An alien invasion is uncovered when, 25 years after the initial contact, a university professor, Charles Bigelow (Paul Le Mat), heads to Centerville, Illinois, to look for his ex-wife, who has gone AWOL. He finds the town stuck in the past but no sign of his wife. He’s met with curious attention from the locals and has to make a dash for it, passing a laser-shooting alien on his way out. However, no one will believe him, and he resorts to attempting to convince chain-smoking scandal mag reporter Betty Walker (Nancy Allen). Sceptical, she’s on board when the Centerville folk appear in New York on a mission to grab Charles’ daughter.
An odd throwback to the classic ‘body snatcher’ movies of the fifties, Strange Invaders is one of those films that did well on home video. While focusing less on the ‘red under your bed’ paranoia of those pictures, it creates the sense of ‘otherness’ well. It also has a quirky tone, peppered with a slight humour that builds to a genuinely gripping finale. Genre fans will relish seeing the likes of June Lockhart, Kenneth Tobey, Michael Lerner, and Louise Fletcher. The alien creatures are depicted fabulously, especially when they tear off their human skin to review their true, icky appearance.
Imprint’s Blu-ray presents the film looking much better than it would have done in the VHS days. While extra features are limited, what we get is interesting enough. Director Michael Laughlin and his co-writer Bill Condon provide an entertaining commentary, and a video essay by Jarret Gahan fills us in on what would have been the ‘strange’ trilogy if things had been different. As a love letter to the golden age of alien invasion movies, Strange Invaders is a recommended curio.
STRANGE INVADERS is out now on Blu-ray from Imprint Films.
