Tobe (Texas Chainsaw Massacre) Hooper’s lacklustre remake of the 50s sci-fi favourite is an embarrassing effort which, for the first half at least, substitutes boredom for imagination.
Little David Gardner (Hunter Carson, real-life son of actress Karen Black) sees a spaceship land one night, and soon afterwards his father (Timothy Bottoms), his biology teacher Mrs McKeltch (Louise Fletcher) and the local police chief (Jimmy Hunt, who starred as David in the original 1953 Invaders From Mars film) begin acting strangely.
David eventually wanders into the Martian subterranean tunnels and spots some memorable Stan Winston-designed monsters.
Trying to get the school nurse, Linda (Karen Black) to believe him, David describes the invaders as “huge, ugly, slimy Mr Potato Heads” – which is a pretty accurate description!
The Martians are here to sabotage NASA’s Mars explorations and make innocent Americans – like David’s parents – their slaves.
Fortunately, the USMC are shortly on hand to save the day: “Don’t worry son,” says a cigar-smoking General. “The Marines have no qualms about killing Martians!”
The Martian drones were performed by two people back-to-back in one suit. A little person operated the drone’s mouth and smaller arms while the full-sized performer made the creature walk and used ski poles to move the longer arms. The full-sized performer faced the rear of the suit and had to walk backwards so that the creature’s knee joints would bend backwards, like a dog.
Only two Martian drone suits were made for the production.
Linda Magnusson
Karen Black
David Gardner
Hunter Carson
George Gardner
Timothy Bottoms
Ellen Gardner
Laraine Newman
Gen. Climet Wilson
James Karen
Mark Weinstein
Bud Cort
Mrs McKeltch
Louise Fletcher
Sgt. Maj. Rinaldi
Eric Pierpoint
Captain Curtis
Christopher Allport
Old NASA Scientist
Donald Hotton
Officer Kenney
Kenneth Kimmins
Mr Cross
Charlie Dell
Police Chief
Jimmy Hunt
NASA Scientist
William Bassett
Heather
Virginya Keehne
Kevin
Chris Hebert
Doug
Mason Nupuf
Heather’s father (Ed)
William Frankfather
Corporal Walker
Debra Berger
Hollis
Eddy Donno
Johnson
Mark Giardino
Director
Tobe Hooper