Strange Invaders (1983)

Director:

Michael Laughlin

Writers:

Bill Condon (story) &
Michael Laughlin (story) ...

Release Date:

16 September 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Mystery | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

25 Years Ago They Arrived From Another Galaxy. Surprise--They're Still Here.

Plot:

Charlie's ex-wife disappears, and he goes to where she grew up--a rural town in the midwest--to look for her...

Plot Keywords:

1950s | Alien | Alien Abduction | Invasion | Professor

Awards:

1 win & 6 nominations

Cast

Paul Le Mat	...	Charles Bigelow
Nancy Allen	...	Betty Walker
Diana Scarwid	...	Margaret
Michael Lerner	...	Willie Collins
Louise Fletcher	...	Mrs. Benjamin
Wallace Shawn	...	Earl
Fiona Lewis	...	Waitress / Avon Lady
Kenneth Tobey	...	Arthur Newman
June Lockhart	...	Mrs. Bigelow
Charles Lane	...	Prof. Hollister
Lulu Sylbert	...	Elizabeth
Joel Cohen	...	Tim
Dan Shor	...	Teen Boy in Prologue
Dey Young	...	Teen Girl in Prologue
Jack Kehler	...	Gas Station Attendant

Runtime:

UK:92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Australia:PG | Norway:15 (video premiere) | UK:12 | USA:PG

Company:

EMI Films

Trivia:

Two stars from the cult classic sci-fi series "Lost in Space", Mark Goddard and June Lockhart, appear in this film, which is a homage to cult sci-fi.

Goofs:

Continuity: The red truck at the beginning of the movie that has the teenage couple in it keeps changing. The wooden side rails on the truck box disappear and reappear.

Quotes:

Betty Walker: Earl, a strange woman has locked herself in my bathroom and won't come out
Earl: Well, Betty, how did she get in there?
Betty Walker: I let her in, Earl.
Earl: I guess I'll check it out.

Movie Connections:

References Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

Soundtrack:

1,000,000

With "American Graffiti"'s drag racer, "Carrie"'s creep, Christina Crawford, a certain character actor, and Nurse Ratched, just guess.

It's "Back to the Future" meets "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" when a woman goes to her hometown in the Midwest but doesn't return. Her husband (Paul LeMat) goes there and discovers that aliens took it over 25 years earlier with the government's complicity! To complicate things just a little further, we find out that "Men in Black" was right: the tabloids DO tell the truth (in this case, there's an article about a town getting taken over by aliens)! It's just neat seeing that when he goes there, everything still looks like the 1950s, and then no one believes him. But overall, how they develop the story is pretty interesting. Louise Fletcher seems to be channeling Nurse Ratched as the government bureaucrat trying to keep the alien takeover under wraps, and Nancy Allen plays her usual kind of role as the tabloid reporter who wrote about the alien takeover. But really neat is Michael Lerner as a man whose family got abducted by the aliens many years earlier.

Anyway, "Strange Invaders" shows that alien invasion movies can be really cool, especially since the aliens took on human form. You're sure to like it. Also starring Wallace Shawn and Charles Lane (who's now 101 years old and still going).