Director Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre),visual effects wizard John Dykstra (Star Wars),make-up FX genius Stan Winston (Aliens),screenwriter Dan O'Bannon (Alien),cinematographer Daniel Pearl (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre): there's a wealth of experience and talent behind this lavish '80s remake of '50s cold-war sci-fi classic Invaders From Mars, but it amounts to little more than a thoroughly cheesy and rather camp piece of trashy escapism. For some, that might be enough, but given its pedigree, I expected, nay, DEMANDED much more.

The film's weakest point is undoubtedly its young lead Hunter Carson, who appears in almost every scene, but is unable to even run convincingly, let alone persuade the viewer that the planet is under threat from Martians (what's with the flappy arms, Hunter?). A better actor in the central role would have helped immensely, although Hooper's direction also proves lacklustre, his film lacking in suspense but loaded with schmaltz (the overly saccharine opening family scenes suggest that the director spent far too long in the presence of Spielberg during the filming of Poltergeist). Serving to undermine the film's effectiveness further are the somewhat clunky aliens—far from Winston's best work.

Mindlessly entertaining in the way that only an '80s Cannon movie could be, the film is admittedly never boring, and benefits from some interesting set design and impressive lighting, but as a big-budget sci-fi (by Cannon Pictures' standards, at least) from the man who gave us Leatherface, this can only be deemed a disappointment. Oh, well, at least this film's failure (along with his previous sci-fi/horror flop Lifeforce) resulted in Hooper returning to familiar territory for the long-awaited Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.

5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.

While her character resembles Auntie Em from "The Wizard of Oz" , she is closer to Miss Gulch and gives one of the most laughable performances put on screen ever. She is Louise Fletcher, the Academy Award winning actress from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (Nurse Ratched) and has never seemed to have given a performance outside of that infamous character's lack of personality. Hunter Carson isn't much better as a confused kid being chased by Fletcher who has something implanted in her neck that makes her answerable to the Martians who have invaded Earth and are now taking over the minds of the townspeople including his parents, Laraine Newman and Timothy Bottoms. His only protector is another school teacher, Karen Black, as frantic as always, and even when she's calm, you expect her to go into hysterics at any minute.

When you go into the Martian dwelling that is underground, it looks like something out of a George Pal 1950's movie and not at all like something you'd see in the very blockbuster technology age of the mid-1980's. By this time, audiences expected special effects on the level of Spielberg and Lucas, and what they get here is far from it. This film is bizarre on so many levels, and while I can enjoy a 1950's science fiction film, it has to have been made then rather than an 80's film that looks like it was 30 years old when it first came out.

As for the creatures themselves, they're pretty disgusting to look at, and when the had Martian comes out of its lair, is unfortunately rather phallic, looking like part of the female anatomy with lots of mini legs added on. James Karen is over the top as a military officer in charge of the investigation, and veteran actor Bud Cort is equally as bizarre. The script is rather juvenile to so you don't really take it all that seriously, and the lack of imagination in making this look modern shows how pointless the remake was. The original version isn't exactly a classic either, so the fact that this ended up being one of the biggest flops of the 1980's is not a surprise. A few unintentional laughs does not make a good film, and without a kid that you can really root for, it ends up completely pointless.

David Gardner sees a UFO crash in the woods behind his home. He tries to tell his parents (Timothy Bottoms, Laraine Newman) but they don't believe him. Then his parents and his teacher Mrs. McKeltch (Louise Fletcher) change with something on the back of their necks. The only person who believes him is the school nurse Linda Magnusson (Karen Black).

The movie starts off well. The premise is a good one. It's always compelling to have a kid be the most knowledgeable and the adults not believe him. The first half has some good paranoia. Then the movie starts to deteriorate. The aliens are cheesy looking. The special effects look weak. The introduction of the military takes away all of the early goodwill. It turns a pretty good paranoid thriller into a campy B-movie cheesefest.