History Film / InvadersFromMars1986

[[caption-width-right:350:"These things! They're huge, ugly, slimy giant Mr Potato Heads!"]]

* MythologyGag: Atop a chest of draws in the school basement sits the 1953 version of the Martian Supreme Intelligence.

A 1986 remake of the 1953 film of the same name. Directed by Creator/TobeHooper, and written by Dan O'Bannon, perhaps best known for having written ''Film/{{Alien}}'', and Don Jakoby, perhaps best known for devising the story for ''Film/{{Evolution}}''.

* AlienLunch: Under Martian control, Mrs [=McKeltch=] eats a live frog.

With son David (Hunter Carson), NASA worker George Gardner (Timothy Bottoms) watches a meteor shower. As a storm rages, David sees, through his window, an enormous, brilliantly lit sphere slowly descend from the sky and vanish beneath a nearby hill. Next day, David and mother Ellen (Creator/LaraineNewman) are unnerved to find George serenely subdued. At school, bullying teacher Mrs. [=McKletch=] (Creator/LouiseFletcher) starts to threaten David with physical force.

** The spaceship somewhat resembles [[Film/ETTheExtraterrestrial ETs]].

A 1986 remake of the 1953 film of the same name. Directed by Creator/TobeHooper, and written by Dan O'Bannon, perhaps best known for having written ''Film/{{Alien}}'', and Don Jakoby, perhaps best known for devising the story for ''Film/{{Evolution}}''. With son David (Hunter Carson), NASA worker George Gardner (Timothy Bottoms) watches a meteor shower. As a storm rages, David sees, through his window, an enormous, brilliantly lit sphere slowly descend from the sky and vanish beneath a nearby hill. Next day, David and mother Ellen (Creator/LaraineNewman) are unnerved to find George serenely subdued. At school, bullying teacher Mrs. [=McKletch=] (Creator/LouiseFletcher) starts to threaten David with physical force. When his mother finally succumbs to the inscrutable alteration, David can only turn to school nurse Linda Magnuson (Creator/KarenBlack), who, with increasing dread, realises David to be preoccupied by something other than flight of fancy…

* ActorAllusion: In the final scene with the parents, Creator/LaraineNewman placates her son using an exaggerated alien voice. It's the same voice she used on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' when she played Connie in the Coneheads sketches.

* CallBack: Atop a chest of draws in the school basement sits the 1953 version of the Martian Supreme Intelligence.

A 1986 remake of the 1953 film of the same name. Directed by Creator/TobeHooper, and written by Dan O’Bannon, perhaps best known for having written ''Film/{{Alien}}'', and Don Jakoby, perhaps best known for devising the story for ''Film/{{Evolution}}''. With son David (Hunter Carson), NASA worker George Gardner (Timothy Bottoms) watches a meteor shower. As a storm rages, David sees, through his window, an enormous, brilliantly lit sphere slowly descend from the sky and vanish beneath a nearby hill. Next day, David and mother Ellen (Creator/LaraineNewman) are unnerved to find George serenely subdued. At school, bullying teacher Mrs [=McKletch=] (Creator/LouiseFletcher) starts to threaten David with physical force. When his mother finally succumbs to the inscrutable alteration, David can only turn to school nurse Linda Magnuson (Creator/KarenBlack), who, with increasing dread, realises David to be preoccupied by something other than flight of fancy…

* ActorAllusion:In the final scene with the parents, Creator/LaraineNewman placates her son using an exaggerated alien voice. It's the same voice she used on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' when she played Connie in the Coneheads sketches.
* AlasPoorVillain: Cruel as it is, [[spoiler: the despairing growls of the Supreme Martian Intelligence are somewhat plaintive]].

* AliensSpeakingEnglish: [[AvertedTrope Averted]]. With its weird growls ill-suited to human enunciation, the Supreme Martian Intelligence lets the [[MindControl mind-controlled]] Mrs [=McKletch=] impart its scornful dismissal of David’s pleas. It then somehow mimics a sentence recently spoken by David’s dad.

* AttackItsWeakPoint: Several well-placed shots to the central console in the control room [[spoiler: thwart the invasion]].

* BigDamnHeroes: Just as [[spoiler: Nurse Magnuson]] is about to be probed, the Marines destroy the Martian machinery.

* ChekhovsGun: Early on, George presents David with a vintage penny. [[spoiler: Being made of copper, it’s used to activate a Martian weapon]].

-->'''David:''' I’ll fix you, dick brain!

* KickTheDog: The Supreme Martian Intelligence mocks David’s heartfelt pleas for mercy.
* MindControl: Much of the horror lies in David and Nurse Magnuson’s helplessness amidst a mysteriously augmented populace.

** The spaceship somewhat resembles [[Film/ETTheExtraterrestrial ET's]].

* SwallowedWhole: The possessed [[spoiler: Mrs [=McKletch=]]] is pushed into the mouth of a disorientated Martian Drone, and is subsequently devoured, possibly as punishment for failing to recapture David
* WeComeInPeaceShootToKill: Dr Weinstein of SETI attempts to communicate with a Martian Drone and is rewarded with disintegration.

