Invaders from Mars

If I had seen this movie as a kid, I think it would have freaked me out. The story forces the main character, a little boy, to deal with an alien invasion practically on his own. I use the word "creepy" a lot, but there are a lot of images and shots of some downright creepy things in this movie. The underground alien menace, the "head" alien in his little glass ball, the "worker" aliens and their fuzzy suits with the zippers up the back, it's all the stuff my childhood nightmares would have been made of. There are also some interesting sets and shots. I was impressed with the hillside set where the boy sees the meteor crash. A more eerie hillside I had not seen since the preacher rides up the hill, silhouetted by the moon in "Night of the Hunter". I also thought the perspective of the front desk at the police station was very odd and was certainly meant to show how intimidating it would be from the boy's perspective. This is just an average movie as far as I'm concerned, but it does contain some artistic visuals that demand attention.

Pretty standard fare for 1950s alien sci-fi - with two exceptions. Dr Blake (normally the female characters are secretarial, but here one of the key female leads is a Dr - good on you folks from so long ago) and the "aliens underground" thing. But actually, it's just another old movie...