Invaders From Mars (1986) - Never judge a film by one scene

It’s hard to believe that in 1986 the world was treated to James Cameron’s ‘Aliens.’ Not only was it an awesome sequel to Ridley Scott’s ‘Alien’ movie, but it also set the trend for female role models in science fiction forever.  But then you probably already know this.  However, what you might not know is that ‘Invaders From Mars’ was also released that year.  It too had a female lead, but it’s unlikely that she’ll be remembered in such ground-breaking terms as our flamethrower-wielding space lieutenant.  She spends her time screaming, getting into trouble and generally being one of the worst representations of women on the big screen since ‘Willie’ from ‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.’ But, I’m getting ahead of myself.  She’s just one part of a much bigger problem.

It’s always brave of film-makers to produce a film which has a child as the main star, especially if the film isn’t really aimed at children to begin with.  In fact, it’s actually quite hard to see who this film is aimed at.  Part of it feels like it should be some PG children’s film about a plucky young scamp, accidentally stumbling across an alien plot and then foiling it in a light-hearted manner (think ‘The Explorers’ in style, but with more tension).  However, it then comes across as quite a lot darker in tone, making it almost seem like a horror movie, but without too much gore.  As I say, the star is a – very annoying – young boy with an awful haircut (even by eighties standards!) whose home town comes under attack from aliens who take over his parents (amongst others).  He therefore runs around shrieking the whole time in an attempt to get people to believe what’s happening.  Yet, no matter how annoying he comes across, he’s still better than the female lead (his teacher) who he constantly has to tell what to do.

The reason I watched this film (besides my natural love of sci-fi and eighties cheese-fests) was because of the aliens from Mars.  If you look at any advertising relating to this film you’ll see that they’re featured heavily.  And there’s a reason – they’re the only decent thing in this movie.  The monsters really are pretty special for practical/non-CGI effects.  It’s just a shame that it feels like the whole film’s budget has gone on them and they’re only it in for a handful of scenes.

Okay, so you can probably tell I’m not a massive fan of the film, but – from a personal point of view – the aliens weren’t just the only good thing about the film.  Eventually, the boy enlists the help of the military to help out and, for once, they’re surprisingly competent.  Not only that, but James Karen (most famous from his roles in the first two ‘Return of the Living Dead’ films) also pops up as the general and – as always – he’s a treat to watch.

The ending was sort of okay too, but it was too little too late.  The two leads are possibly some of the most annoying characters ever committed to screen and the cool practical effects just don’t warrant sitting down to watch this one.

4/10 You can watch this film while you're doing the ironing (you'll still get the general gist of it)