The Galaxy Invader (1985 Video) User Reviews

"Hey, no crap Frank, what's the deal?"

[classicsoncall · 4/10 · 18 April 2006]

OK, it boils down to this - a bunch of rednecks with shotguns are on the hunt for an alien life form, a one of a kind trailer trash sci-fi flick that defies any other characterization. It's the 'Outer Limits' buzzed on Jack Daniels, and quite coincidentally, that's the way to see this movie.

The alien itself wasn't a bad piece of work. It had a look reminiscent of the Creature From the Black Lagoon with a craggier edge. Unfortunately it's weaponry consisted of a rather bland looking space gun, theoretically powered by a white globe. At least that was the theory set forth by one of the rednecks.

I will say that the 'impending trouble' music and accompanying sound effects were about the best things the movie had to offer. Opening credits list Special Effects by 'The Cracker Factory' - of this I have no doubt.

Apparently "The Galaxy Invader" was a family affair. Besides Director Don Dohler, two cast members also share the same name. For a unique fashion statement, Joe Montague (Richard Ruxton) can't be beat; the tattered t-shirt says it all. A class act, don't you think?

Fortunately the movie does NOT make my 'Worst List'. I've been thinking about this a while and am starting to develop some criteria. To make my worst list, a film must be so genuinely bad you can't even make fun of it. On that count, this film offers laughs galore, especially when viewed with several friends.

One last thought. If you're a baseball fan and having trouble hitting the ball lately, maybe you should study Ethel Montague's form near the end of the story. Would you call that a home run?

Pure incompetent CRAP from the 80's...I loved it!

[Coventry · 2/10 · 30 May 2006]

I fell in love with the two-line plot description on the back of the DVD-cover and I simply had to see it because it sounded like THE stupidest low-budget production of the entire 80's decade! Dig this: "When an alien is forced to crash-land his ship on the earth's surface, he finds himself relentlessly pursued by a bunch of drunken rednecks." How cool is that? It sounds like all Science Fiction movies involving extraterrestrial life ever made before, only…the complete opposite! Writer/director Don Dohler delivers exactly what he promises and makes "The Galaxy Invader" a rather entertaining experience as long as you can tolerate amateurish acting performances, completely unconvincing special effects and meaningless dialogs that are extremely poorly written. There is indeed a lonely alien, looking an awful lot like the creature from the black lagoon, on the loose in the forests of Baltimore and the yokels at the local bar decide to hunt it down so they can sell it to the highest bidder. Especially the stereotypical portrayal of the local idiots is downright hilarious! These men chase their disobedient 25-year-old daughters with shotguns; always carry around at least two cans of Budweiser everywhere they go and wear filthy & torn up shirts. The hunting sequences (filmed at night) are embarrassingly poor and the ending – filmed by Dohler like it's some sort of heroic battle – is too stupid for words. The title is pretty misleading, as the green-suited alien doesn't do much invading and he certainly doesn't look very menacing with his minuscule gun and complementary crystal ball. Even according to TV-standards, this totally fails as Sci-Fi picture, but it guaranteed to make laugh out loud!

Creature from black lagoon comes back---from outer space.

[Travis_Moran · 3/10 · 30 August 2005]

There were a total of 3 effects in this movie: The first was the crappy animated "meteor" as it hit the earth. The second was the rubber suited alien (reminded me a lot of the creature from the black lagoon). Then there was the globe & gun thingy. Sadly, we didn't get to see a spaceship or even a hole in the ground---not even a studio cave.

The globe & gun contraption would have been fair had it been backed up by decent effects. The shots it fired and the dumb little firebursts were really lame.

Now the rubber mask wasn't bad. The first time it was shown it actually startled me (that's quite an accomplishment for a movie of this calibre). But from there it was all downhill.

Acting was just plain bad. And the only people in the whole cast who didn't look like they had just risen from a pigpen were the kid (David) and the alien. In my opinion the alien was the only decent actor in this mess---and that's probably cause he didn't have to talk. The kid would have been okay if he hadn't had that vacant expression on his face the whole time.

The story was dumb but had an unusual twist in that the alien was the one being chased instead of the usual opposite. But it seemed the story centred around the psychopathic Joe more than the alien. And occasionally you got the idea that maybe the producer had other things on his mind than the story at hand---I mean there were quite a few ass shots of those girls.

