Invaders from Mars

The Tobe Hooper and Cannon Films remake of "Invaders from Mars"(1953) makes for a bizarre, but reasonably watchable mutation of 50's B-movie schlock and 80's cheese. While I probably would have loved this had I caught it on cable as a kid, however seeing it now instead, the movie seems to stumble along through some well-trodden territory. However, the movie's minor quirks and charms, like the kid's weird muppet run, or his budding romance with the school nurse, make it almost worth a lazy watch.

Hooper trying to be Spielberg again, I don't mind.

Ya’ll wouldn’t know a good movie if it drilled a probe into the back of your neck. The art direction, creature design and story are the stars here, the acting is admittedly terrible, especially the main kid. What’s most refreshing is the human characters are intelligent, they believe each other’s crazy stories and react appropriately instead of just writing each other off as crazy. The “it’s all a dream” ending is eye-roll inducing though. Overall, very fun popcorn flick.

It's mostly lame. Some bright Hooper esq moments do shine through though. All the scenes in the caves are great and look beautiful and the creatures look genuinely weird and creepy. Seems like a movie that you would watch on a Sunday afternoon and forget about by dinner time.

(Viewed in 09/15): Hooper was revisiting his youth with this remake of Invaders From Mars made outside of the studio system during his tenure at Cannon. While it's lighter in tone than most of his films, there are many hallmarks of his style which are especially evident in his lighting techniques. The martians are surprisingly colourful creatures, creatively designed with modest means, and the mood is almost surreal, but it's ultimately too tame for adults and too strange for kids.

supremely bad! think i'm gonna adapt that extremely ridiculous way the kid runs, super slow and arms flailing with no concept at all. boy, this might be some of the worst child acting ever. arguably an entertaining piece of shit anyway. hey, it is cannon after all.

I suppose we should expect crap like this every time you give Tobe Hooper over $50 to make a movie with and pay him off in coke.

Not too bad, the aliens are quite creepy looking and some things were cool. The kid is extremely annoying, and get's worse when you realise just how irritating he is. The woman who plays the nurse looks quite creepy too

Ah, if only I were still 11 and could love this movie as much as I did back then.

Pretty woodenly acted with cornball effects, but I remember bits of this being really creepy, especially those huge festering boils on their necks.

I do dig the sets they made for the aliens but this is otherwise so bland and uninteresting I can't say much about it. The only thing that really got a reaction out of me is that one woman that ate raw beef with a fuck ton of salt on it. That scene is so funny because you only see her chew it for 3 seconds before the editing cuts away because NO WAY anyone could keep that in their mouth for long. Legit, this movie would be awesome if it had more unhinged alien shit like that.

Oddly this movie grew on me as it went on and I dig the ending for being very bleak in a 1970s way that 1980s horror also would go for as well. The cast lifts some of the weaker material.

From the debated director of Poltergeist, comes Invasion of the Body Snatchers for children, with potato-head/dragon crossbreeds. Too childish to be aimed at adults, a bit too dark and grim to be suitable for the age group it (appears) to be aimed at. It may be tongue in cheek, or it may just be badly directed. It may be both... I have no idea. I liked it though. It's weird, cheesy and tonally sketchy; but also fun and occasionally effective, with some pretty cool practical FX.

Tobe Hooper successfully creates that hard to describe 80s movie magic that begins before the film does with the cannon film logo. Sharing similar review scores as other hooper films that I did not like I was waiting for the wheels to come off, but they never did. I would go as far as saying this movie is underrated. The acting is not great.

It's terrible and has possibly the worst lead child actor ever, but there is one scene that would be pretty effective if you were twelve.

Invasores de Marte estreava nos EUA há exatos 35 anos. Remake do filme homônimo de William Cameron Menzies no auge da Guerra Fria cinematográfica dos anos 50, resolveram fazer esse aqui quando a Guerra Fria estava prestes a acabar, não é à toda que tudo isso poderia ter sido apenas um sonho ruim. Box Obras-primas do Cinema Tobe Hooper.

Invaders from the army

Hooper trying to be Spielberg. Good-intentioned, but clueless.

Creature design on fucking point. It's great and the 90s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon needs to pay some royalties. Is the cast great? No. Is it completely intriguing? Oh yeah.

I like the designs on the creatures.

I can't help but notice that some of the sets in this film looked remarkably like stuff from Alien and then notice that Dan O'Bannon was involved with this film.

45.500

The whole way through you root for the Martians to fucking kill the annoying little bastard. Shitty special effects, shitty acting, shitty remake. Yep, it's about due for a reboot.

rememberings from childhood

35.250

5+ pretty good

Pointless alien invasion yarn that is a derivative of the body snatchers/puppet masters alien stories that have been rehashed over and over. This one is in no way unique, so give it a pass.

I remember this being pretty hilariously bad but it has B-movie 80's charm plus there is some really strange surreal imagery here.

Love the aliens in this, other than that, the original is far superior

watchable

I'm glad I didn't pay money for this. I remember this flick cycling on HBO for months and months one summer. Ugh, still brings me chills.

decent sci-fi

How did Hooper go from Texas Chainsaw Massacre to this?

Better than you'd expect

This Tobe Hooper remake is nowhere near as good as the 1953 William Cameron Menzies classic that it wants to make better. Menzies tried to see through the eyes of a ten-year-old, Hooper sees only an opportunity for special effects. Anyone wondering why this dog was unleashed should locate a copy of the original, one of the great SF films of all time.