Invaders from Mars

Alien invasions are easy scripts for the Hollywood machine; the notion that sinister creatures from other worlds might arrive to eliminate mankind is as timeless as it tireless. People hold an innate fixation on the unknown. People like to be scared. And money-hungry studio execs like that subsequent sea of endless green.

So the aliens began coming, and kept coming, predominately from the 1950s onward. From insightful yarns like 1951’s When the Earth Stood Still to the big-budget schlock of 1996’s Independence Day, theaters were rarely lacking in alien takeovers and takedowns. Most of the time, humanity overcame these existential threats and maybe learned something about itself in the process. But sometimes, the themes grew grim, the extraterrestrials more devious, and the plotlines increasingly creepy. Forget about flying saucer dogfights or giant brains floating down Main Street. What if the invaders were actually the man at the corner? The housewife next door? The little girl on the bus? Not an external invasion, in other words, but an internal one—what if the aliens had learned to subjugate mankind from within?

Movies like Invasion of the Body Snatchers perhaps best represent this kind of subversive subgenre wherein Mom and Dad no longer seem like…Mom and Dad. In which the normally cheerful mailman suddenly seems a bit cold, or the cop at the corner now seems a little odd. How does one fight (let alone prove) a threat that is everywhere but hidden, disguised in the skin of friends and kin? Who can be trusted? Where does the “hero” go to find help? Who can attack on his behalf?

Invaders from Mars capitalizes on this kind of neurotic paranoia, that Jungian psychosis of sensed but unspoken—of unvalidated—fear. The tale centers on David, a young boy who awakens to what looks like an alien spacecraft landing somewhere beyond his backyard. The next morning, Dad comes to breakfast acting a little weird, has an inexplicable cut on the back of his neck, and seems especially intent to walk David out past the backyard…toward where the ship had apparently landed.

Sensing something amiss, David jumps on the school bus and hightails himself to class. But over the next couple of days, his suspicions only grow; Dad, a NASA employee, is bringing co-workers, police officers, townspeople, and other folks toward the landing site where they always return…different. And when Mom also falls under the same unsettling spell, when David discovers his teacher eating a dead frog after class, when almost everyone has the same incision on their neck…he knows something is definitely, irrefutably, terrifyingly wrong. But an alien invasion? Who’d believe that…especially from a kid?

The movie’s first half—so shrouded in hopeless, harrowing inevitability—is the strongest. David is swiftly engulfed by a sea of familiar but dangerous faces, his only ally found in Linda, the reluctant school nurse (played convincingly by the lovely Karen Black). Together, they try to escape the increasingly alien town, eventually (and conveniently) convincing General Wilson and his ready Marines to investigate the matter. What follows is a thirty-minute firefight inside the alien spacecraft, the script’s eerie tale of alien subterfuge and subversion replaced with some old-fashioned action. Here, the story falters, ignoring heretofore unanswered questions for what amounts to a giant, victorious explosion.

Indeed, what are the aliens’ (Martians) true intentions? To conquer? To simply thwart Earth’s interplanetary pursuits? Did these invaders purposefully target David’s town—and his NASA employed Dad specifically—or was that all lucky happenstance? Are other ships afoot, landing elsewhere across the world to further subvert the human populace? Why do some manipulated humans appear more under the “spell” than others? Are these converted humans but the robotic dolls of their masters’ thralls, or are they akin to avatars—bodies—in which the Martians can “remote control” or outright live through? Little is explained.

But the film’s worst sin is its conclusion, a “twist” ending that comes cheap and unearned. Or rather, desperate. Not every thriller needs a clever finale, especially one that barely strives to be anything greater than B-movie entertainment. But here, the ending comes rushed and abruptly, feeling like the last-minute rewrite it probably is. Nonsensical and inexplicable, it undermines the entire film.

Nevertheless, Invaders from Mars remains a worthy watch—not as a piece of serious horror, but as a guilty, late-night diversion best celebrated in a circle of rowdy, uncritical friends. The performances are fun, some scenes are undeniably disturbing, and the special effects sometimes boast a level of sophistication modern CGI can barely achieve.

This isn’t a classic like Invasion of the Body Snatchers. But for those who’ve ever been ignored, their stories reduced to a snort—for anyone who’s ever been a kid…

Then this is a story for them.--D

David's world soon takes an alien turn. Who can he trust? Not his teacher. Not the cops...

Mom and Dad don't seem right. My girl's no longer so nice. And the teacher's become quite the fright!

Who shall I tell? Where can I hide?

This critter is the "head" of the invasion, or--or!--the "brains" of the operation. Ha!

Dad? What are you doing? Dad! Not the pennies...not the pennies!

David, because of his Dad's NASA connections, gets a rather abrupt audience with the general...who then proceeds to save the day. (Maybe.)

Hello Nurse! Played by the lovely Karen Black, she's the greatest ally a boy could ever hope for...and dream about forevermore.