Brief recap of story: Alien crashes on earth. Crash is witnessed by college kid who tells his prof. But before prof can arrive, large group of morons (led by two even bigger morons) get together to hunt the alien. Constant bickering (and even killing) among the morons almost makes the viewer forget this is supposed to be a sci-fi movie. (Honestly, I really, really wanted that alien to off all those dopes except the boy & prof.---it would have been so satisfying.) The alien is captured, then gets away with help from boy & prof. But the hunt continues with several lives lost and a most unsatisfying ending. (You really feel sorry for that poor alien---not only because of the story, but because he had to be in the same movie with all those boneheads).

One other positive: it's in colour.

I gave this one a most generous 3 mostly because of the rubber suit & cause it was able to give me a little jump. Sci-fi night owls can probably endure thru this moronic mess without falling asleep---I did. Everyone else---don't waste your time.

It's so tempting to add this one to the coaster collection.

I laughed at the ending till tears came strolling down my cheek

[econjaja · 2 December 2005]

This was truly a "classic Cheese" movie. Although I overlooked the acting as I was looking for how "Cheezy" this movie might turn out. Sure enough, I was not disappointed. The story line was different than expected and the portrayal of how some men treated women in the film fit the time period. The most amazing and laughable component was toward the last part of the movie. I particularly enjoyed the catapulting of a "would-be- body" over a cliff. The pure physics of this feat was undeniably astounding! You have to see it to believe it! I watched this scene several times and I was in such a hysteric laugh stupor, I had to stop watching it. Overall, I really enjoyed this one.

"I've told you - there's no such thing as a green man!"

[bensonmum2 · 4/10 · 8 August 2017]

The Galaxy Invader tells the story of a couple of clueless rednecks who come upon an alien with a powerful weapon. The pair believe that if they can capture the alien, they'll hit the jackpot. The alien, however, isn't going to be easy to take. The industrious rednecks recruit some friends from a local bar to help them out. Soon, the woods are full of drunken yokels with guns and an alien with an even more deadly gun. It's not a good combination.

The Galaxy Invader is another of those films that I find difficult to write about. Director Don Doher has either crafted one of the most inept pieces of garbage I've ever watched or he's intentionally created a master-class in "so bad it's good" filmmaking. While I suspect the former, there are so many aspects of the film that scrape the proverbial bottom-of-the-barrel that any breathing adult involved in making the film should have been able to see how horrid the whole thing was. There are so many examples of what I'm talking about that I could quite literally write pages about the direction, special effects, costuming, plot, and on and on. Instead, I'll focus on the acting and casting to try to make my point. I've written about poor acting in any number of movies. The Galaxy Invader, however, is on another level altogether. The acting here is so bad you really have ask yourself if it was done on purpose. Rarely do you hear the dialogue of an entire film delivered in such a stilted, unnatural fashion. I've seen elementary school plays with more believable acting. The casting only accentuates the poor acting. The family of hillbillys speaks with at least four different accents. Father has an over-the-top country sound. Mother sounds like she's from New England. Daughter sounds like she's straight out of Brooklyn. And the son speaks with very little noticeable accent - I don't believe that dopey isn't a regional dialect. Surely someone involved with the film noticed all this. Was it bad filmmaking or was it intentional and was Doher having a laugh?

In the end, The Galaxy Invader is bad - there's really no other way to look at it. The movie is horrible in every way a movie can be. However, it is not without some limited entertainment value - intentional or not. I'm rating it a 4/10.

Between an attack of laughs or about to cry over so unbelievable TRASH!!!

[elo-equipamentos · 3/10 · 15 January 2020]

It was certainly a handcrafted movie, made in worst financial conditions as possible, the plot is fully nonsensical to start, foolish and lack of creativity, the synopsis is about a UFO which fell down at Maryland, a boy advises his school professor, they'll meet where the UFO crashed, although in the city a red neck Montague's family face the odd Alien invader, a sort of green rubber skin, he just grunts and has a strange space-gun together a noisy ball on the belt, thus leading by a drunkard Montague father's family and together a self-called smart guy gathers a lot of loafs to hunt the creature, worst impossible, laughable, I have to admit, I've stay between of an attack of laughs or about to cry watching this funny, enjoyable and absolute TRASH piece, at least had many hot girls on the plot to relief meantime!!!

