Spaced Invaders (1989)
Director: Patrick Read Johnson
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
A half-hearted, plagiaristic kids' sci-fi comedy, featuring one amusing idea which woefully fails to sustain an entire movie. After receiving a pasting from the neighbouring Arcturians, a disoriented Martian warship mistakenly intercepts a Halloween-night radio broadcast of War of the Worlds from Earth. Believing their comrades to be industriously trashing the humans, Captain Bipto and his crew - little green men with antennae - proceed swiftly to Earth to join the invading forces, only to be met with derision by the locals who, mistaking them for children in fancy dress, enlist them for a trick-or-treat party. Despite the neat comic inversion of its central premise (this time it's the spacemen who are taken in by Welles' classic hoax), the film soon comes a cropper as the chaotic script descends into a mêlée of limp and disjointed knockabout gags.Author: MK
Cast & crew
Director: Patrick Read Johnson
Producer: Luigi Cingolani
Cast: Douglas Barr, Royal Dano, Ariana Richards, JJ Anderson, Gregg Berger, Fred Applegate, Patrika Darbo, Tonya Lee Williams full cast
Genre(s): Science Fiction
Duration: 102 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Hippies who work for The Man
To celebrate George Clooney comedy 'The Men who Stare at Goats', we look back at six memorable onscreen hippies who fought the system from within
Roland Emmerich's guide to disaster movies
Ahead of the release of '2012', Roland Emmerich offers his ten tips on creating the perfect global catastrophe
Grant Heslov: interview
Grant Heslov, director of 'The Men who Stare at Goats' talks about his old pal George Clooney, his interest in the paranormal, and his fond memories of working on 'Happy Days'
The Coen brothers discuss 'A Serious Man'
Masters of contrary comedy, Joel and Ethan Coen have struck gold again with their latest, ‘A Serious Man’
Ten inspirations behind 'Avatar'?
Time Out ponders the influences behind James Cameron's anticipated space-opera on the basis of the trailer
Michael Jackson's This Is It: review
Kenny Ortega's posthumous concert film is a rousing eulogy for one of pop's great enigmas
Michael Haneke: The man behind the menace
From Cannes to Munich to London, Dave Calhoun tours Michael Haneke's Palme d'Or winner, 'The White Ribbon'
Lone Scherfig talks 'An Education'
Danish director Lone Scherfig was an unlikely choice for a very English affair like 'An Education'. Cath Clarke meets her
How Jane Campion brought John Keats back to life
Time Out gets Romantic with the ‘difficult’ New Zealander about her new film, 'Bright Star'
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations












What do you think?
Post your review now