Invaders from Mars (1986) on Netflix
David Gardner, twelve, sees an alien spaceship land on Copper Hill beyond the house. His father George investigates and returns behaving strangely, a mark on the back of his neck.
- Netflix2.4/5
- IMDb5.6/1012,250 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes38%
Trailer
Plot summary
George Gardner stargazes with his twelve-year-old son David, who dreams of becoming an astronaut. A thunderstorm wakes David, and he sees an alien spaceship land on Copper Hill just beyond the house. George agrees to investigate and comes back behaving strangely, with a mark on the back of his neck. David's mother Helen and other people around town are soon changed too, as are his teacher Mrs. McKeltch and his classmate Heather. David brings his fears to the school nurse, Linda Magnusson, who carries no neck mark. Linda is skeptical.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Invaders from Mars (1986)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The Martian drone aliens' inverted leg joints were achieved by having a suit performer wear the costume backwards while a second puppeteer operated the face, the two performers moving back-to-back.
- Jimmy Hunt, who played young David MacLean in the original 1953 Invaders from Mars, made a cameo in the remake as the police chief, his first acting role in over 30 years.
- The original ending had David's parents George (Timothy Bottoms) and Ellen (Laraine Newman) eaten by drones, but the scene was never shot due to time constraints with the effects.
- Midway through filming, creature effects creator Stan Winston left the production for prior commitments to Aliens, and Alec Gillis supervised the rest of the shoot.
- Christopher Young was given only 23 days to complete the score, writing 15 minutes of orchestral and 30 minutes of electronic music in a musique concrète style; the producers disliked the electronic music and replaced much of it with work by Dave Storrs.
- Military advisor Dale Dye, who plays a Marine squad leader, led the cast in an 11-week boot camp before shooting, and most of the Marines in the movie were real Marines stationed in the Los Angeles area.
- Interior sets were built in a converted airplane hangar on Terminal Island originally constructed to house Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose; the Martian spaceship interior measured 75 feet wide, 150 feet long and 45 feet high.
- The Gardners' house in the film is the "Blandings house" at Malibu Creek State Park, built for the 1948 film Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House and now used as a park administrative office; a replica was built at Hollywood Center Studio.