Resume:

First watch: 2010 / How many: 2 / Source: DVD / Rating: 3.5

Hicksploitation at its stupidest

[rubytombsday · 2/10 · 29 May 2019]

The creature design in this would have been rejected by 1960s era BBC.

The acting is awful, the writing is awful, and the dialogue is on par with a drunken toddler.

The best Redneck, White-trash sci-fi movie ever!

[planktonrules · 2/10 · 5 July 2007]

Okay, I gotta admit that this is the ONLY redneck, white-trash sci-fi film I have ever seen--so by default it is the best. And with a very charitable score of 2, this isn't saying much! I UFO lands in the country and the alien that came from it was actually pretty good--with an interesting costume and makeup. Unfortunately, from this auspicious start, the film was all down hill from there. Why? Because then the action switched to a group of horrid actors who made up a family that looked like they'd escaped from a John Waters film, such as FEMALE TROUBLE or PINK FLAMINGOS. The two daughters and wife were all pretty stupid and awful but compared to Daddy, they were like charm school graduates. Daddy was the most pointlessly obnoxious and trashy person I've seen in film in a long time--spending practically every second in the film with alcohol in his hand, cursing, threatening or shooting. Plus, his costume was the ever-present white t-shirt that was like one giant hole! And, to assist Daddy in all his obnoxiousness was his cigar-chomping and rather psychotic friend. Together they decided that it was a good idea to capture the alien and get rich. This was pretty much the whole plot. Daddy and his inbred idiot friend chasing the poor alien. In fact, this duo was so obnoxious and awful that the rest of the white trash decided to help the alien! The film is full of amateur acting, bad filming and horrid dialog. In no way other than the alien's costume is this film superior to films like PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE. It honestly looks like someone's home movie starring their drinking buddies, though on this level it's good for an occasional laugh.

FYI--If anyone cares, this film was made in Maryland. As I saw some real similarities between this and some of the cheesier John Waters films I wonder if perhaps the writer/director Don Dohler wasn't perhaps a friend or associate of Waters or at least was seriously impacted by his work.

Terrible Movie

[MEwing4444 · 1/10 · 6 November 2005]

As someone who loves B-movies and camp classics, etc. this movie is just awful. The acting is so bad, I couldn't get involved in the movie, it seemed like the 'actors' were just reading Q-cards. I kept waiting for a plot, but it just wasn't there. I listened to a bunch of idiots arguing how to find the alien. The ending is just that, the film runs out, nothing is ever explained. The one thing that had my interest was the 'rednecks' Vs the alien thing. That seemed original, but the execution of the production killed it off. I'm not trying to be funny, but this movie seems like it was made by someone with a video camera who made the script up as they went along, and talked friends and family into 'acting' it out. I am surprised to see a few positive comments on this movie.

Semi-Funny Crappy Film

[Rainey-Dawn · 3/10 · 18 January 2017]

What a load of worse than cheesy crap but kinda semi-funny. I think the humor was completely intentional... sorta a spoof on the old alien horror sci-fi films of the 50s, 60s maybe the 70s I'm guessing. I don't recall this film, maybe it was because it was a direct-to-video.

The lame hillbillies are better than the actual creature. They get so annoying that you can't wait for the creature to get them but you kinda want all of them to stick around just to hear the next dumb thing they say and do.

I think the creature kinda looks like The Swamp Thing in away. And it carries what looks like an alien egg that flashes to red sometimes.

It's lame enough to get a couple of giggles out of at best.

3/10

Hicktown Collectively Swallows An Inter-Galactic Laxative

[strong-122-478885 · 1/10 · 19 September 2011]

OK.

So - What's red, white, and green, and is (definitely) pure crap from start to finish? Why, it's this blasted, z-grade movie, of course, with its "red"-necks, its "white"-trash, and its "green" man from Mars (!?). And, yes, don't forget, its pathetically crappy storyline and its god-awful production values, as well.

What more can I say?

From this viewer's point of view, The Galaxy Invader was yet another prime contender desperately crying out to be recognized as "The Best/Worst Movie Of All Time". It really was.

Why is it that so many movies of such an inferior caliber as this one always seem to fit into either the genre of Horror or Sci-Fi? I mean, these 2 genres have been so saturated by rubbish of this sort for so long that it has almost become the expected norm.

