This 1986 remake of William Sanderson's science fiction classic Invaders From Mars would be the second of three films that Texas Chain Saw Massacre director Tobe Hooper would make for Cannon Films. Budgeted as roughly $12,000,000, Hooper's poorly received remake would recoup less than half that amount at the US box office and was subsequently wrote off as a critical and commercial flop. The failure of Hooper's films for Cannon, Lifeforce, Invaders From Mars and Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, would play a significant role in Cannon's eventual financial collapse (only TCM2) recouped its costs as the box-office) and would mark the point at which Hooper's already shaky post-Texas Chain Saw Massacre career plummeted into a free fall from which it has never since really recovered.
The plot of Invaders From Mars begins with young David Gardner being shocked and astounded to wake in the middle of the night and witness an alien spacecraft land over the hill behind his family home. David is soon plunged into a nightmare when in the days that follow his father and then his mother visit the crash site and return as mindless, sinister drones, possessed by a strange alien life form and sporting bizarre marks on the back of their necks. Soon poor David is left with nowhere to run as the rest of the towns population similarly become possessed and he discovers to his horror that the martians are operating from beneath the surface of the town . Fortunately he finds himself an ally in the form of kindhearted school nurse Linda Magnusson and together the unlikely duo attempt to thwart the evil martian invasion.
Despite its fairly poor reputation I have to say that Invaders From Mars is actually a heck of a lot of fun if approached in the right mood. Although it often seems caught in two minds as to whether it wants to be a contemporary sci-fi/horror hybrid or a juvenile, jokey homage to fifties b-pictures, Hooper's film certainly delivers in terms of entertainment value.
Invaders From Mars opens with a startling, beautifully shot and genuinely memorable scene in which David witnesses the landing of the martian craft and continues strongly from there. While he never really puts his personal stamp on the proceedings, Hooper's direction is efficient and he succeeds in crafting an effective air of escaltaing paranoia and playful creepiness as those around David become possessed by the invaders. Hooper even finds time for a blackly comic peach of a scene in which David walks in on the bizarre spectacle of one of his teachers devouring a live frog.
It helps that young Hunter Carson happens to be a talented young actor who acquits himself well as David and Karen Black also puts forth a typically strong performance as the sympathetic school nurse who comes to his aid. As some of you may be aware Black and Carson are actually real-life mother and son and this seems to add greatly to their onscreen bond. The rest of the cast are OK with James Karen turning in a fine, scenery chewing turn as the military leader General Wilson and some additional fun is to be had from the way the supporting players convey alien possession by deliberately acting as woodenly as possible. Timothy Bottoms as David's father is by far the worst offender.
After having built up the tension quite nicely Invaders From Mars takes a rather odd turn at the hour mark when the narrative sees the local military join up with David and Linda to combat the martian menace. At this point Invaders From Mars descends into a mixture of tongue in cheek b-movie cliche's and special effects. However, once introduced properly in the final half hour Stan Winston's slimy intergalactic monsters look wonderful and the film manages to throw up some superb, striking comic book style visuals. However I could have done without the presence of one of those really daft "was it all just a dream?" twist endings that everyone hates.
In retrospect perhaps it is not that hard to see why Invaders From Mars wound up as a flop at the time of its original release. It's a film that falls between two stools (commercially speaking) in that it's too scary for kids yet too lightweight to appeal to the more hardened sensibilities of those attracted by Hooper's previous work within the horror genre. However, for viewers willing to cast any expectations aside, Hooper's much maligned remake has a lot to offer. Invaders From Mars while not a great film certainly offers up an enjoyable blend of nicely maintained suspense and gleefully OTT intergalactic monster hokum.
Mildly recommended.
Invaders From Mars was originally released on US R1 DVD in 2001 by MGM as a part of their popular "Midnite Movies" range. MGM then later reissued the film again as one half of a double-bill alongside Michael Laughlin's Strange Invaders. MGM's release sports a nice looking 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen presentation and includes the trailer and a couple of featurette's on the extra's front. While the MGM stand alone release is now OOP the double-bill is still available and can be picked up quite cheaply online. There is also an older, inferior Region Free DVD from the American wing of Anchor Bay released way back in January 1998. However, this release is not only long OOP but also sports an inferior non-anamorphic presentation to the MGM release.
Invaders From Mars / Strange Invaders (R1 - MGM Midnite Movies):amazon.com l amazon.co.uk
It's one of my guilty pleasures I have to say - I still think the alien drones look amazing! I saw this at the flicks when I was at school (all those years ago!), and am I right in thinking it was trimmed? The R1 dvd has more 'implant embedding' than I remember!
I'm glad to see that Invaders From Mars does have some fans. Yes its tone is slightly uneven and it doesn't really stand up to any serious analysis. However, if you just sit back and enjoy its a thoroughly enjoyable slice of nostalgic eighties hokum. I'd actually go so far as to say it's one of Hooper's most widely underrated films.
Stan Winston and John Dykstra's creature/visual effects being nominated for a Razzie was ridiculous. Winston's martian beasts are meant to have an intentional, cheesy look and personally I thought they were great. Meanwhile Dykstra delivers some really striking retro comic book style visuals. I really don't get how this aspect of Invaders From Mars could receive such vicious criticism at all.
3 guilty pleasures Lifeforce, Invaders From Mars and Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. I personally think all 3 are really fun films & the fact they were held responsible for the down fall of Cannon films was just desserts for the horrendus treatment of Hooper through the making of these films.
Can't remember seeing any Documentary's or hearing any commentary's where Cannon were spoken about in a good life, they seemed hell bent on making people's lifes a misery.
I'm glad Hooper made all 3, as there a testement to outrageous quality fun
Very true MyersFan. However, it is also fair to say that both Lifeforce and Texas Chain Saw Massacre 2 have become retrospective cult favourites through video and DVD, whereas Invaders From Mars really hasn't.
Personally I think that's a real shame.
Yes, Cannon did treat Hooper abominably during his three film relationship with them too. Apparently Cannon were making drastic budgetary cuts to Invaders From Mars during production and Texas Chain Saw Massacre 2 was filmed on such a rushed schedule that the script was still being written and amended while the film was actually being shot.
3 guilty pleasures Lifeforce, Invaders From Mars and Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. I personally think all 3 are really fun films & the fact they were held responsible for the down fall of Cannon films was just desserts for the horrendus treatment of Hooper through the making of these films.
Can't remember seeing any Documentary's or hearing any commentary's where Cannon were spoken about in a good life, they seemed hell bent on making people's lifes a misery.
I'm glad Hooper made all 3, as there a testement to outrageous quality fun
I used to have a book about Cannon films which was a bit of an eye opener - Tobe Hooper's movies were not really responsible for their downfall. I can't recall the book (It's been years since I've read it) but there was a lot of overstretching into bigger budget movies that flopped and a purchase of a cinema chain!
While the failure of the three Hooper films contributed (the $12,000,000 budgeted Invaders From Mars mainly) they were not solely responsible for the downfall of Cannon by any extent of the imagination. Financially the company was a mess by the mid/late eighties. They poured lots of money into notorious commercial flops such as Masters Of The Universe and Superman IV and bought out Thorn EMI too I believe, further overstretching themselves.
I think I can recall reading something about them buying the rights to do a live action Spider-Man film then never making one.
It was only through several financial bail-outs that they suceeded in soldiering on into the early nineties.
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