Invaders from Mars

★★★1/2

Directed by William Cameron Menzies
Written by Richard Blake and John Tucker Battle

I haven’t existed yet when this movie was released in 1953 - come to think of it, my dad was only 3 years old then! It has never played on television as far as I remember, so no childhood nostalgia for this film. I do love the idea of these 1950s alien invasion movies, and I thought War of the Worlds (also from 1953!) was surprisingly more sophisticated than it looked, and I thoroughly enjoyed that one, so my interest was piqued when I first heard of its release.

To be frank, War of the Worlds is the better movie by far. Invader from Mars has a much smaller budget, and it painfully shows at times, unfortunately. I thought the first half held up pretty well, and its two key strengths were its story, which created a strong sense of paranoia as people started to fall under the influence of a higher power, and the captivatingly off-kilter set designs that belie the film’s budget. The acting performances were very adequate, and I actually thought the actors were better than the ones from War of the Worlds, especially Jimmy Hunt as the child protagonist. But once the “invaders” are finally revealed - it’d be a challenge to hold in your chuckle when you see the costume designs. The use of stock footages were also way overused and wear out its welcome pretty quickly.

I would recommend this if you enjoy exploring the fringes of cinema history like I do.