Every single character in this film was completely one-dimensional and as utterly despicable as you could possibly imagine. (Yep. Even the children). These contemptible jerks (one, and all) were forever saying the most idiotic things to each other, non-stop. Believe me, it was enough to make one sick to their stomach in no time flat.

Thank goodness that the "Galaxy Invader", himself, never uttered a word. With the way that the other characters (with their decidedly Neanderthal mentality) regarded him in this film, he was, in reality, just a token symbol, quite obviously representing every ethnic minority (Black, Arab, Indian, etc.), all conveniently wrapped up into one lump of outer-space slime.

And naturally this "alien's" sole purpose for being in this situation as the hunted one was to allow the humans the opportunity to vent out their hatred on him in just the same way as they would treat anything that they so blindly chose not to understand, and, yet, at the same time, greedily wished to exploit for monetary gain.

Trust me when I say - Don't waste your time with this rubbish. It isn't even the least bit entertaining, or funny, or whatever.

Don Dohler strikes out again with this laughably lousy piece of low-budget sci-fi schlock

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 23 November 2006]

This unintentionally uproarious nickel'n'dime sci-fi schlocker from the same eternally all-thumbs cinematic ace who blessed us with the almighty "The Alien Factor" and the immortal "Nightbeast" has a hapless benign scaly reptilian humanoid alien (Glenn Barnes in a hilariously hokey rubber suit) crash-landing its spaceship in the redneck burg of Harleyville, Maryland. The hayseed locals (who naturally swill beer whenever they get the chance) grab their rifles and proceed to ruthlessly hunt the constantly on the run extraterrestrial down. Grade Z movie maestro Don Dohler's typically inept direction, uniformly wretched acting from a pathetic non-star cast of hammy amateur thespians (Richard Ruxton as a crass, drunken, abusive and overbearing hillbilly patriarch, Don Leifert as a raucous smalltime hick hustler, and George Stover as Ruxton's meek, browbeaten son are all especially awful), several choice lines of inane dialogue ("I'm as nervous as a hog on a grill!"), and a real howler of a ridiculous ending (the clumsily strenuous use of slow motion and multiple camera angles are absolutely sidesplitting) ensure that this jaw-dropping hunk of chintzy junk is often very funny and hence quite entertaining in its delectably dreadful cheesiness.

Dohler's most preposterous stinker

[El-Stumpo · 6/10 · 1 November 2007]

Back in high school, one of our favorite six-pack stinkers was The Fiend (1980), in which a supernatural creature resembling a radioactive Twistie enters the grave of a recently deceased music teacher. He comes back from the dead, naturally craving blood, but more unnaturally, still giving home lessons on the violin. It was one of a string of low-budget genre movies from Don Dohler, a Baltimore filmmaker who may have turned out like his more famous Baltimore counterpart John Waters if he'd spent less time gluing together fanzines and devouring Famous Monsters Of Filmland, and more time huffing nitrous and shimmying around with perverts.

And just like a John Waters film, Dohler's movies are filled with would-be thespian matrons and blockheads with thickly nasal Baltimore twangs screaming at each other in garishly decorated sets. In the case of The Galaxy Invader from 1985, it's the family of a violent, gun-toting alcoholic hillbilly doing the screaming - dear old Paw discovers the crash site of an alien in a green rubber reptile suit, and decides bagging a spaceman before the CIA does means big bucks on the black market. He rustles up a hunting party of greedy Harleyville hicks while the Moon Man goes on a Human Hunt. One early victim of the reptilian rampage is George Stover, a Don Dohler standby who keen-eyed John Waters watchers will recognize as Mink Stole's father in Waters' Desperate Living (1977).

Compared to most shot-on-video garbage released these days, it's an unexpected treat - shot on film with a distinct style, albeit a Z-grade one, and with a real wide-eyed, earnest and straight-faced appreciation of the genre which gives Don's movies a genuine charm. Sadly Don passed away in December 2006 aged 60, but he leaves behind the legacy of his hardly misspent life. Don Dohler, wherever you are in the cosmos, I salute you.

I would Rather Eat Other People's Earwax Than Watch This Piece of Drek Again

[junk-monkey · 1/10 · 3 December 2006]

I knew this was a classic really bad movie from the first shot, so I kept notes.

Ext. Night: Establishing long-shot of a car diving slowly - it lasts- ten seconds but feels like an hour - and there's a jump cut in it!. Something purple flies overhead and crashes behind trees. (The opening titles mention: "Meteor effects by..." and "Meteor Effects Assistants..." all three of them! the credits last longer than the effect).

