest.

[Scott]

It seemed that they showed the same clip of the aliens running thru the tunnel, over and over again while they carried that ray gun. Too funny. Great film. Seen it last month for the first time.

[Andrew]

The octopus dude pops up in Starcrash too.  He's a judge...

Andrew

[Andrew K]

Gerry wrote:
>
> I think FORBIDDEN PLANET could be successful remade.
> Imagine what they could do with the id monster with today's
> special effects.  It's a fairly straight forward plot, too,
> so it would take an idiot to screw it up.  Just use the exact
> same plot, but up the ante on all of the effects, production
> design, violence & gore,

Unfortunately, that's exactly what I'm afraid they'll do...

[Abs]

I am so glad that you posted this because I was just sitting here trying to remember the name of this film!  Correct me if I am wrong, I havent seen it in like 10 years but don't they use pennies to kill the invaders eventually?

[Andrew]

You saw the remake!

The weapons are powered by copper, but I don't think they ever actually fire at the aliens with their own weapons.  They just need the copper to blast a hole and escape.

Andrew