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Bloody Hell! We’re not but three minutes into Invasion Earth and the lasers are already firing as two scientists flee for their lives after discovering that honest to goodness aliens are, as they mistakenly think, three months away from entering Earth’s orbit. Nope! The suckers are already here and ready to do battle with anyone! Parked cars become cool practical effects as they explode the minute purple lasers slice through the night sky. The two alien spotters are soon abducted and then we let the opening credits roll.
And then, unfortunately, we wait . . . for another 80-minutes or so. WRONG MOVE!
Written and directed by James Twyman, Invasion Earth - with co-directing credit given to Steven M. Smith (Dead Again, Doll House) - doesn’t allow us too much time among the scientists, thankfully. We’ve seen that movie before. No, this alien invasion storyline revolves around a group of addicts who are attending mandatory therapy sessions via a countryside retreat rather than serving time in prison.
Yup, these are our heroes as the beginning of an alien invasion throws all of their lives out of whack. Cool, right? Certainly different, but - and this is a BIG but - there’s no earthly reason this film - about an alien invasion - needs to drag on the way it does. Simply put, there’s way too much focus on dramatic tensions within this group of misfits and less time spent on aliens for its own good. Truly, the first hour of this film makes me think the alien angle was forced into someone else’s movie . . . and that’s not a good thing at all.
Starring Charlotte Gould, Phoebe Delikoura, Tony Fadil, Nigel Thijs, David Shaw, and Jon-Paul Gates, as an investigative television journalist who is trying to expose the program and the psychiatrist. Dr. Carson (Shaw) at its helm as fraud, Invasion Earth spends about 80-minutes too long building up these critically and clinically flawed characters. . .
. . . because in an independent feature like this, we want to SEE ALIENS ATTACK! All this frustration means that when the aliens actually do arrive, armed to the teeth and wearing interesting leather-type, punk-leaning outfits, we are probably ready for someone to die. And here's where the film doesn’t disappoint when it comes to Armageddon showdowns between addicts and aliens. It just needs a lot of editing to make the invasion actually worth the watch.
So, yeah, there might be aliens in this flick, but there’s a shitload of emotional trauma that we need to shuffle through first and the actors, telling their stories and such, sometimes choke on the drama they are delivering as the demons come out to parade around the therapy camp. It's a bit too much to recommend, but if you are up for the journey through dark skies and darker hearts, then by all means . . . eat of the flesh.
Invasion Earth arrives only On Demand and DVD August 4th from Midnight Releasing.
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[tab title="Film Details"]
MPAA Rating: Unrated.
Runtime: 106 mins
Director: James Twyman
Writer: James Twyman
Cast: Steven M. Smith, Jon-Paul Gates, Tony Fadil
Genre: Sc-fi
Tagline: Theywent for help, but must fight to survive.
Memorable Movie Quote:
Distributor: Midnight Releasing
Official Site:
Release Date: On Demand and DVD August 4th
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: On Demand and DVD August 4th.
Synopsis: The story follows a group of addicts who attend therapy to avoid being sent to prison, while a TV journalist goes undercover and joins the group to try and expose this as a scam. However, all of their lives are thrown into chaos by the beginning of an alien invasion.
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