Invisible Invaders(1959)Wow!!What a bad one!!

[peter johnson]

Far be it from me to join the "why-hasn't-Andrew-reviewed-this" bandwagon, but if he'd ever like to expand the "I" section in the Reviews section, boy howdy have I got a candidate for him!!
The wife and I watched this one last night for the first time -- we got it on DVD as an early Christmas present.  The quality of the print was pristine -- not a blip or scratch, which was great considering we would've hated to have missed any of the wonderful sights or dialogue.
Aliens who run the known Universe -- and have been living on our moon "and the other planets in your solar system" for 20,000 years -- inhabit dead bodies & make zombies to "commit sabotage" to drive the Earth to its knees.  A cast of under 20 fills in as different dead people & the riots and what have you are fleshed out by really laughably inappropriate units of stock footage.  John Carradine plays a scientist who comes back from the dead to persuade a single scientist to persuade the whole Earth that they must surrender to the slow-moving hordes or face . . . well, he never says what, but it must be really bad.  Carradine then disappears for the remainder of the film.  Star duties at that point are taken over by the trustworthy John Agar as a singular Air Force major.
Sample dialogue snippet:
"I suppose I've killed lots of men.  Of course, it's hard to see their faces from a thousand feet up . . ."
"I'll make coffee!"
* * * * * *
Things I learned from Invisible Invaders:
Beings smart enough to rule the known Universe still aren't smart enough to avoid obvious pits filled with liquid latex.
Sturdy steel doors to bomb-proof facilities will still wobble if struck hard enough during a fistfight.
Forged steel weaponry will still have the veneer of plywood if shown in closeup.
Radioactive beings cease to be radioactive once killed by soundwaves.
Even if you need a strange radiation suit to walk around outdoors safely, your companions will be perfectly safe from radiation in the cab of a truck.
The deadliest creatures in the known Universe locomote in a slow, shuffling gate that most crippled turtles could easily outrun.  Hence, most of the known Universe must be populated by beings with the speed of snails.
* * * * *
We were/are just in awe of this thing.  With a budget that must have reached a thousand dollars or more, this is one to treasure for always.  Indeed, the parallels to Plan 9, from the aliens taking over the bodies of the recently dead, to the atrocious dialogue, to the same sets tripling and quadrupling for different locations, the overabundance of really inappropriate stock footage,  it could easily be an Ed Wood film -- high badmovie praise indeed.
I mean, you have to see the same shot of two shrubs being pulled apart by visible string over and over again to suggest the passage of the Invisible Invaders, to believe it.  
The really REALLY bad "special effect" of the shuffling invisibles through the studio sand -- created by pulling pieces of wood by string under loose sawdust, or something very similar.
The folks who made "Lost Skeleton of Cadavara" HAD to have seen this, as there are just too many similarities.
Really can't say enough about this one.  See it!!  See it!!  It's what we live for!!
peter johnson/denny crane

[Scott]

Yea, this is real 50's Sci-Fi B-movie material with the invisible invaders sliding foot trail. I bet they would make great cross country skiers. How about the plane that crashes into the giant X on the mountain? Phew !

[Ozzymandias]

peter johnson wrote:


> The folks who made "Lost Skeleton of Cadavara" HAD to have seen
> this, as there are just too many similarities.
> Really can't say enough about this one.  See it!!  See it!!
> It's what we live for!!
> peter johnson/denny crane

Most people believe George Romero had to have seen it too. However he  improved on it with NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD.  Zombies look the same.

[Wence]

If Inisible Invaders comes close to Plan 9 From Outer Space then it´s absolutely worth watching it!

[Flangepart]

I've go this on the MGM double feature with "Journey to the 7th planet." Which Is still up front, review wise. ( Come back soon, Andrew!)
Oh, the cheese...the cheese!....

[Gerry]

I reviewed this one a while back for my site.  It's pretty bad, but bad good not bad bad.  I love the tax accountant zombies.

Here's the URL if anyone wants to give it a look:

[peter johnson]

Hey, Gerry, thanks for the link!  That was a great review, but man, I think you couldn've gone even further than you did -- You definitely touch on a lot of things I noticed, but you could've mentioned the wobbly "steel" sets, the plywood "steel" weapons, & more on the cast of 20 subbing for the cast of thousands.  Also, the similarities with Plan 9 are there as well -- beings from outer space creating an army of the dead to conquer the world.  Also, like Wood, one set subbing for 4 different places.
   I did like your remarks about Agar's singularity & the lack of proper use of Carradine.  Really great analysis of the possible Romero connection, & I agree with you.   Thoroghly enjoyed your exposition on the dialogue & agree the narrator is way overdue for a firing squad.
 Everyone who's on this board should check this masterpiece out & go to Gerry's review & check it out too.  A film this fun/bad is worth sharing!!
More:  The wooly/flannel(?) "radiation suit", with the floppy hood with the gaping air hole at the bottom.  'Guess radiation only gets ya from the top down!!
I'm giving copies of this film to many people . . .
peter johnson/denny crane

[Gerry]

peter johnson wrote:

> Hey, Gerry, thanks for the link!  That was a great review, but
> man, I think you couldn've gone even further than you did --
> You definitely touch on a lot of things I noticed, but you
> could've mentioned the wobbly "steel" sets, the plywood "steel"
> weapons, & more on the cast of 20 subbing for the cast of
> thousands.

Thanks Peter.  You're right, this movie provides almost unlimited ammunition for B-movie fans!