Invaders From Mars (1986) #389

Incredibly campy and comically overacted, the 1986 remake of"Invaders from Mars" is a both a let down and yet an entertaining gem of classic sci-fi fare. The fact that the screenplay was written by Dan O'Bannon ("Alien"), was directed by Tobe Hooper ("The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Poltergeist"), and starred horror veterans Karen Black and James Karen should have been more than enough to ensure a thoroughly frightful and creepy movie, even if it was rated PG. Perhaps it was because the movie DID star horror veterans Karen Black and James Karen is why the movie felt over the top and campy? Or maybe it was because most of the aliens looked more comical than frightening? Hunter Carson (Karen Black's real son) delivers a fairly strong performance that is comparable to the 1950's source material that the movie is based on. Further more, the scenes between Carson and Louise Fletcher (who plays the alien controlled school teacher) are the most genuinely intense scenes in the film. Overall, "Invaders From Mars" is a fun film that brings back memories of watching it during summer afternoons as a child and is still entertaining enough for kids today.

Young David Gardner believes that a UFO landed behind a hill near his house during a meteor shower. He soon believes that his dad, and soon his mom, have become pawns of the alien's invasion of his small town. One by one, the population of the town is assimilated and only David and Linda, the school nurse, are left to warn the military about what is going on. Will the military save the town and David's parents or are they already too late?

Lifeforce (1985)

Although it may not be any where as popular or scary as "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" or "Poltergeist", Tobe Hopper's "Lifeforce" is still a great horror film that is still fun to watch since it's release in 1985. As one of my personal favorites, I was thrilled when I was able to see the film shown on a large screen when it was selected as a feature film for the H.P. Lovecraft film festival; an excellent choice considering how Lovecraft wrote about monsters and creatures coming from the depths of space, older than humanity itself. It's suiting that the screenplay was co-written by Dan O'Bannon ("Alien") and that it took full advantage of Haley's Comet passing by around the time the film was made. The concept of vampires from space is nicely explored and brought to film in this movie, taking liberties with the vampire mythos that would have otherwise raised eyebrows from traditionalists like myself; they can still hypnotize and seduce their prey but they can do so much more!

Interesting side note - Klaus Kinski, Billy Idol, and Anthony Hopkins were all considered for various roles in this film, with Hopkins actually being offered the role of Col. Colin Caine, but turned it down for his own reasons.


During an historic space shuttle mission to investigate Haley's Comet as it passes by earth, the joint US/UK team of astronauts discover a large, 150 mile long alien space craft caught in the comet's gravitational pull. Upon inspecting the supposedly derelict spacecraft, the crew finds hundreds of dried up bat-like creatures and three human like figures in suspended animation within glass like coffins. The crew take the humanoids, two male and one female, back to the space shuttle...and that's when everything goes astray! Mission control loses it's signal contact with the shuttle and an emergency rescue mission is sent up to see what's wrong. The rescue party finds the ship nearly destroyed by fire but the three humanoids and the glass containers are untouched; the rescue team returns to Earth with the three aliens.

Once on Earth, the Female alien wakes up and steals the "lifeforce" of those around her, leaving behind a trail of dead bodies that eventually come back to life and need to feed in the same fashion as she did, otherwise they end up exploding. The commander of the original shuttle mission is soon found in an escape pod, and he admits that he set the shuttle on fire to kill the aliens and keep Earth safe. It's soon discovered that he is psychically linked to the Female vampire. It's now up to him a few brave souls to enter London, which has become infested with the zombie vampires, to find the three Space Vampires and kill them before their "plague" can spread across the world.

Return of the Living Dead (1984)

There are some many wonderful things about “Return of the Living Dead” that I don’t know where to begin. For a long time this was one of my favorite guilty pleasures but that recently changed when I found out how many other people I know who also love this film. This movie is one of the reasons why I began writing this blog because it’s one of the movies that I love to talk about often and seemingly endlessly! This is the first time that it’s explained why zombies eat people; by consuming brains, the pain of rotting goes away for a little bit. This is brilliant! This movie also has zombies that can run, talk, use radios, and act just like they’re alive…except for the eating brains part. I find this completely acceptable because I like the all or nothing approach; they can be stumbling, slow, and relentless or they can be like the zombies in this film. Or maybe I accept this movie’s version of zombies because I first saw it when I was nine, my first zombie movie ever!  

I love how this movie directly mentions “Night of the Living Dead” several times, mainly in the beginning. I always thought that they could do this because of the lack of a copy right for “NOTLD”. Not so; I found out that John A Russo co-wrote both films! Romero did sue Russo for his part in “Return” but it obviously didn’t damage the movie I know and love! One of the best references of “NOLTD” occurs when Bud, Frank, and Freddy are trying to kill the reanimated corpse in the freezer. They decide to impale it in the head with a pick axe and when it doesn’t die, they begin to panic.

Bud - “I thought you said if we destroy the brain that it would die”

Frank - “It worked in the movie”

Bud - “Well it ain’t working now, Frank”

Freddy - “You mean the movie lied?!”

