Idiot-Deluxe
"Frank... boy, I'm as nervous as a hog on a grill. You got good news I hope?" Now THIS is Inspired Dreck!The Galaxy Invader - Is a highly entertaining slice of z-grade Sci-Fi, that was wrought from the singular imagination of the late-Don Dohler, who was a one-of-kind talent and a true god among (amateur) film directors. Yeah right, enough BS already, let's be perfectly clear about it - Don was none of those thing's. But it must be said, the man sure knew how to put together a low-budget Sci-Fi film, which are typically inept, have dismal production values and are always laughably terrible - and he made several such films over the course of 20-plus years. The "Dohler Stable", is a small collection of amateur films, which consists primarily of bottom-shelf Action/Sci-Fi-fare. Not surprisingly, The Galaxy Invader falls right in line with that grand Dohler tradition, it's of a profoundly amateurish make and the capper is the movie was shot direct-to-video, on a shoe-string budget, with dated video equipment.The film centers around the Montague's, a highly dysfunctional, not entirely clever redneck family, who live in an isolated, farm house out in the wooded, rural, regions of Maryland. This family of five is dominated by the ever-affable, on-the-verge-of-dying-from-liver-failure, Joe Montague; a loathsomely, detestable, full-blown, alcoholic, country bumpkin. Joe's the kind of surly drunk who gets his jollies by yelling at and threatening his family on a daily basis - often with shotgun in hand. However, at the same time, it's also due to Richard Ruxton's incredibly entertaining performance, as the inimitable Joe Montague, that The Galaxy Invader really bring's home the laugh's! Joe's just a riot in virtually every scene he's in and time and again -with a supreme omnipotence- proves himself to be an A-rate scumbag; so much so in fact, that I've come to this conclusion - rarely, if EVER, has a more vivid depiction of a foul-tempered, red-neck been seen in the movies.As Joe Montague, Richard Ruxton simply takes his role to the next-level and I very much wish he played nothing BUT roles like this, as the entertainment-value of his acting is through-the-roof! And then there's Joe's T-shirt... well, just watch the film, then you'll see what I mean; and while I'm on that note there's another thing you could bet on and that is had this movie taken place 100 years earlier old Joe would've been sporting a coon-skin cap. Betcha' money. Aside from Ruxton, there is another notable acting performance, Don Leifert's performance as the shady and scheming Frank Custor, whose almost as detestably smarmy as Joe - but not quite; both of their characters are prime examples of wretched red-neck's in-the-movies. The rest of the cast, whose acting is passable at best, is filled out by a familiar stable of regional actor's who had worked with Dohler before - including Dohler's son and daughter.The plot of this movie involves an "alien being" (aka some very average-sized guy, clumsily running around in a TERRIBLE looking rubber suit) which landed it's ship (which we never see), in the woods, close to the house that Joe built. Predictably and considering the type of people it encounters shot's are fired, with little in the way of thought put behind their action's and well the first round goes to the humans - I must say it's a bit sad to see the Monatgue's representing the human race. Because of their instinctual irrationality and underlying greed things quickly get complicated, especially when Joe's friend and business partner Frank Custor comes onto the scene. After that, the next we see is hillbilly hi-jinks and a hootin' and hollerin' good time erupts out yonder in the woods; as a hunting party, put together by Joe and Frank, start their hunt for the alien. However, because of interference caused by a second party, Joe's plans don't pan out quite as he had hoped.The effects seen in this movie, just like the suit, are dismal, in fact there even worse then some other Dohler flicks I've seen - and that's saying something. There is the cheap, plastic, alien gun and the glowing white orb, that acts as the guns power-source and then you have the pyro-technics (if that's the word you want to use here) used by Dohler's elite crew, which pretty much look's like fireworks to me - in any case whatever they used they look quite weak. This movie whether it was to save money or for the sake of convenience, was shot-on-video, which I can assume means either Beta or VHS tape - whichever, the films sub-par image quality is certainly suggestive of vintage, low-res, video as it's source - which is evidenced in every frame of this movie. This invariably means a grainy low-resolution image, combined with extremely poor contrast levels and because of that The Galaxy Invader looks unmistakably 80's to the max and not the better half of the 80's, either.In the end The Galaxy Invader most definitely IS a cheap and crappy movie that, despite it's humble origin's, is quite entertaining - much more so than it has any right to be.P.S. - I highly recommend the Rifftrax version, but either way this movie really brings the laughs, because oh it's bad!
siderite
It is so bad it is almost funny... but it's not. The sad thing is that I really wanted to see a bad cheesy sci fi movie, but it was too horrible to watch. The loud "eerie" sound effects, the ridiculous music, the bad camera angles, the incredible bad acting, the green rubber alien who breaths like Vader, the horrendous dialogue, the redneck father that wants to shoot his daughter because she threw a glass of water in his face... Just stay away from it. I made the effort of writing enough of a comment so that it gets saved and protect potential viewers from this crap.
Bloodwank
Appearing like a stranger from a strange land, The Galaxy Invader must have thrown people for a loop back in '85. At a time when slashers were all the rage, the PG level thrills and cracked sci-fi spills are about the last thing you could expect, but lowbrow legend Don Dohler pulls it off and then some. The key to it all is commitment, there's a fair amount of overlap between cast and crew and many of both cast and crew cut their teeth on previous Dohler pictures, which he had been making for a while. It all adds up to confidence, to actors pinging off each other with dramatic result, bold use of shaky effects, competent framing, poignant message, this is a film where all the lunacy can't overpower the fact that these people weren't screwing around. There's effort here and it shines. The plot wraps around an alien crash-landing in redneck backwoods territory espied by a couple of mean spirited idiots, Joe Montague and Frank Custor (can you smell the sweat?) who elect to catch and sell it. Meanwhile, a sky watching professor and his student are on the hunt for the being, and Joe's wife and daughter are just trying to get away safe from him. The film wrong-foots the viewer pretty early on, man is the aggressor here, man the wild beast. The title is a misnomer, the alien isn't any kind of an invader and is actually kinda sympathetic, also it has the look of a novelty store riff on the Creature from the Black Lagoon. At times it almost feels like a red herring in its own film, such is the focus on the nefarious Joe. With a lesser actor this wouldn't have worked at all, but Richard Ruxton brings a tour de force to the table, with a perpetual scowl plastered on his face and twitchy, violently irate demeanour he blows gusts of derangement through his every moment of screen time, a remarkable gonzoid villain. Don Leifert is slightly lower key but nonetheless palpably loathsome as Frank, while various Dohler relatives and local types bulk out the cast. There are a few shootings, cool shonky mini explosion effects and powerful spurts of tension, this undoubtedly aided by driving synths from Norman Noplock (sadly this is his only credit), like I said up top this one is committed and so when it strikes, it strikes hard. Things move at a smart clip and the short runtime feels like a breeze, by the time the ending locks in it's a breathless ride and the ending itself is a terrific capper. Now I wouldn't possibly recommend this to "regular" cinema fans, but as a devotee of low budget science fiction lunacy I thought this a really great time. If you're still reading this, you might to. Check it out say I, 7/10.
