Review of Strange Invaders (2001) by Jason D — 23 Sep 2009

Strange Invaders walks a very fine line between being a cult hit film and being a laughable dud from the 80's. The film starts off in the quaint 50's in the town of Centerville, where simple people live simple lives until an alien invasion occurs, taking over the entire town by capturing everyone's souls and wearing their flesh.

Some twenty odd years later, college professor Paul Le Mat goes in search of his ex-wife after she goes missing for a few days, only to find out about the aliens in town and flees back to New York. The only problem is that the aliens follow him back and amass a body count trying to track him down.

Mat enlists the help of tabloid reporter Nancy Allen (Robocop), who we have to wait 35 minutes in to finally see, as well as former alien invasion survivor Michael Lerner (Anguish), who we have to wait over an hour to finally see as they battle the aliens in Centerville in hopes of saving Mat's kidnapped daughter.

My reason for the movie walking that fine line is simple, it goes back and forth from being a decent 80's film to a boring 80's film. After they introduce Lerner's character, the film actually becomes a lot of fun and rather enjoyable.

The effects are actually pretty good, showcasing some surprisingly violent, grossness to them that I was not expecting. The film also supplies a bevy of interesting appearances from the likes of June Lockhart (Lost in Space), Louise Fletcher (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest), popular cartoon voice actor Wallace Shawn (Toy Story series, The Incredibles), and Jack Kehler (Pineapple Express).

Great cast, but I don't know if they were used well enough. Average movie.