Yahooey! This here is fun. Not the first or last film sci-fi film with hicks, but in Galaxy Invader, we're completely in a hick/redneck universe. The only outsider is a Professor (Richard Dyszel) called in by a former student (Greg Dohler, as David) to check into the mysterious fireball falling from the sky into the Maryland wilderness.
There's even a Christopher Walken lookalike (Cliff Lambert as Michael), one of the few half-normal guys here. But, Joe (Richard Ruxton), the protagonist, dominates everything and everyone here. He's beyond unsympathetic, beyond stupid, way beyond simple drunkenness, and beyond all time. He starts off hunting his daughter with a shotgun 'cause she was 'smartin-off' to him, and he ends up killing his buddy Frank's (Don Leifert's) girlfriend Vickie (Theresa Howard), 'cause....just because, I guess. His most notable feature, other than an eternal adult beverage, is the nastiest t-shirt in history, which he wears in every scene.
And that's just one of a host of good 'ol boy bar flies that compose the alien-hunting posse. Frank is so low-life that he brings his beer into the bar (on his posse-recruiting mission). They get the alien, but half the guys are killed. Joe's family hates him so much that the alien, once captured, doesn't seem like such a bad houseguest. David and the professor liberate the alien from Joe's garage. But, after wasting Vicky, Joe catches up with the thing and kills it with its own raygun.
His family goes hunting him, his wife Ethel (Ann Frith) duly administering the slow-motion, instant-reply whack with a huge stick that sends him thankfully flying off a cliff. Undoubtedly, the alien will get a more dignified burial than the old man. In fact, although the alien is the primary focal point, there's much more tension and drama surrounding Joe. He's more of an alien life-form than the actual alien.
We never see the spacecraft. Other than the alien and his raygun (which might be an actual flare-gun), there's this grapefruit-sized deal that has something to do with energy, but is just sort of sparking up now and then. Now, the alien is really quite good--one of the better guy in a rubber suit creations. In fact, he looks something like a partially decayed Creature From the Black Lagoon (a fine lineage that). This is an unusual example of a bad movie with a good monster.
I won't say that Galaxy Invader isn't entertaining, it's probably worth trashing an hour or so just to see man (Joe) at his worst. The problem is, I don't think that this is meant as a parody; everyone acts fairly serious throughout. The ending really dwells on Joe's killing--at heart it's a revenge movie. The creature is the science fiction element, Joe is the horror element.
3/10.
There's even a Christopher Walken lookalike (Cliff Lambert as Michael), one of the few half-normal guys here. But, Joe (Richard Ruxton), the protagonist, dominates everything and everyone here. He's beyond unsympathetic, beyond stupid, way beyond simple drunkenness, and beyond all time. He starts off hunting his daughter with a shotgun 'cause she was 'smartin-off' to him, and he ends up killing his buddy Frank's (Don Leifert's) girlfriend Vickie (Theresa Howard), 'cause....just because, I guess. His most notable feature, other than an eternal adult beverage, is the nastiest t-shirt in history, which he wears in every scene.
And that's just one of a host of good 'ol boy bar flies that compose the alien-hunting posse. Frank is so low-life that he brings his beer into the bar (on his posse-recruiting mission). They get the alien, but half the guys are killed. Joe's family hates him so much that the alien, once captured, doesn't seem like such a bad houseguest. David and the professor liberate the alien from Joe's garage. But, after wasting Vicky, Joe catches up with the thing and kills it with its own raygun.
His family goes hunting him, his wife Ethel (Ann Frith) duly administering the slow-motion, instant-reply whack with a huge stick that sends him thankfully flying off a cliff. Undoubtedly, the alien will get a more dignified burial than the old man. In fact, although the alien is the primary focal point, there's much more tension and drama surrounding Joe. He's more of an alien life-form than the actual alien.
We never see the spacecraft. Other than the alien and his raygun (which might be an actual flare-gun), there's this grapefruit-sized deal that has something to do with energy, but is just sort of sparking up now and then. Now, the alien is really quite good--one of the better guy in a rubber suit creations. In fact, he looks something like a partially decayed Creature From the Black Lagoon (a fine lineage that). This is an unusual example of a bad movie with a good monster.
I won't say that Galaxy Invader isn't entertaining, it's probably worth trashing an hour or so just to see man (Joe) at his worst. The problem is, I don't think that this is meant as a parody; everyone acts fairly serious throughout. The ending really dwells on Joe's killing--at heart it's a revenge movie. The creature is the science fiction element, Joe is the horror element.
3/10.