- "Don't worry, Son! We Marines have no qualms about killing Martians!"
- ―General Climet Wilson
| Invaders from Mars | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Credits | |
| Title: | Invaders from Mars |
| Directed by: | Tobe Hooper |
| Written by: | Richard Blake Don Jakoby Dan O'Bannon |
| Produced by: | Yoram Globus Menahem Golan |
| Music by: | Christopher Young |
| Cinematography: | Daniel Pearl |
| Edited by: | Alain Jakubowicz |
| Production | |
| Distributors: | Canon Pictures |
| Released: | June 6th, 1986 |
| Rating: | PG |
| Running time: | 100 min. |
| Country: | USA |
| Language: | English |
| Budget: | $12,000,000 |
| Gross: | $4,884,663 (US) |
| Navigation | |
| Previous: | — |
| Next: | — |
Invaders from Mars is an American science fiction/horror film directed by Tobe Hooper. It is a remake of the 1953 film Invaders from Mars, directed by William Cameron Menzies. It was produced by Canon Pictures and released theatrically in the United States on June 6th, 1986. The movie stars Hunter Carson as David Gardner, a young boy who learns that aliens from the planet Mars have come to Earth and are taking control of the minds of the town's parents.
Cast[]
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Karen Black | Linda Magnusson |
| Hunter Carson | David Gardner |
| Timothy Bottoms | George Gardner |
| Laraine Newman | Ellen Gardner |
| James Karen | General Climet Wilson |
| Bud Cort | Mark Weinstein |
| Louise Fletcher | Mrs. McKeitch |
| Eric Pierpoint | Sgt. Major Rinaldi |
| Christopher Allport | Captain Curtis |
| Donald Hotton | Old NASA scientist |
| Kenneth Kimmins | Officer Kenney |
| Charlie Dell | Mister Cross |
| Jimmy Hunt | Police chief |
| William Bassett | NASA scientist |
| Virginia Keehne | Heather |
| Chris Herbert | Kevin |
| Mason Nupuf | Doug |
| William Frankfather | Ed |
| Joseph Brutsman | MP #1 |
| Eric Norris | MP #2 |
| Debra Berger | Corporal Walker |
| Eddy Donno | Hollis |
| Mark Giardino | Johnson |
| Daryl Bartley | Classmate |
| Roy Mansano | Classmate |
| Shonda Whipple | Classmate |
| Amy Fitzpatrick | Classmate |
| Shawn Campbell | Classmate |
| Brett Johnson | Classmate |
| Dale Dye | Squad leader |
| Douglas Simpson | Lieutenant/drone |
| Lonny Low | Communications officer |
| Scott Leva | Marine officer |
| Randall Wulff | Young marine/drone |
| Frederick Menslage | Marine #1 |
| Michael McGrady | Marine #2 |
| Larry Poindexter | Marine #3 |
| James Acheson | Marine #4 |
| Matt Bennett | Marine #5 |
| Aaron Scott Bernard | Marine #6 |
| Steven Lambert | Demolition man |
| Debbie Lee Carrington | Drone |
| Margarita Fernandez | Drone |
| Tony Cox | Drone |
| Sal Fondacaro | Drone |
| Phil Fondacaro | Drone |
| Peter Genovese | Classmate/drone |
| Brian Penikas | Supreme intelligence |
Notes & Trivia[]
- The tagline for this film is "It's open season... on Earthlings!"
- Production on Invaders from Mars began on July 10th, 1985 and concluded on November 20th, 1985.
- Tobe Hooper is more famously known for directing the 1974 slasher film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. He also directed Eaten Alive, Poltergeist, Night Terrors and The Mangler.
- Invaders from Mars grossed $2,046,576 over it's opening weekend.
- The German version of the film has an alternate ending from that of the US release. In order to avoid the twist ending of the original, the movie cuts from the moment that the space ship explodes (where in the original US version the film cuts to David awaking, starting the twist ending) immediately to the credits.
- UK prints of the film excised one minute of footage where the invaders are show drilling screws into the necks of their brainwashed victims.
- Jimmy Hunt, who plays the police chief in this film played young David Gardner in the original Invaders from Mars.
- Actual United States Marines from the 4th FAAD Battery were used in this film.
- Hunter Carson is the son of Karen Black and L.M. Kit Carson.
- In the scene where actress Laraine Newman's and actor Timothy Bottoms's necks explode, the sparks caught the actress' hair on fire and singed a large part of it. She did not realize this until afterwards. [1]
- Wade Williams had acquired the rights to Invaders from Mars (1953). For the remake rights, Williams received over 50 times the amount he had paid. Williams had already made a very handsome profit from the original film from television, cable and video releases. [2]
- Near the beginning of the film the parents are getting David Gardner ready for bad and start shuffling things around his bedroom. The father picks up a magazine and starts to read it. The magazine was a late 70's slick fanzine called Fantascene. That issue had a very fine article on the making of the original Invaders from Mars. [3]
- Louise Fletcher was nominated for a Razzie Award in 1987 for the category of Worst Supporting Actress. John Dykstra and Stan Winston were also nominated in the categories of Worst Visual Effects (special effects and creature design).
- Daniel Pearl was also Tobe Hooper's director of photography on The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
- Dan O'Bannon is more famously known for conceptualizing the 1979 sci-fi/horror film Alien.
Home Video[]
- Invaders from Mars was released on laserdisc in early 1996.
- It was first released to DVD on January 20th, 1998 by Anchor Bay Entertainment.
- It was re-issued by MGM/United Artists on August 28th, 2001.
- Invaders from Mars was also packaged with the 1983 film Strange Invaders as a "Midnight Movies" DVD double-feature on February 15th, 2005. The collection was produced by MGM Home Video.
Recommendations[]
|
Alien possession films
|
Alien invasion films |
Tobe Hooper films |
External Links[]
References[]
 |