A POV shot wanders through the woods breathing heavily.

The car driver, David, rings his old Professor who is interested in UFOs, and they have a phone conversation that breaks rule #1 of on-screen phone conversations - i.e. both speakers face the same direction. Trust me, it's bad.

"How can I find you?" asks Prof. "Take junction (whatever) and it takes you out to the big field where I am" says David. "I'll see you in 6 hours"says Prof. "I'll be here." says David.

Int. Day: Something in the cellar. Two young people we haven't seen before, and who are never mentioned again, go into their cellar and are killed by a rubber alien.

Int Day: A dysfunctional hillbilly family argue over breakfast. Carol, the daughter, runs away. Joe, the dad, chases her with a shotgun. Carol has the smallest breasts ever seen on screen. Joe has a t-shirt with a hole in it.

Joe and son JJ see the alien. It has a glowing thingy growing out of its crotch. Joe shoots the alien. Alien drops the thingy and runs off.

Girl meets her boyfriend Michael.

The Prof arrives and meets David who has been standing by his car for six hours. The Prof tells David that some friends in the "Scientific Community", told him something with an "unusual mass" came down last night. (The ONLY bit of meaningless scientifictiony gobbledygook in the whole movie). They set off into the woods - presumably to look for the crash site, but draw your own conclusions.

Joe and JJ have taken the glowy ball thingy back to their farm. Frank Custer and a bimbo turn up (two more of the director's friends). Everyone is impressed when Joe pokes the ball with a stick and fire comes out behind it. Fire! Mongo! Fire good! Frank, takes the cigar out of his mouth and releases a singularly unpleasant stream of drool. The real money is in capturing the alien. They rush off to form a posse, leaving JJ to put the thing back in the shed. JJ walks right into the alien who is standing up in plain sight, in broad daylight. The Alien zaps JJ and takes his ball back. Who said you could play with my ball?

Int. Bar. A meaningless tracking shot which shows us the backs of people wearing bad shirts. Joe and Frank arrive to get some men. As no one in this town has anything better to do than follow well-armed, beer-swilling idiots into the woods everyone wants to go.

Joe gets home. "Where's the round thing!" he shrieks at the semiconscious JJ. The word 'ball' not being in his vocabulary.

Prof and David give up wandering aimlessly past the camera and go into town for a meal. After another pointless tracking shot, they overhear the bimbo talking about the hunt for the space man. Back in the woods they see several rednecks shoot guns at the alien. the Alien shoots fireworks back. The alien is captured by having a rope waved at him.

The rednecks leave the alien in a shed and go back to bury the men it killed in the shoot out (I wish I was making this up). Joe and JJ try out the Alien's gun. "Hot damn! This is great!", "Shoot another one,Pa!"

The Prof and David release the alien and they all run away as Frank and Joe come after them.

Carol gets the alien gun from behind the sofa (!?) and runs into the woods and gives it to the alien. Frank Shoots the Prof dead. The Alien shoots Frank dead. Joe shoots the alien and takes the super-dooper firework gun. Oh! what fun!

David and the chest-less wonder run off to find Michael, who masterfully plans to do nothing until the next day. "Get your family out the house, then we'll get the alien's gun away from Joe".

Night: Noises. Carol pulls on a penoir and goes barefoot into the cellar. Boo! It's the alien! She screams. Joe chases alien away.

Day: Joe wakes up on the sofa. The house is empty. Carol has got everyone out of the way. The family meet Michael then, for some unexplained reason, they all head back to the house. Why didn't he just meet them there?

The Bimbo arrives at the farm, "Where's Frank?" she asks Joe "In the woods." he says, and tries to rape her. She runs away. He shoots her in the back then drags her body away - presumably to carry on where he left off...

Joe is passed out when the family return. They take the gun to give it back to the alien in the woods. Joe wakes up and goes after them with his shotgun. He catches them up in seconds despite their long head start. The alien appears and stupidly stands there as Joe fires several rounds into its belly. Michael and Joe fight (I presume that is what happens; most of the screen time here is taken up with people looking at something happening off-screen as men grunt a lot on the soundtrack).

