Because both Don Siegel and Philip Kaufman’s versions are so irrefutable great, the title INVASION OF THE BODY SNATECHERS happens to be awarded our polished gold medal. Siegel’s film – a hilarious allegory of the Cold War communist threat – is eminently watchable more than 50 years later…the massive alcohol consumption as a panacea for terror and paranoia is pure comedy. Kaufman’s film, while still charged with the metaphorical, is concerned more with personal/mental alienation and the indictment of medical system in America. But interesting subtext aside, both are well made fright flicks…the fright reflected inward rather than outward…a quality we sometimes tend to overlook in the horror/sci-fi genre.
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Not only one of two on our list, John Carpenter’s 1982 THE THING ranks as one of the best all time remakes ever made. Period! In what stills jolts our senses almost 30 years later, Carpenter’s sense of claustrophobic paranoia, the brooding suspense, the frigid atmosphere and extremely well acted all and male cast…not to mention some of the most eye-swelling special F/X by then 22 year old Rob Bottin (and his team), F/X that in many ways still sets the highest of bars…THE THING is an undisputed masterpiece. Honestly, I can keep reeling off superlatives as to why this is such a classic, the awesomely gruff performance by Kurt Russell chief among them, but kudos are also highly deserved for Ennio Morricone (who scored the film) and Dean Cundey (who shot the film)…two key contributors to the overall success of carpenter’s best!
Easily the most intimate and touching portrayal of alien life on our list comes courtesy of Steven Spielberg’s CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND…a kind, thoughtful depiction of interplanetary contact. When power-man Roy Neary experiences a mysterious phenomenon one night, a lingering obsession with what he saw starts to threaten his livelihood (wife and kids, etc.). What’s so dope about Spielberg’s direction is that we the audience, almost as bewildered as Roy is (and his wife and kids are)…gets to experience firsthand a sort of cathartic wonderment in the films heartwarming final moments. There’s a reason Spielberg is the most popular filmmaker of all time…it’s his deft ability to marry character drama with visual panache…a combination never handled more compassionately than here (outside of Schindler anyway).
Not only is Neill Blomkamp’s DISTRICT 9 a well crafted – believable, immersive, highly imaginative piece of low-budget-big-scale filmmaking – it’s narrative approach is one like any other on our list. Instead of portraying an alien life-form as superior, both intellectually and technologically, this film actually subjugates that template for something else entirely. When a giant spacecraft suddenly lands over Johannesburg, a sickly, indigent unknown breed is quickly interned in a war-torn ghetto. With obvious analogies to apartheid and widespread oppression, DISTRICT 9 aims for us (the audience) to do what most films of its ilk doesn’t…actually think. This isn’t mind-numbing escapist entertainment…far from it. Blompamp actually uses technology to tell a story…instead of using a story to gratuitously showcase technology. An admirable distinction!
In our oldest list entry, Robert Wise’s seminal sci-fi outing THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL remains as iconic today as it was when it released in the early 50s. The iconographic robots Gort and Klaatu, no matter how dated and cheesy they become over time, are still among the first and most benevolent, magnanimous portrayals of celestial beings ever committed to celluloid. While not terribly threatening visually, it’s the cold, clinical stoicism of the robots that make you the most uncomfortable. But aside from the technical, it’s the film’s staunch anti-war stance and cry for peace that really sets it apart from the rest…not only on our list, but among the 50s sci-fi fare in general (Howard Hawks’ THE THING FROM ANOTHER PLANET is one example).
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Nope…sorry Tom and Steve, your version didn’t pass muster! Instead, a coveted top spot goes to Byron Haskin’s cinematic adaptation of the classic H.G. Wells thread THE WAR OF THE WORLDS. Produced in the apogee of science-fiction’s golden age, Haskin’s film – about a destructive Martian fleet out to destroy every last bit of life on Earth – is both populist entertainment and thought-provoking terror. Sure, Gene Barry gives more of his fair share of smoked-ham line readings, but the interactions between humans and Martians are effectively harrowing. Fusing rudimentary special F/X (practical ones at that) with old fashioned storytelling, THE WAR OF THE WORLDS holds up 57 years later as a formidable example of science fiction done right!
