After a mysterious object lands in his backyard, a young boy, David (Jimmy Hunt), alerts his father (Leif Erickson) who goes out to investigate.
When his father returns, David realises something is wrong with him.
He looks the same - but David is certain that this person is a stranger…
Directed by the original production designer William Cameron Menzies (literally, look it up!), Invaders from Mars is a candy-coloured nightmare, a distillation of Cold War paranoia into that most banal of American archetypes, the nuclear family.
This is a film framed as a child’s nightmare.
Based around an elemental fear - the people I know and love do not recognise me - the film is at its strongest in its first half as the kid realises his parents have been possessed.
With the colour photography and the exaggerated sets, the film is deliberately heightened to mirror the perspective of its young protagonist.
When the boy visits the police station, the blank walls and oversized furniture loom over him.
This opening section is so strong, the movie cannot help but deflate once the adults start believing his story.
The film turns into a more familiar alien invasion story, with the reassuring arrival of a military unit (represented by a seemingly endless supply of stock footage).
It is watchable, but there is nothing to match the surreal terrors of the first act.
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