* StarfishAliens: The Martian Drones are hairless, hulking, bulbous, disembodied heads, with four legs, retractable arms, and huge mouths. Their leader, the Supreme Intelligence, is a huge, hairless, limbless, disembodied head.
* SwallowedWhole: The possessed [[spoiler: Mrs [=McKletch=]]] is pushed into the mouth of a disorientated Martian Drone.

* CallBack: Atop a chest of draws in the school basement sits a the 1953 version of the Martian Supreme Intelligence.

A 1986 remake of the 1953 film of the same name. Directed by Creator/TobeHooper, and written by Dan O’Bannon, perhaps best known for having written ''Film/{{Alien}}'', and Don Jakoby, perhaps best known for devising the story for ''Film/{{Evolution}}''. With son David (Hunter Carson), NASA worker George Gardner (Timothy Bottoms) watches a meteor shower. As a storm rages, David sees, through his window, an enormous, brilliantly lit sphere slowly descend from the sky and vanish beneath a nearby hill. Next day, David and mother Ellen (Laraine Mewman) are unnerved to find George serenely subdued. At school, bullying teacher Mrs [=McKletch=] (Creator/LouiseFletcher) starts to threaten David with physical force. When his mother finally succumbs to the inscrutable alteration, David can only turn to school nurse Linda Magnuson (Creator/KarenBlack), who, with increasing dread, realises David to be preoccupied by something other than flight of fancy…

** The Supreme Martian Intelligence, a gigantic hairless, glistening head with vestigial limbs and no torso, recalls Creator/HGWells’s [[Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds Martians]].
** The spaceship somewhat resembles [[Film/ETTheExtraterrestrial ET’s]].

* WeComeInPeaceShootToKill: Dr Weinstein of SETI attempts to communicate with a Martian Drone and is rewarded with disintegration.

* CastingGag: Jimmy Hunt, who played David in the 1953 original, now plays the police chief.

A 1986 remake of the 1953 film of the same name. Directed by Creator/TobeHooper, and written by Dan O’Bannon, perhaps best known for having written ''Film/{{Alien}}'', and Don Jakoby, perhaps best known for devising the story for ''Film/{{Evolution}}''. With son David, NASA worker George Gardner watches a meteor shower. As a storm rages, David sees, through his window, an enormous, brilliantly lit sphere slowly descend from the sky and vanish beneath a nearby hill. Next day, David and mother Ellen are unnerved to find George serenely subdued. At school, bullying teacher Mrs [=McKletch=] starts to threaten David with physical force. When his mother finally succumbs to the inscrutable alteration, David can only turn to school nurse Linda Magnuson, who, with increasing dread, realises David to be preoccupied by something other than flight of fancy…

* ShoutOut: The Supreme Martian Intelligence, a gigantic hairless, glistening head with vestigial limbs and no torso, recalls Creator/HGWells’s [[Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds Martians]].

* SceneryPorn: The cavernous underground spaceship.

-->'''David:''' I’ll fix you, dick brain!\

--> '''David:''' I’ll fix you, dick brain!\\

--> '''David:''' I’ll fix you, dick brain!

A 1986 remake of the 1953 film of the same name. Directed by Creator/TobeHooper, and written by Dan O’Bannon, perhaps best known for having written ''Film/{{Alien}}'', and Don Jakoby, perhaps best known for devising the story for ''Film/{{Evolution}}''. With son David, NASA worker George Gardner watches a meteor shower. As a storm rages, David sees, through his window, an enormous, brilliantly lit sphere slowly descend from the sky and vanish beneath a nearby hill. Next day, David and mother Ellen are unnerved to find George serenely subdued. At school, bullying teacher Mrs McKletch starts to threaten David with physical force. When his mother finally succumbs to the inscrutable alteration, David can only turn to school nurse Linda Magnuson, who, with increasing dread, realises David to be preoccupied by something other than flight of fancy…

* AlienLunch: Under Martian control, Mrs McKeltch eats a live frog.
* AliensSpeakingEnglish: [[AvertedTrope Averted]]. With its weird growls ill-suited to human enunciation, the Supreme Martian Intelligence lets the [[MindControl mind-controlled]] Mrs McKletch impart its scornful dismissal of David’s pleas. It then somehow mimics a sentence recently spoken by David’s dad.

* TheBully: Mrs McKletch, even before takeover by the Martians, steadfastly persecutes David.

* CowardlyLion: While petrified, Nurse Magnuson resolves to protect David from Mrs McKletch.

* TheDragon: The possessed Mrs McKlatch seems to be chief informant to the Supreme Martian Intelligence.

* SwallowedWhole: The possessed [[spoiler: Mrs McKletch]] is pushed into the mouth of a disorientated Martian Drone.

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: When the Supreme Martian Intelligence mockingly disregards his pleas for mercy, David gives it a whack, which seems to somewhat disorientate both it and the Drones.

* WeComeInPeaceShootToKill: Dr Weinstein of NASA attempts to communicate with a Martian Drone and is rewarded with disintegration.

* AttackItsWeakPoint: [[FiveRoundsRapid Several well-placed shots]] to the central console in the control room [[spoiler: thwart the invasion]].