Director: Tobe Hooper
Cast: Karen Black, James Karen, Louise Fletcher, Laraine
Newman, Bud Cort
I have a lot of love for this movie because I grew up
watching it. When this film was released, I was about 11 years old or
something, I didn’t even know it was a remake back then. I just knew that I
loved those goofy aliens. I guess I just watched this movie at the right age
and time, I connected with the little kid in the movie and his feeling of
paranoia, after all, who doesn’t feel that there’s sometimes something slightly
‘off’ about the world they live in right? Hell, I still feel that way today! Weird
thing is that as time passes by, I like this movie even more! Last night I
screened it, and the crowd stayed glued to it all the way to the end, I guess
that says something about the kind of spectacle that Tobe Hooper created with
this film.
Invaders from Mars is all about David Gardner, a little kid
who actually sees an alien spaceship land on the hill, just behind his house.
Is his mind playing tricks on him? Did he dream it? Soon after that, David noticing
that people are acting weird all over town, even his mom and pops are talking
in this weird tone and doing weird things like putting tic-tacs in their coffee
and eating burnt bacon. What gives with everyone in town? Are they all being
controlled by Martians like David suspects? Can David stop the Martians from
taking over his town?
So yeah, this is that kind of movie. The kind in which
everyone in town starts acting strange, as if they were all telepathically
connected in a hive like mentality, not unlike the plot we can find in films
like Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) which has an extremely similar
structure. If we take in consideration the type of atmosphere that Americans
were living back in those days, it makes perfect sense that films like these
were being made. You see, back in the 50’s, Americans hated and feared communism.
Communism was like this decease that had to be eradicated from society. This
mentality bled into films such as these, as mentalities often do. We can easily
say that they Martians in the 1950’s version of this film represented the fear
Americans had for communism and the fear that this mentality might spread
somehow. In the film, Martians were secretly gathering and plotting against the
humans, the same way Americans thought that there were communists amongst them
secretly gather and plotting against capitalism and the American way of life.
Of course, it’s the American military that saves the day in the film! The film makes
a whole lot more sense when we see it from that perspective don’t it? Suddenly,
it’s not just a film about an alien invasion. Fast forward a few decades and
here comes the 1980’s version of the film, did it still hold the same meaning
it did in the 50’s? Would this remake still be about the fears of communism?
The way I see it, Hooper's remake takes a slightly
different route with its meanings. Now it’s not so much about communism, to me
it’s more about the evils of the powers that be controlling the masses with lies. The leader of
the Martians is called the “Supreme Intelligence” and it is essentially a giant
talking brain. The Supreme Intelligence injects a needle into the brains of humans
in order to control them and use them for world dominating purposes, so while
yeah, it’s still about plotting against the humans, it’s also a plea against
controlling the minds of the masses. It’s a film about letting the people think
for themselves, about letting people make their own choices in life instead of
manipulating their perceptions with lies. In one pivotal scene David Gardner
actually begs the aliens not to control people. It’s wrong, he tells them, they
never did anything wrong, he pleas. This film actually has something to say as
opposed to what a lot of people might think about it, it isn’t as empty as you
might think! The beauty of the film is that it delivers these deep themes
through an awesome and entertaining spectacle and an otherworldly story about
Martians wanting to take over our minds, and our planet.
This remake pays its respects to the original film with a few
homages here and there, while still offering welcomed new elements. For
example, there’s a scene in which two cops come over to David’s house because
he files a complaint, well, one of the cops is the original actor who played
David Gardner in the original film! As the cop inspects the hill, he says “I
haven’t been up here since I was a kid”, which is true of course. The update on the Martians is a welcomed element, they were designed
by the great Stan Winston, and trust me, they are a real highlight of the film,
The Supreme Intelligence is an awesome creation that looks alive, it pulsates, it breathes! It’s so
refreshing to see creatures that are actually physically there and not computer
generated, I miss this kind of physical effect on films. Finally, there’s this
sense of wonder throughout the whole film because we see everything through the eyes of
a child, everything happens because of this kid, and for once the adults
actually listen to the kid! This is one of those '80’s Kid Movies', where the
pre-teens are the main characters of the show. Sadly, the only weak link in the film is the
kid himself, played by Hunter Carson. Still, it’s about the only bad thing I
can say about this film. In an interesting turn of events, Hunter
Carson the kid who played David Gardner was actually acting next to his mom, actress Karen Black, who plays the nurse
in the film. It’s interesting to see them acting side by side. And speaking about the acting, I’d say it’s Louise Fletcher the actress who plays Mrs. McKeltch, the evil teacher
whom the Martians take control of, that steals the show, she plays a memorable villain here.
Ultimately, what we get with Tobe Hooper’s Invaders from
Mars is a loving homage to the original. This was one of Tobe Hooper’s favorite
films, he says that the original film burned holes in his memory. This was
obviously a film that made an impression on him when he was a child. What
Hooper did with this remake was recreate some of the images that the original
director William Cameron Menzies had created in the original film, by using the
original film as a very definite foundation, but embellishing the classic imagery,
making it bigger, flashier. Hooper took the classic film and amplified it. I’d say he achieved this quite
well because the remake feels familiar, yet more spectacular in a lot of
ways. It’s certainly flashier and louder than the original; the visual and make up effects were obviously improved upon. It was Stan Winston’s intention
to create aliens that didn’t feel like a man in a suit. The design of the
aliens surpasses anything we saw in the original film by leaps and bounds. So this film comes to us
from a crew of people who really loved the original film and wanted to pay their
respects to it by keeping what worked so well in the original, while improving the
effects and visuals, that makes it, in my book an excellent remake.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Tobe Hooper (extreme left) on the set of Invaders from Mars (1986)