Invisible Invaders (1959) on Netflix
An invisible alien occupies the dead scientist Karol Noymann's body and warns Adam Penner that Earth must surrender or be invaded. Officials dismiss the warning.
- Netflix1.9/5
- IMDb5.0/102,184 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Trailer
Plot summary
Dr. Karol Noymann, an atomic scientist, dies in an explosion at his laboratory. The accident unsettles Dr. Adam Penner, who gives up his post and calls for reforms. At Noymann's funeral, an unseen alien takes possession of the corpse. It then visits Penner with an ultimatum: every nation on Earth must give in at once, or an alien force will descend and use the bodies of the dead to spread chaos. As proof, it makes objects vanish. Penner shares the news with his daughter Phyllis and with Dr. John Lamont, and sends Lamont to Washington, D.C. Officials ignore the warning, and the press calls Penner a crank. Penner takes Phyllis and Lamont to Noymann's grave, where the unseen visitor appears again. Major Bruce Jay arrives to move them to a secret bunker.
Cast
- Hal Toreyas The Farmer
- Eden Hartfordas WAAF Secretary
- John Royas Game Spectator
- Dick Cherneyas Zombie
- George Bruggemanas Technician
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Invisible Invaders (1959)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Turner Classic Movies calls Invisible Invaders "the inspiration for Night of the Living Dead", noting that the severe lack of funds led the producer to make the aliens invisible rather than show them on screen.
- To hold down costs, the production reused special effects artist Paul Blaisdell's monster costume from It! The Terror from Beyond Space, also directed by Cahn, for the scene where an invader is encased in plastic; optical effects blurred the image so the suit's true form is hard to spot.
- Composer Paul Dunlap later reused much of the music he wrote for Invisible Invaders in three other science fiction films: The Angry Red Planet (1959), The Three Stooges in Orbit (1962) and Destination Inner Space (1966).
- The film's stock footage includes the fatal car wreck scene from Thunder Road (1958), and footage shot for the film itself was repeated: scenes of the invisible alien making parallel grooves in the dirt as it shuffles toward Dr. Noymann's grave and then pushes aside bushes.
- The movie had only a short theatrical run but became a minor cult film on television; reviewer Christopher P. Jacobs reports "unprecedented success" in 1962 prime-time TV showings, after low ratings as a late-night movie.
