Strange Invaders *** (1983, Paul Le Mat, Nancy Allen, Diana Scarwid, Michael Lerner, Louise Fletcher, Fiona Lewis, Kenneth Tobey, Wallace Shawn, June Lockhart, Charles Lane)– Classic Movie Review 12,762

Oscar winner Louise Fletcher.

Paul Le Mat stars in Michael Laughlin’s 1983 spoof sci-fi film Strange Invaders as Charlie Bigelow, who finds more than he bargains for when he sets off to his former wife’s home town after she vanishes suddenly. 

Paul Le Mat stars in director Michael Laughlin’s 1983 film Strange Invaders as Charlie Bigelow, who finds more than he bargains for when he sets off to his former wife’s home town after she vanishes suddenly. Strange Invaders is a welcome spoof sci-fi film parodying Fifties UFO movies like Invasion of the Body Snatchers, about aliens taking over an American Mid-west town.

Paul Le Mat and Nancy Allen take centre stage appealingly in this untidy but agreeable bit of fun from co-writer/ director Laughlin. There is also an evocative cast of real, authentic actors – Diana Scarwid, Michael Lerner, Oscar winner Louise Fletcher, Fiona Lewis, Kenneth Tobey (The Thing from Another World), Wallace Shawn, June Lockhart, and Charles Lane  – to flesh out the support.

Even when the script strains, it is still easy to want to like this tense, entertaining, amusing little picture. Another asset is the authentic score by John Addison.

Also in the cast are Lulu Sylbert, Joel Cohen, Dan Shor, Dey Young, Jack Kehler, Mark Goddard, Thomas Kopache, Bobby Prickett, Connie Kellers, and William Condon.

Michael Laughlin teams up again with Bill Condon, his co-writer and associate producer from Strange Behavior (1981), another 1950s spoof. The third film in the planned trilogy was abandoned after Strange Invaders was a box office disappointment, costing $5.5 million and earning $1.4 million.

Strange Invaders is directed by Michael Laughlin, runs 94 minutes, is made by Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment, is released by Orion Pictures, is written by William Condon, Michael Laughlin and Walter Halsey Davis, is shot by Louis Horvath, is produced by Michael Laughlin and Walter Coblenz, is scored by John Addison, and is designed by Susanna Moore.

Release date: September 16, 1983.

The cast are Paul Le Mat as Charles Bigelow, Nancy Allen as Betty Walker, Diana Scarwid as Margaret, Michael Lerner as Willie Collins, Louise Fletcher as Mrs Benjamin, Wallace Shawn as Earl, Fiona Lewis as Waitress/ Avon Lady, Kenneth Tobey as Arthur Newman, June Lockhart as Mrs Bigelow, Charles Lane as Professor Hollister Lulu Sylbert as Elizabeth Bigelow Jack Kehler as Gas Station Attendant, Joel Cohen, Dan Shor, Dey Young, Mark Goddard, Thomas Kopache, Bobby Prickett, Connie Kellers, and William Condon.

American film director, producer and screenwriter Michael Laughlin (November 28, 1938 – October 20, 2021)

Director Michael Laughlin married Leslie Caron in 1969 but they separated in 1975, and divorced in 1980. Laughlin then lived with the writer Susanna Moore, whose daughter Lulu Sylbert plays Paul Le Mat’s half-alien daughter in Strange Invaders.

He produced The Whisperers and Two-Lane Blacktop,

He wrote and directed Mesmerized (1986), produced by Jodie Foster, who also stars.

He died of complications from COVID-19 in 2021, aged 82.

© Derek Winnert 2023 – Classic Movie Review 12,762

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