Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Myron Clemons A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Abegail Noëlle While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Julian R. White I picked this movie up on VHS when I was like 10 at a pawn shop, and honestly, it was a good investment. This movie, for its time, can really instill a sense of fear of the unknown, the sound you hear when someone is abducted by the martians, and the sense of paranoia you have against your loved ones. This probably was another political propaganda film to instill negative views on communists, but that's another story. I find the design of the "perfect Martian" to be pretty neat too, and was surprised when I realized they used the same concept of "Mutants" from the film "This Island Earth". It's a good movie, I've seen it a few times, always a good late night alien flick!

Prismark10 Invaders from Mars is a B film by director William Cameron Menzies the first Oscar winner for art direction.David MacLean (Jimmy Hunt) is a 12 year old kid interested in astronomy who sees a flying saucer landing in the sand pit outside his backyard. When his father, George (Leif Erickson) goes out to look he disappears. David's mom, Mary (Hillary Brooke) calls police, but who also submerge into the sand.Some time later the two cops and his father return, but they act differently like they are under a spell. David notices something in the back of their heads.David finally manages to find two people who believe him when others are sceptical and maybe under the influence of an alien entity which by now also includes his mother.Dr Blake (Helena Carter) and Dr Kelston (Arthur Franz) think there is something in David's story and call in the military who discover a Martian spaceship who are controlling people who they think are important or useful.The film taps into the reds under the beds scare of the 1950s and the supposed flying saucer sightings of the era as well. Films such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers dealt with the material in a more thrilling and cerebral way.Invaders from Mars views this from a child's perspective. Something unusual is happening outside of the house, his parents have been taken over and there is no one else seemingly to turn to or trust.Some of the visual effects reminded me of the original Star Trek series which again shows the B movie origins of the film. A nice bit of hokum that probably played well in the 1950s than today.

Theo Robertson Early one morning young David MacLean is woken from his sleep by a noise outside . Looking out of his bedroom he sees a spaceship land in a field . Telling his parents his story is quickly dismissed as a nightmare . Very quickly however people who enter the field of the landing return with their personalities changed and it's clear that an alien invasion is under way Sometimes you watch a film that has you saying to yourself this is absolute rubbish and yet you find yourself enjoying it for some reason . INVADERS FROM MARS is a few steps up from being mere rubbish and yet you're very aware that nothing about it is very good . The budget is small and this translates to the mis en scene , the mutants are very silly and are actors in green jumpsuits etc and the film doesn't succeed in doing anything perfectly and yet it's probably the perfect science fiction B movie from the 1950s . Why should this be ? Director William Cameron Menzies directed HG Wells 1936 film THINGS TO COME , a film that showed great visual imagination even though Menzies had a problem realising it on screen , possibly down to over ambition . We see the same type of ambition and even though it never actually works one hundred per cent there is a strong imagination at play that makes for a highly stylized movie . " The sand choir " sound where the ground opens up is slightly laughable at first but the more it is used the more it starts to drill itself in to the audiences mind Menzies started out as production designer and he concentrates on the sets . It's interesting that the story is told through the eyes of a child and conscious of this Menzies builds his sets as to how they look to a child . Notice the way David enters the police station to talk to the police sergeant and walks through a massively long and wide corridor which is both minimalist and implausibly large which suits the world view of a child It's also the first film to use the cold war allegory . Yeah I know there's a subtext to THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD with the warning " watch the skies " but this is the first movie to state watch everyone around you because there's communist traitors in our midst . We're shown the American military leader stating that tanks are a great site in any other war but if you're fighting a cold war where the enemy are using invisible infiltration tactics then they're no good . The film is also good at showing the childhood angst that the world is full of adults and it does seem strange that once adults become communist slaves from the red planet they somehow become more oppressive adults ? Hmmm a somewhat reactionary view is it not ? . Of course scientists are the good guys and this is in keeping with 1950s Western world science fiction In summary INVADERS FROM MARS is on the surface a rather cheap and disposable film featuring a child protagonist but is not easily dismissed as being a children's film come B movie . Either by accident or design - and I'm probably being charitable by saying it's by design - - it is ironically one of the better movies from its era and even today remains a minor classic

david-sarkies This movie follows along the same theme as It Conquered the World. The aliens land and begin to kidnap people and implant devices in them to serve their evil purposes. Only a kid believes and all of the people he speaks to, those in authority, have been controlled. It is not until he speaks to the doctor that she believes him and things begin to happen.Basically the martians are concerned that the Earth is getting too aggressive, especially when they launch satellites that contain missiles that can destroy any target on the Earth. The martians feel threatened so they decide to act first and put an end to this project. They tunnel into the sand and begin taking people in authority and implanting them so that they might stop the work on the rockets.This has two angles, that of the invisible communist takeover, and this movie was made in 1953 during the second HUAC hearings in Hollywood, and also a reaction to increased military spending and weapon development. The martians are threatened by the Earth's ability to launch rockets into space, and this is a feeling that is of concern to us, as it intensifies the cold war and brings the threat of nuclear war ever closer. Launching satellites to fire missiles intensifies the arms race and this is what the movie is drawing out.It more deals with the enemy's reaction to this arms race. They are not saying it is evil, and do not make a moral stance at the end. Instead we have the invisible enemy trying to undermine this. The enemy takes the form of aliens, though it is communism that it is replicating. The enemy uses converted people to perform its operations outside of its land, thus increasing the paranoia. We don't know who is a friend or an enemy, it could be anybody.In the spaceship we see the enemy. It is a head that controls automatons. This possibly also represents communism as everybody in such a nation has no free will. The head is that which rules (Josef Stalin) and everybody else is just his implements. There is not culture, nor free thought within such a state.Invaders from Mars is a fun little movie. As my house mate says, it gets straight into the action and does not bandy around, as many movies seem to do now. Still, it is a little long towards the end, but it is a great example of subtle anti-communist movies.