Just watched this the other day. Never seen it before. I like the original enough.

But man oh man, this is terrible. Perhaps I am missing the nostalgia..I assume it was made for pre-teens/teens back in the day and I just missed the boat (UFO?) on this one.

Firstly...its something which I just can't get away from...but was Karen Black supposed to be a retarded woman-child? She is just awful. Not in any way acting like an adult. At one point the kid is stroking her hair and telling her its going to be ok??? Huh?

Louise Fletcher is an award winning actress. But she has been in some crap. Her constant "David Gardner" lines were utterly grating. I felt really sorry for her (although I'm sure she got a nice pay check)

James Karen is an all time favorite. Simply superb in ROTLD. In this he is awful. What sort of commander is he supposed to be?

I'm no fan of Tobe Hooper (apart from TCM)...I think his other movies that I've seen have ranged from meh to *beep* terrible.

I won't even get into the ending.

It doesn't have a terrible rating on imdb...so, am I just too old (and again, without the nostalgia) to enjoy this slice of 80's sci-fi remake madness or do you find it as awful as I do?

I've never cared for the 80's version myself! It really is terrible, I think the original 1953 version is better.

You have to take Tobe Hooper with a pinch of salt. I find most of his films bad, but oddly entertaining, depending on my mood.

I think the boy was dreaming the whole movie. I guess he was hot for teacher.

(1953) wastes no time getting into the story. Hmm why was the boy around the action the whole time in real-life that wouldn't of happened, probably all the civilians wouldn't be allowed. Brilliant blast of choral music announces the arrival of the mutants. Great we get to see the whole film again at the end, trying to string out its short length I expect

(1986) Thought I'ld never seen it, but I obviously have. Decent remake, I thought the monsters were pretty cool. A very poltergeist feel

all the oddities you mentioned were intentional, considering the ending of the film.

not my favourite "homage to other era" film(that would go for super 8, doomsday and cabin in the woods), but not bad.

Louise Fletcher...has been in some crap.

Funny you'd put it quite like that. She did an interview with Starlog magazine about the making of this movie, and said she had a moment of self-realization while waiting to do a take inside the alien ship interior: essentially, "I'm standing inside a giant colon. What the hell am I doing here?"

There's an aggressive sense of artificiality about Invaders From Mars that's deliberate, and maybe too aggressive. Something about it just doesn't click. The biggest problem is the kid actor, I think, he just doesn't sell it.

You should see the original (and so should I again ben too many years). It was an exercize in making a film from the child's perspective - not just his literal POV but a child's understanding of things. Nothing in it is exactly realistic, including the people. That ending was the same.

I never saw the original, but the remake... it was bad. Really bad.

I first saw this remake as a kid. I like it. One of my favourite Tobe Hooper films.