Very Strange Invaders!

I remember this one from the theaters. I have a VHS copy of it somewhere but it's been years and years since I watched Strange Invaders. The movie is one I fondly remember, so when I found it in a discount bin on dvd I snapped it up.

But alas my memories are more kind than my review. The movie has a charm to it, but I have to say it's difficult to watch a movie where the dialogue is difficult to pick out because of the sound quality, and that's the original recording as far as I can tell. They must've done quite a bit of the sound on set, and sadly it shows.

The story is a clever one, or at the least the initial notion is. A group of aliens appear in the 1950's above a small Illinois town and take over. We cut forward to the 80's and we find a professor of entymology becomes embroiled in a mystery involving his ex-wife and his daughter. It turns out his ex-wife is one of the aliens sent to learn about human life and now the aliens are leaving and they want everyone to go even the little girl, the progeny of alien and human. There's a lot more in this like the usual government cover-up, blistering blue balls of light, ghost dogs, and whatnot, but all these clever bits don't really blend neatly.

The story just doesn't fall together. There is a curious sidestory about a man who goes on vacation with his family in the blighted town and loses his wife and kids and finds himself labeled years later a madman. It's his struggle that really gives the story some heart but sadly his tale doesn't fit in until the flick is half over.

Maybe it's the acting, which comes off as insincere, but something kept me outside the flow of this movie. As much as I liked see Kenneth Tobey in a smallish role as the top alien the movie is lethargic. It's got some neat scenes like when the professor is in a diner with a bunch of aliens who ignore him or when the aliens come to NYC to get the girl. Their out-of-time goofiness gives a creepiness to it all, but in the final analysis I just didn't care about the characters enough to invest in the overal expeience.

I give this a mild recommendation for the curious.

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