Perhaps a lesser known, minor work from Tobe Hooper, his 1986 film INVADERS FROM MARS is a oft-panned remake of a 1953 film of the same name. The ’53 version may actually be a better film, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t shred a little 80s B-movie cheese over the list. Hooper’s rendition – about a little snot nosed punk who becomes strangely affected by the landing of a mysterious craft in a nearby field – suffers from what a lot of 80s sci-fi flicks do; bad acting by its central lead. Good thing Karen Black, Bud Cort and Louise Fletcher are on hand to offer some comic relief. You blend that with Hooper’s trippy use of color, the bold point of view told from the kid’s perspective, the eye-bugging special F/X, the portentous atmosphere…INVADERS FROM MARS is a new marriage of horror old and new.
I, like many of you I’m sure, was at a very impressionable age by the time Robert Lieberman’s FIRE IN THE SKY hit cable. As such, you may share the same inability to shake what’s become one of the most indelible shots in the history of the alien invasion/visitation template. Of course, I’m speaking of D.B Sweeny being eerily struck, levitated and pulled onto an ungodly alien mother-craft. I seriously still can’t shake that image some 15 odd years later, nor can I truly explain the feeling its left in me ever since. However, it’s upon revisiting the movie – about an abducted logger and his terrified buddies – is the ensemble acting of Peter Berg, Robert Patrick, Craig Scheffer and Henry Thomas…not to mention Sweeny, whose haunting retelling of his experience aboard the craft still rings as uncomfortable as any other on our venerated list.
Who can forget Big Willy in a putrid hair-fade and oily crustache? Roland Emmerich’s 1996 magnum-opus INDEPENDENCE DAY could very well be responsible for the grossly over-bloated Hollywood tent-pole attraction of today. We’ll overlook that assessment for now, and focus on the context of this 145 minute epic-spectacle. Y’all know the gist…when a humongous alien spacecraft begins obliterating major U.S. cities on July 3rd, it’s up to a few key cogs in the U.S. military and government to forever quash the incursion. The real feat for Emmerich here is, no matter how big in scope and scale, now matter how ridiculous and over-the-top the on-screen marvel, he grounds the film in human relationship. It’s not all about explosions and large scale destruction…Emmerich often lends a humorous touch (Smith, Goldblum) of humanity to his vision of the end of the world.
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Perhaps our most obscure inclusion, Harry Bromley Davenport’s XTRO is far less of a technological marvel than most on our list, in essence substituting personal horror for massive eye-popping action sequences. That being said, I can’t quite codify the film as giving a more intimate or sympathetic portrayal of otherworldly beings. For the uninitiated, XTRO is about a father and husband who returns home three years after being abducted by aliens. Only problem? Dude comes back as a blood-thirsty crab-like mutant with the foulest of intentions. Extremely bizarre, at times off-putting, XTRO’s indefatigable alien-rape sequence easily catapults the film to one of the most disturbing on our list. Cheap, trashy, irredeemable…if you like hardened horror tropes with your alien-abduction, XTRO is most certainly for you!
Alright, why not kick this bastard off with a little levity? As much of a cult-picture as there ever was, The Chiodo brothers’ wildly energetic, off-the-wall B-movie KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE is near and dear to many a AITH staffer’s hearts…so much so that it just edged its way into the top ten. For the uninitiated, the film chronicles a gaggle of blood-thirsty clown-looking aliens who arrive on Earth via tent-like mother-ship. Not only playing to the universal fear that plagues people around the globe, clowns, it also adheres to the malefic depiction of extraterrestrial coming to Earth to subsume human life. Made for a paltry $2 million (mostly allocated toward production costs, the brother built most of the clowns themselves), KILLER KLOWNS isn’t a particularly scary picture, but it’s a fun one…at times equally unnerving as it is side-splitting!
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