Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Invaders from Mars Blu-ray Movie Review

The Red Menace.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 6, 2015

There are several salient questions that may arise for some viewers as they watch the playful Tobe Hooper film Invaders from Mars. Hooper himself wonders aloud in one of the supplements adorning this new Blu-ray as to whether he made the right decision in attempting to revisit the 1953 William Cameron Menzies film, at least insofar as Hooper’s fan base was expecting an outright horror entry and got something decidedly more whimsical instead. Some curmudgeons may also question the wisdom of casting young Hunter Carson in the lead role of David, a little boy who is convinced that, yes, nefarious Martians have landed on Earth and are engaged in, if not outright replacing folks via another “invasion” film, 1956’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers, at least controlling them via a disturbing “portal” drilled into the backs of their necks. Carson, real life son of co-star Karen Black and noted writer-director L.M. Kit Carson, had received stellar reviews for his role in the Kit Carson penned Paris, Texas, but here he occasionally seems to be playing to the veritable second balcony, only upping what is already a fairly florid, hyperbolic presentation, making the film feel like more of a cartoon than even Hooper himself might have intended (it doesn't help that the young boy sometimes seems to be on the verge of laughing in some of the scenes with his mother). But perhaps the most salient question of all concerning Invaders from Mars in its 1986 iteration is one that again includes an assessment of films like Invasion of the Body Snatchers — namely, the tendency on the part of 1950s era science fiction filmmakers to make not so subtle references to the so-called Red Menace in their formulations of an alien attack stealing the hearts and minds of good old red blooded Americans. The Menzies Invaders from Mars was actually one of the more artful allegories of McCarthy Era paranoia, one that traded an interstellar “red menace” for the one then making headlines in papers across the country. While the mid to late eighties may well have been a time when President Reagan was decrying the existence of an “evil empire,” there wasn’t the same feeling of an existential threat from the Soviets, at least not at the same level, which seemed to be a subliminal element of so many 1950s science fiction “invasion” films. Divorced from that context, this “new, improved” Invaders from Mars is still a lot of fun, but it’s a decidedly less provocative film than the Menzies original.

It’s more than obvious that Hooper and screenwriters Dan O’Bannon and Don Jakoby have a lot of love and admiration for the Menzies original, for not only do they ape iconic imagery from the original film (like that weird slightly akimbo farm fence proscribing the “hill” where David’s father goes to investigate the supposed spaceship landing), they also reference the legendary production designer and director with the name of the very school young David attends. First, though, we’re privy to the seemingly completely content home life David shares with his father George (Timothy Bottoms) and Ellen (Laraine Newman). The cheery suburban paradise is soon upset, however, when David is sure he has witnessed an alien landing in a hidden nook beyond that evocative fence.

When George returns from investigating weirdly altered, at least from David’s perspective, the little boy’s suspicions that something nefarious is at hand begins to grow to epic proportions. Meanwhile, though, he’s trying to navigate a seemingly equally thorny environment at his school, where he’s the object of much derision by his harridan teacher, Mrs. McKeltch (Louise Fletcher). Only the involvement of the concerned school nurse, Linda Magnusson (Karen Black), keeps David from devolving into complete terror. When his mother seems to join his father in a robotic ambience, though, all bets are off and David comes to conclusion that he’s going to have to get to the root causes of it all, especially since none of the adults (with the possible exception of Linda) believe what he tries so desperately to tell them.

Soon enough David, along with Linda and (ultimately) a coterie of high powered military types, forage into a Martian den, where David has already seen the effects of Martian technology on the hapless Mrs. McKeltch. The film is notable for some fun creature effects courtesy of legends like Stan Winston and John Dykstra, though on one level it’s kind of hard to be downright scared by Martians who are ineffably comical. In fact, this particular Invaders from Mars plays things at least partially for laughs, something that works very well within the confines of the film itself, but which undercuts the kind of incipient paranoia that made the original film so memorable.

Invaders from Mars was rather roundly disparaged back in the day, but part of that may have been due simply to incorrect preconceptions. 1986 is, after all, not 1953, and it’s readily apparent that Hooper and his team didn’t really want to remake this film as much as reimagine it. Divorced from any subliminal subtext involving the dastardly Commies, this Invaders from Mars lacks the original’s creepy and almost quasi-hallucinatory foreboding, exploiting instead a kind of silly, childlike ambience. Taken on its own merits, this Invaders from Mars may not give viewers David Gardner sized nightmares, but it provides a substantial amount of fun along the way.

Invaders from Mars Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Invaders from Mars is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Scream Factory, an imprint of Shout! Factory, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.36:1. Elements have their fair share of age related issues, including speckling, scratches (including one pretty bad one), and dirt. What's most problematic here is highly variable grain structure coupled with inconsistent sharpness and clarity, suggesting that this may have been sourced from disparate elements, and possibly some dupe elements at that. Contrast, for example, screenshot 9's fuzzy, extremely grainy appearance with the much clearer and more natural looking first screenshot for just one example of the variances that can be seen throughout this presentation. Grain also has a few issues resolving naturally even in the best looking moments, sometimes acquiring a kind of ugly yellow color, as can be seen clearly in several of the screenshots accompanying this review. As should probably be expected, exterior sequences fare best here, with colors popping quite vividly and clarity and sharpness looking relatively better (see screenshot 5). The special effects sequences employing opticals offer an at times considerable spiking of grain, as should also be expected. Close-ups of the creatures provide some fun amounts of fine detail, with the expert fabrication skills of the special effects team popping quite well. Despite some problems, this is still a decided upgrade over standard definition, but fans of the film should probably temper their expectations accordingly.

Invaders from Mars Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Invaders from Mars has a repurposed DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track in addition to a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track recreating the film's original mono theatrical presentation. Both of these tracks offer splendid support for the film's dialogue and sometimes funny-retro sound effects. The 5.1 track does place several sound effects discretely in the surround channels, but this is not an overaggressive repurposing, tending to stretch out into the surround channels only in busier sonic moments. Fidelity is excellent and dynamic range is very wide. There are no issues with damage like dropouts or crackling.

Invaders from Mars Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Martians are Coming: The Making of Invaders from Mars (1080p; 36:33) is a typically excellent Scream Factory retrospective filled with good interviews and behind the scenes information on the film's production.


• Theatrical Trailer & TV Spot (1080p; 1:28 and 1080i; 00:32)


• Production Illustration Gallery from Artist William Stout (1080p; 14:03)


• Storyboards (1080p; 4:16)


• Still Gallery (1080p; 2:12)


• Audio Commentary with Director Tobe Hooper. Moderator Michael Felsher leads Hooper through a rather wide ranging array of anecdotal information about the film in this enjoyable commentary, including things like the adaptive efforts and the special effects.

Invaders from Mars Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

German Blu-ray fans got a deluxe release of Invaders from Mars last year which included the William Cameron Menzies original. That 1953 version is still missing on Blu-ray for domestic consumers, and it certainly should see the high definition light of day, at least if there are any sensible Martian controlled automatons currently working at 20th Century Fox. Aficionados of the Menzies version had best put thoughts of that film aside, though, at least as much as possible, for the Hooper reboot is less a paranoid fever dream and more an almost Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory-esque "trip" through a fantasyland of bizarre production design and outlandish characters. This new Blu-ray has some spotty video, but if expectations are set appropriately, there's still a lot to enjoy here. As tends to be the case with these Scream Factory releases, the supplemental package is quite enjoyable. Recommended.