“Return of the Living Dead” begins with Uncle Frank showing his nephew Freddy around the medical supply warehouse where the two work. To impress his nephew, Frank tells Freddy how they have canisters that were involved in real life events of that inspired the movie “Night of the Living Dead”. They go downstairs to see the canisters and when Frank slaps the side of one, the pressure within bursts and a poisonous toxin fills the warehouse. They pass out and when they come to, the find that the dead bodies have come to life; first seeing a dog that’s cut in half barking and then hearing the dead body in the freezer pounding on the door to get out. The warehouse owner comes to help them, and after they manage to neutralize the reanimated corpse (by cutting him up into pieces with a bone saw); they go over to the mortuary across the street in hopes of using the furnace to burn up the evidence. The embalmer, Ernie, eventually agrees and the body is burnt to nothing but the fumes (and toxins) go into the air and come back in the rain, affecting all of the corpses in the graveyard and bringing them back to life!

Meanwhile, in the graveyard are a group of friends who are waiting for Freddy to get off of work so they can go party. They start to have a good time in the cemetery, including Trash who takes off all of her clothes and dances around. When the rain begins to fall, it burns their skin so they run to find shelter. Freddy’s girlfriend Tina is already at the warehouse when it begins to rain. She goes into the basement and comes across the zombie from inside the canister. She hides in a metal closet and screams. Her friends hear her and come to the rescue, but one of them dies when he’s bitten in the head. They run back to the mortuary for shelter. There Tina finds Freddy, but Freddy and Frank are feeling sick and have been infected by the toxins. They soon turn and then it becomes a free for all as to who lives and who dies when the dead return back to life!

Favorite moment – One of the scariest moments I’ve ever seen in a horror movie was when Zombie Freddy is asking Tina to be nice and open the doorway to the attic that she’s hiding in so he can eat her brains. I was nine when I saw this and it still gives me shivers! His pleading, so sweet and gentle, quickly turns to rage. As Ernie moves himself behind Tina, you can see him raise his pistol to her head, ready to kill her before Freddy can get to her. It’s super intense!

Bud is ready with a bat to kill canister zombie!

Bud calls the military for help. Spider uses a sledgehammer, just like I would!

Frank and Freddy have been told that they're dead. Not the best news to hear...

Alien (1979)

“In space, no one can hear you scream”

The perfect tag line for one of the best movies of all time, “Alien” set a new standard in horror. There are so many reasons why I and millions of other people love this movie. From the frightening landscape and look of the alien that was brought to us by the talented Mr. H.R Giger, to the Lovecraftian sense of dread and foreboding atmosphere, to the honest reactions and terror of the actors themselves, this movie has it all. Some may say that it’s just a cleverly done slasher flick where crew members are killed off one by one; and this is partly true but it is so much more beyond that. The alien is a monster from our nightmares. It is lithe, it drools, it’s huge, it changes, it screams, and it bursts out of your chest after you think the worst has passed. Just admit it, the face-hugger itself was enough to give you nightmares once upon a time. When you add in a killer cyborg that you thought was just the prerequisite prick of the crew, you have no idea who or what to trust at that point!

The ship Nostromo is heading back to Earth with its crew and a payload of millions of tons of minerals when it picks up a faint distress transmission. Following programed protocol, it changes course and heads towards the beacon and awakes the crew from stasis. The crew is thrilled at first because they believe that they are a week or so away from home but quickly find out that they are still in the middle of nowhere. The crew follows protocol as well, landing on the small planetoid and searching for the source of the transmission. What the rescue crew find, which is made up of Capt. Dallas, Officer Kane, and Navigator Lambert, is a large derelict ship. Inside they find a large alien corpse that has a damaged chest area as well as a vast chamber under the main cockpit room. Kane goes down to investigate and finds hundreds of large leathery eggs. One has movement inside and as he bends over to look at it, a face-hugger lunges forth and attaches itself to his helmet. Dallas and Lambert drag Kane’s body back to the ship but Officer Ripley refuses to let them on, following protocol and in fear that they could be infected with whatever is on Kane. The science officer Ash breaks the protocol and opens the door so they can board. Once inside and in the medical lab, Ash and Dallas try to remove the alien from Kane’s head but are unable to do so without killing him, but several hours later the creature let’s go and crawls away to die. Eventually Kane wakes up without remember what had happened to him. The crew has one last meal before going back into stasis but their joy of returning home is interrupted when Kane begins to spasm violently and as they are holding him down, a terrifying little baby alien bursts out of his chest, looks around and quickly runs away. Kane has died but he is not the last to do so….

Favorite moment - too many to list! But I would have to say at this point my favorite is the scene where Ash break downs and tries to kill Ripley.

The Resurrected (1992)

“The Resurrected”, also known more recently as “Shatterbrain”, is a mostly faithful adaption of the Lovecraft story “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward”. Because the story is about a family member from the 1700’s interacting with a future relative, the story is able to be updated to take place in 1990 without a problem. The only problem I had with this film is that I didn’t find it very entertaining. The slow pacing and uninteresting actors are to blame; even Chris Sarandon didn’t seem to be giving this project much effort even though he was the main character. Unlike many other Lovecraft themed movies, this one avoids any attempts at adding any humor and tries to stay true to Lovecraft’s style of exploring the unknown.

 A P.I. is hired by Mr. Ward’s wife after he is questioned by police about the weird smell around his farmhouse. She wants to know what he is doing in there with another doctor that she doesn’t trust. Mr. Ward had begun acting strangely ever since he inherited the farmhouse and found belongings from a long distant relative. Eventually the P.I uncovers the truth that Ward and his past relative are working on ways to bring back the dead and that somebody isn’t who they seem to be.

Favorite moment – I don’t have one. I found this movie dull and not very entertaining. It took effort not to turn it off and watch something, anything else instead.