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| Invasion
Year: 1999
Classification: Science Fiction
Directed:
- John Paizs
- Armand Mastroianni
Actors/Actresses:
- Luke Perry
- Kim Cattrall
Campy tounge-in-cheek invasion spoof
There are many people who feel a spoof should be at the level of Airplane, non-stop gags loosely tied into a theme. There are less smash-on-the-head spoofs such as many of the films of Mel Brooks. This one is somewhere in between.
The town of Exceptional Vista used to be a major manufacturer of machine nuts. But now the factory is closed and the town is dried up. Everyone who could leave already has.
But then some interesting things happen. Something falls from the sky and lands near the town, a world famous nuclear scientist arrives for a vacation, all television reception is out, and there seem to be a lot of traveling salesmen about.
The aliens have landed and it is up to an unusual cast of characters to save the day. The movie then follows a rather typical 1950's B-movie theme, complete with the aliens being defeated with a simple weapon.
Things heat up when the first body is found "in the lumpy bumpy part of town outside of town." Yes, that phrase is actually used. Repeatedly. Much of the humor is subtle. Pay attention to the dialogue (particularly that of the scientist) and the background visuals. Watching our heroes being scared to pass through a bead curtain is just one instance.
This is a good spoof, but not one that will appeal to most spoof fans. It is a little to subtle for most although I quite enjoyed it...
Misleading cover design and title
Avalanche Video deliberately retitled this film and designed the packaging to fool people into thinking it's a Zucker Brothers style non-stop gag fest like Airplane! or Top Secret. Rather, Top of the Food Chain (the movie's real title, which still appears on the film itself) is an eccentric, amusing exercise in absurdity. As such, it's not for everybody, but who wants to see movies that ARE for everybody? (I know, plenty of people.) The director, John Paizs, is an associate of Guy Maddin, so if you like Maddin's films, you may like this. Not that this is at all like Tales From the Gimli Hospital or Careful, but those open to intelligent, offbeat movies will probably enjoy it. The rest of you are free to rent Scary Movie, he said, cinema snob that he is.
What????
[...].
Mind you, I love bad movies. Ed Wood and Phil Tucker are among my favorites. And I have a few others in my libary which I applaud as they have $2.68 special effects budgets that make them worth watching. (And some are made by those who later became big!)
But, as far as budget, yeah, this one's low. As far as humor, the funniest thing about the story was the fact that at the fire dept. dance or whatever it was, all the dishes on the buffet table were a variation on the theme of lime jello. The rest of the humor consisted of silly, over-used cliches.
If you want to see this one once, okay. I doubt you'll want to see it again.
All right. It's more enjoyable than "Battlefield Earth." That in itself says....something.
Buy Invasion at Amazon.com
Buy posters at Allposters.com
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