Strange Invaders

source: Strange Invaders

Much-overlooked but quite enjoyable movie that's both a spoof of science-fiction films and a wonderful sci-fi flick in its own right. With terrific performances from Paul LeMat, Diana Scarwid, Michael Lerner, Nancy Allen, and Fiona Lewis as the nastiest Avon Lady you'll ever see. The movie's Steven Spielberg gag is worth the price of the tape rental in itself

I love movies, all genres, and from big dollar spectacles to small indie projects. But even making allowance for this piece of junk being 25 years old and its attempt at homage to the 1950's it just suffers in almost aspect, by which we judge films. Throughout the movie, I was reminded of several "student films," I've had a chance to watch, efforts where creativity is required to fill gaps where funds are needed. All in all, chances are there are much better uses for 90 minutes of your life. 2/10

Strange Invaders is an enjoyable(1983) Science - Fiction film that stars Paul Le Mat and Nancy Allen. It begins with a small town in the 1950's suddenly taken over by aliens. In 1983,LeMat who's a college Professor has an ex-wife played by Diana Scarwid who comes from this small town and when Mr.Le Mat goes to this small town, he finds that this community still functions as if time has stood still and remains stuck in the 1950's. Soon after he arrives, his dog is turned into a ball of glowing energy and he must steal a car to escape the residents who have proved to still be aliens who are willing to try and kill him. Le Mat arrives back in New York City consults an F.B.I official(Louise Fletcher) about it but receives no satisfaction.Finally he's forced to go to a gossip paper about what he's found and meets with(Nancy Allen-looking stunning)who has an important position at this paper.That evening,Miss Allen has her apartment infiltrated by a female alien who presumably kills her landlord(Wallace Shawn). The next day,Mr.Le Mat goes back to the worried Allen's office and both go out together that evening and fall in love. Some of the aliens from the little town Le Mat has just escaped from; come looking for him. The aliens kidnap his daughter and try to kill his new love -Nancy Allen. Both Allen and Le Mat leave New York City with F.B.I Fletcher in hot pursuit. Allen and Le Mat meet with Michael Lerner who's a mental patient who turns out not to be crazy but helpful in their plight to return to the little town where Le Mat had escaped from and years before,Lerner's own family had been taken from him by the aliens inhabiting this town . When they return to the town,they are met with hostile opposition from the U.S. Government and the aliens who attempt to take Le Mat and his ex-wife's(Scarwid is an alien) little girl because she is half alien! An alien official (in a projected image)tells all of his followers of soon to be future plans ....that include taking Le Mat's little girl back to their planet! There is a wonderful chase scene involving Nancy Allen and the little girl as they try to escape the marauding aliens. Le Mat and his little girl are taken aboard a spaceship,they escape from the alien ship and normalcy is returned to one and all in this little town. Strange Invaders is a really wonderful, science -fiction film.It has a Superb fifties feel to it as well as a great supporting cast of character actors such as Kenneth Tobey,June Lockhart,Wallace Shawn,Fiona Lewis,Mark Goddard and veteran character actor Charles Lane as Professor Hollister(a trusted colleague of Paul Le Mat's character). This film is an enjoyable experience that's done somewhat tongue in cheek while still paying great homage to classic 1950's science-fiction.This film received an 8 because of it's pacing which tends to be a bit awkward at times. In closing,another real plus for Strange Invaders is it's marvelously dramatic score which is well done by John Addison. This is (overall) a wonderful piece of science -fiction...very imperfect,but it's fun and worth watching.

I reviewed this clever tribute to low-budget 1950s sci=fi flicks (most notably "Invaders From Mars") some years ago. Having just watched it again, I felt compelled to write it up one more time. The people who put this charming cult classic together definitely knew what they were doing: A big city college teacher (LeMat) goes searching for his missing ex-wife in a rural Midwest town, only to discover the town is populated by what appear to be very hostile aliens (for one thing, they love blowing up cars). The professor learns the aliens took over the town in the late 1950s, with our government's permission. One of the great gags in this delightful movie is that, 25 years later, nothing has changed in the occupied town. It's still full of hayseeds and sock hops and hideous American-made monster mobiles. A tabloid journalist (Allen) joins the professor in his search, and all hell breaks loose as the aliens attempt to keep their identity a secret. The supporting cast is populated by award-winning actors like Louise Fletcher, doing a variation on her legendary Nurse Wratchet (around the same time, she also appeared in a spoofy remake of "Invaders From Mars"), and Michael Lerner, whose woebegone character has lost his wife and kids to the aliens and has been locked away in the funny farm. The movie was clearly shot on a shoestring, with poor sound quality and way too many single takes (watch the little boy at the end put his right arm around his dad for a split second before dropping it and staring off-camera at what probably was one of his real-life parents). But the film also exhibits a unique charm and features some truly unnerving moments (dig the "Evil Dead" bit when the professor's dog, now a captive of the aliens, appears to rush back and forth past the professor on a lonely road, unseen but definitely there via incredible sound effects and unusual camera work. Also, some of the other effects are extremely satisfying in their crude way, such as a series of glowing orbs that hold the captive humans and the aliens' spaceship. Plus, the story's pace never slackens. There's something going on every second of this movie; there ain't no padding. The ending is utter hokum, but intentionally so, I suspect.

