Tobe Hooper's 1986 INVADERS FROM MARS Was Kind of a Crazy and Cool Sci-Fi Movie
Invaders From Mars is one of those films I didn’t see until after it was released on VHS. In fact, when I was growing up it was one of those movies that I would always pass by in the local video store until one day my friends and I finally rented it.
I was in my pre-teens before I finally saw this movie and it was before I even knew who director Tobe Hooper was. This was probably the second film of his that I saw at that point in my life. I know I had already seen Poltergeist, but I didn’t even see The Texas Chainsaw Massacre until I was 14 or 15.
Well, I recently revisited the film and this thing was crazier than I remembered! It was a very surreal and cool movie and I really dug the visual effects, especially for the time that the film was made. VFX artist Stan Winston actually worked on the visual effects for this film at the same time he was working on Aliens. Yeah the acting a dialogue is a little stiff at times, but this is one of those movies you can’t take too seriously when you watch it. Ya just gotta sit back and enjoy the wild ride!
Invaders From Mars is a remake of the classic 1953 film and it tells the story of a young boy named David Gardner who sees an alien spacecraft land in a sand quarry behind his house on the night of a meteor shower.
This is the beginning of an alien invasion that sees David's parents (George and Ellen), his teachers and the townspeople slowly assimilated by the alien life forms, returning with fewer emotions.
The only one who believes David is the school nurse, Linda Magnuson. Together, David and Linda enlist the aid of the U.S. Marines to help save the world.
Ultimately, David awakes in his bed and tells his parents about the events, all apparently a nightmare. After he and his parents return to sleep, he is suddenly reawakened by the alien spacecraft beginning to land. Running to his parent's bedroom, he screams as an alien noise is heard.
Steven Spielberg was actually in talks to direct this film early on in its development. It would have been really interesting to see what Spielberg would have done with this film, but at the time he was developing his Amazing Stories series.
I love that the film implies that the whole story is just the imagination of David Gardner. The entire story is told entirely from David's point of view, and you’ll notice that many of the camera angles are shot from a lower perspective, as if from the height of a child. It was also pointed out to me that the dialogue and mannerisms of the adult characters seem more interested in what a 12 year old boy has to say about this stuff than would normally be the case. This is just a little more proof that David is the hero of his own dream. Then there’s the best part where David wakes up as if the whole sci-fi adventure was a dream, and after he wakes up he finds that he has to re-live the nightmare all over again!
What do you remember from this movie? What were some of your favorite parts? If you haven’t seen it in awhile or you’ve never seen it, it’s worth re-visiting or watching for the first time.