(1999)
3.5
Buzz McClain
A meteor streaks through the night sky, crashing behind a convenient hill (convenient so that the producers save money on the special effect) and sending up an ominous glow. But was it a meteor? Who are these odd strangers who have appeared in town? And why are the townsfolk acting strangely? Yes, the premise is right out of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Invaders From Mars, The Thing, and any number of other low-budget, high-minded, too-serious science fiction films from the 1950s. But Invasion!, while showing respect for the revered genre, takes elements from many of the classics and packages them into a fast-moving, dialogue-driven, high-camp, joke-a-minute parody that manages to hit more targets than it misses. In addition to slime-spewing aliens (which, keeping with tradition, are unseen), there's the pipe-smoking, know-it-all "atomic" scientist (Campbell Scott), the single woman longing to leave the small town (Fiona Lowei), and the simple-minded local who comes in handy in the end (Tom Everett Scott). Unlike its predecessors, there is an uncomfortable, but very funny detail involving incest, and there is a dose of gore the older films would never have used that works here. Some of the jokes fly low on the humor radar, a few are downright sarcastic ("With our government in place, no harm will come to us," Scott's scientist assures us), and others are broadly played; but it all, somehow, holds together. Credit director John Paizs' spot-on sense of comic timing for the overall success of the film.
Invasion! on AllMovie
Invasion! (1999)