Seems that the foremost reason why this movie isn't much appreciated is because most people don't seem to understand that this movie is being an homage to the science-fiction movies from the '50's. As an homage this movie is really a quite good one, surprisingly. So, all of those silly and sloppy moments, that weak story and unusual camera handling and editing was all intentional. The creators did a good job at recreate the same sort of style and atmosphere but at the same time also manage to place it in the modern world and time of 1983. I liked some of the subtle and nice touches in the movie, that were a nod and throwback to the '50's genre movies. Those who are a bit familiar with that period of genre movies will most likely be able to appreciate this movie. But a good homage of course doesn't make a great movie as well. No, in the end this movie will certainly not make any of my favorite lists but the movie remains a good enough one to watch. The movie fails to make a lasting impression, also because it's an obvious low budget one, so it's lacking in any big spectacular moments. Also the story isn't' that much special and basically is like a whole bunch of other science-fiction movies thrown together but then again, also those movies from the '50's never really featured a great or original script and to be fair, they weren't always that much good as movies. So in that regard this movie also pays perfectly homage to that and I don't think it ever was the film-makers goal and aim to make a spectacular and classic genre movie. They just wanted to have fun, paying homage to the movies they love and with this movie they also give the viewers, that understand this, some good fun to watch as well. 7/10

It's "Back to the Future" meets "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" when a woman goes to her hometown in the Midwest but doesn't return. Her husband (Paul LeMat) goes there and discovers that aliens took it over 25 years earlier with the government's complicity! To complicate things just a little further, we find out that "Men in Black" was right: the tabloids DO tell the truth (in this case, there's an article about a town getting taken over by aliens)! It's just neat seeing that when he goes there, everything still looks like the 1950s, and then no one believes him. But overall, how they develop the story is pretty interesting. Louise Fletcher seems to be channeling Nurse Ratched as the government bureaucrat trying to keep the alien takeover under wraps, and Nancy Allen plays her usual kind of role as the tabloid reporter who wrote about the alien takeover. But really neat is Michael Lerner as a man whose family got abducted by the aliens many years earlier. Anyway, "Strange Invaders" shows that alien invasion movies can be really cool, especially since the aliens took on human form. You're sure to like it. Also starring Wallace Shawn and Charles Lane (who's now 101 years old and still going).

This is a "smaller" science fiction film about aliens being discovered on Earth. Excellent cast, intelligent story and suspense carry this well above others of its kind. Well worth a viewing by fans of the genre. Solid 8 according to the Miller Movie formula.

I just read MonsieurMS comments. Did he see the same movie as i and either folks saw? I guess it galls me when someone takes to the time to write negative, uninteresting comments that give readers no insight to a movie. Comments like "There is somewhere in here the makings of a decent if routine SF story. It is thwarted by several factors. First, the actor is just awful. Even the competent actors are awful. The dialog is wooden and stilted. The plot plods along predictably. This seems less like a finished movie than actors going through a walk through. Extremely disappointing." This is an opinion, not a review of a movie. These comments do NOT help me in making a decision as to whether I want to watch this movie. "The actor is just awful" Do you mean the male actor? or the acting? But I digress, these types of opinions are cast by many others on this site, not just poor "MonsieurMS" If you are going to critically review a movie, state your opinions and cite examples. The plot of this movie rivals the plot of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" wherein are hero(s) are aware of the danger and are being pursued by the antagonists. A familiar "reds under the beds" 1950 plot that in my opinion is well executed and the viewer is keep interested. Paul Le Mat's character, Charles Bigelow, in particular is well crafted. So i guess in closing, please try to keep the vague comments to the AOL chatrooms, where this sort of banter is welcomed. I, for one, find this website very well constructed and helpful and would like to see it stay this way. BTW to the Gods of this site, do you choose comments made by members to be seen on the main page? Or is it chronological? If not, placing the most informative and best constructed comments first would probably serve to discourage persons creating comments simply to make them "first". Just my humble opinion.

A college professor (Paul Le Mat) goes looking for his missing wife and finds a town that appears to be stuck in the 1950s. While there, he's attacked by an alien but manages to escape. He then tries to get a reporter (Nancy Allen) to believe his story, which she does after she has her own close encounter. The '80s was a fun decade for movies, not only for original material but also for movies that were inspired by the great sci-fi flicks of the '50s, such as this one. It's an enjoyable sci-fi horror movie that doesn't take itself seriously but isn't a straight-up comedy, either. Nancy Allen is lots of fun and Louise Fletcher is terrific in a supporting role. Paul Le Mat makes for an unassuming lead but he's quite good in the part. My favorite part of the whole movie is Michael Lerner's flashback scene. Love seeing older actors like Kenneth Tobey, Charles Lane, and June Lockhart. There are also some amusing genre references I got a kick out of. The sets, props, and special effects are excellent. Good use of location filming by director Michael Laughlin. Why does it seem no one shoots in small towns anymore? It's a little slow-going and I can imagine some viewers will be frustrated that it skirts the line between straight sci-fi and comedy as much as it does. It's an entertaining movie, particularly if you like '50s sci-fi. I think it gets better with repeated viewings.