Holbrook.ES@PARC-MAXC.ARPA@sri-unix.UUCP (09/20/83)
BBoard-ID: 257
BB-Posted: 18 Sep 83 10:43:12 PDT (Sun)
Date: 18 Sep 83 10:42:58 PDT (Sun)
Message-ID: <280.432754978@UCI>
To: movies@UCI
Cc: jsweet@UCI
Subject: Strange Invaders
From: Jerry Sweet <jsweet@uci>
This is not a badly made movie, but it is not particularly interesting,
and certainly not worth $4.50 to see.
The plot is that an entomology professor at Columbia University (Paul
LeMat) is divorced after 4 years of marriage to an apparently normal
human woman, who produced an apparently normal human child, Elizabeth.
The ex-wife shows up one day, dumps the kid off, and leaves for Centerville,
Illinois because, as she says, her mother died. However, Centerville
is incommunicado for many days, and since Elizabeth worries about her
mother's absence, the professor zips off to Centerville to find out
what the heck is going on, leaving Elizabeth with his mother (June
Lockhart).
When the professor arrives, he finds that the inhabitants are extremely
rude, and refuse to acknowledge that his wife lives there. After he's
poked about for a few hours, the people of Centerville decide they've had
enough of the professor, and blow up his car with some sort of laser
lightning. Naturally, the professor is disturbed about this, so he
hurriedly leaves town in a borrowed car.
The professor is followed back to New York, and all sorts of weird things
begin happening from there. He gets involved with a reporter from
a tabloid called the National Investigator, a government UFO specialist,
and a bunch of paranoid aliens in human disguise.
The whole thing is sort of a mish-mash of old horror movies and The
Invaders (the old TV series). The aliens, for some reason, are
heavily into blowing up cars. Maybe it's the heat, because they
love to tear their own faces off too ( a rather revolting process).
The aliens can also change people into little mirror-surfaced glow-globes
with a process that looks extremely painful to the victims. The
glow-globes emit plaintive noises as they float away, but otherwise,
you're not sure what becomes of them.
The special effects aren't bad, but they are not Star Wars quality,
nor are they Cronenburg quality.
I'll give the movie a 6 on a scale from 0 to 10, with no complex component.
--Jerry
----- Forwarded message # 2:
BBoard-ID: 258
BB-Posted: 18 Sep 83 21:01:49 PDT (Sun)
Date: 18 Sep 83 21:01:30 PDT (Sun)
Message-ID: <267.432792090@UCI>
To: Jerry Sweet <jsweet@UCI>
Cc: movies@UCI
Subject: Re: Strange Invaders
In-reply-to: Your message of 18 Sep 83 10:42:58 PDT (Sun).
<280.432754978@UCI>
From: Marshall Rose <mrose@uci>
This film is DEFINATELY not worth the $4.50. A 6 out of 10 is too
high! I'd say that it gets a 2 out of 10, with an additional
caveat of "criminal" thrown in.
The acting is really terrible. The dialogue was close to humorous,
and I don't intend that in a kind, or otherwise favorable way.
Although the main action of the film takes place over a one-week
period, the "hero" changed his outfit once. The special effects
were okay, but they really cut corners on the sets/props. I'd say
that this was a real economy job.
In all the time that the entertainment industry has been cranking
out sci-fi/horror films, there have been probably about 10 films
that I'd call well thought out. This wasn't one of them. One
thing was a bit refreshing about this film:
Aliens aren't necessary clones or mass-minds, they can
actually exhibit a bit of individualism.
Other than that, this film has no redeeming qualities.
Oh, the film had one semi-humorous sequence in it: the "hero" is
being pursued by the govt, and eludes them.
Govt. Agent:
"Put out an APB for the airports and the bus stations."
Aide:
"What about the train stations?"
Govt. Agent:
"Nobody takes the trains any more."
The camera then cuts to a train station where the hero buys a
ticket and gets on a train. After some dialogue, the camera cuts
back to the govt. agent and the aid who are running to a car.
Govt. Agent:
"They took the train."
Yep, that's the big laugh in this film.
It's just criminal that 1) they make films like this, 2) the
theaters will sell you tickets to films like this with a straight
face.
/mtr
----- End of forwarded messages
----------------------------------------------------------------JMoran.ES@PARC-MAXC.ARPA@sri-unix.UUCP (09/20/83)
I am not the administrator of this dl, but I find it particularly annoying when someone sends out a spoiler and does not give warning. Please, and I think I speak for many, if you want to review it tell us it was good, it was bad, you liked or did not. But don't tell the story without saying, "Spoiler below!!" I would rather
JMoran.ES@PARC-MAXC.ARPA@sri-unix.UUCP (09/21/83)
Sorry for sending this out twice. It seems like the last part of this message fell of the net into the old bit bucket. It should read ok now. I am not the administrator of this dl, but I find it particularly annoying when someone sends out a spoiler and does not give warning. Please, and I think I speak for many, if you want to review it tell us it was good, it was bad, you liked or did not. But don't tell the story without saying, "Spoiler below!!" I would rather see the movie myself than here about the mystery before hand. julian