MY CALL: This movie holds so much nostalgia for me—so I’m pretty biased. I’ve loved it since the late 80s! It’s a kid-friendly, generally bloodless horror that still packs some good creature effects and Sci-Fi concepts. MORE MOVIES LIKE Invaders from Mars: For a bit more blood in your 80s Sci-Horror, try Night of the Creeps (1986), Critters (1986), The Stuff (1985) and The Blob (1988).
Our young hero David (Hunter Carson) is a wholesome preteen with wholesome parents. He leads a simple, happy life until one night he witnesses a huge gnarly spaceship landing in the countryside. The next morning his father is behaving very strangely and has an odd wound on the back of his neck. Soon more people in the town are acting strangely just like David’s father, especially those who go investigate where this spaceship allegedly landed.
David has adult-like agency and it’s painfully obvious who is under brainwashed mind control and who isn’t. Perhaps that’s the PG-ness of the movie, making it more kid-friendly. The controlled adults do normal everyday things… but they do them wrong. They burn bacon and toast, drink coffee “wrong”, eat burgers “wrong”, and generally seem “off.” David’s parents want him to come to “see something” in the countryside. Sure, they do.
The weird behavior continues when David catches his teacher Mrs. McKeltch (Louise Fletcher; Shadowzone Firestarter, Exorcist II, Virtuosity, Grizzly II) eating a frog—a classically funny visual. McKeltch becomes very aggressive towards David, who is protected by the still unbrainwashed school nurse Linda (Karen Black; Children of the Night, It’s Alive III, House of 1000 Corpses, Mirror Mirror, Night Angel). The number of people that can be trusted in town is diminishing fast! Even his cute little classmate Heather (Virginya Keehne; Ticks, The Dentist) becomes an obvious alien-controlled enemy.
Eventually, David locates and investigates the underground cavernous lair created by the aliens. Here we find different alien castes: larger, lumbering workers and an Emperor Krang-like brain-shaped overlord. Some of the workers even have laser guns mounted on them. Trying to save humanity, David turns to General Wilson (James Karen; Return of the Living Dead I-II, Poltergeist, The Unborn, The Willies, Girlfriend from Hell) and NASA.
The monstrous creature effects are good, fun, and decent quality. No one gets killed (at least, not violently). So there are no death scenes to discuss other than a bloodless incineration. Although an alien death results in throwing some rubber guts in front of the camera for a giggle, and someone does get eaten by a worker alien in a kind of silly scene. The alien lair raid is a lot like a proto-Starship Troopers bug extermination. The workers shake and scuttle like Muppets when they’re being machine-gunned down.
This is much lighter fare for director Tobe Hooper (Lifeforce, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre II, Poltergeist, Funhouse). For all its softer PG-ness, I still enjoy this movie. This is more of a thrilling adventure/Sci-Horror with a kid hero than horror.