With Joe choking Micheal in a death grip, Joe's wife whangs her husband on the back of the head with the fat end of the shot gun, in slow motion, from several angles, which means we get to see her pulling the punch several times, which ruins the effect a little.

A real find among low budget films.....

[dokken2 · 15 August 2000]

Although it's been awhile since I saw this movie, I recall that it was quite dreadful. Technically challenged with a script that is qualifies as a soap opera around a scaly reptile. Anne Frith's affected New England accent clashed big time with her on screen husband's ( Richard Ruxton's ) hillbilly drunken drawl. The Gloucester Fisherman meets Muff Potter.

While it may not be intentional Camp, by mixing T&A with Alcoholic Hillbilly's, New England Prudish Women and the Galaxy Invader itself, you come damn close to it.

Not to be missed!

The title is misleading

[risteen59 · 2/10 · 19 February 2005]

If your looking for collection of these schlock films? Check out a DVD collection titled: SciFi Classics 50 movie set.

DVD is produced by TreeLine Entertainment.

This movie was on the collection.

Someone following in the footsteps of George Romero, Sam Rami.

Bunch of friends get together at someone's farm and make a movie.

But the plot idea is interesting.

Instead of the aliens going after the rednecks, the rednecks are after the alien.

If you have a afternoon to kill in the winter, movies like this will do it for you.

The Alien and the Redneck

[Hitchcoc · 1/10 · 1 May 2006]

This is an alien redneck movie. Early on, an young man calls his professor/ scientist to tell him he has seen something land in a field near his home. For some reason, he carries around the professor's number. The guy gets up and drives 6 hours to get there. Meanwhile, bunch of redneck, hard drinking, nitwits have discovered that there is an alien. One come from a family from hell where he bullies people and takes rifle shots at his own daughter. Every once in a while, one of them say, "I hate him." Anyway, they gather a posse to catch this silly looking alien who has a gun and a little crystal ball. In the process, a few of them get killed, but "they knew what they was getting' into." The poor alien spends all of his time running around. I'm not sure what he had in mind. His weapon shoots little light specks and apparently is deadly. Outer space creatures have evolved (though not very well), but they still can't hit the broad side of a barn. One of the worst special effects is when one of the hillbillies is knocked off a cliff when his own mother hits him with a shovel (at least I think it was his mother). As he plummets off the cliff, you see it's a stuffed dummy, with not even an effort made toward realism. There's a romance angle and a bunch of other stuff, but this one you'll have to see for yourself.

Still not as bad as Highlander 2

[Vigilante-407 · 4/10 · 28 November 2004]

That's about all I can say about this movie. But then, nothing is as bad as Highlander 2. The story is definitely better than that horrid film, not that that is saying much.

It is, though, hard to believe that this was filmed in 1985 and not, say 1969 or 1970. Considering I don't think many of the folks in it were professional actors (or directors, writers, et. al.), it could've been worse, I guess.

This movie's greatest claim to fame is with MST3K fans, as portions of it are shown during the credits of the Film Ventures release of Pod People. It's too bad that The Galaxy Invader was never used on the show.

There is something there

[gpeltz · 4/10 · 30 June 2013]

OK so you read most of the others reviews for Galaxy Invader. I took a chance and pulled out one of ten disks on a Sci fi anthology set (with such sci fi titles as Hercules Unchained...?

OK, the first question that needs to be asked is, what does Galaxy Invader contribute to the alien invasion genera? in truth, not much. The landing of the spacecraft at the opening of the film. (meteor effect) was a bit more elaborate than some other low budget films, the ball of light actually does a bit of twisting and turning double played before disappearing behind the tree line, and in fact adds up to the most impressive effect that will be seen in this film. The young teen witness to the landing calls his college professor, who even though he lives six hours away, jumps out of bed to investigate. The first indications of this alien, are wisely done as POV shots, walking around in the dense Maryland underbrush. The director however plays his hand early on, and reveals the Rubber suited alien. The mask is about par with some Outer limit shows, the body suit is usable, if not overshot. Unfortunaltely in this production it is on screen way too long. They say it is green, but my monitor never picked that detail up. Corman knew how to make a monster suit frightening, as in "The Day the World Ended" you keep the creature in shadows, using musical cues, and partial body shots,only revealing the full creature at the last moments. Here the director shows everything in the first minutes, and after wards, has nowhere to go.

The most interesting part of this movie is the bad guy, the drunk father named Joe, He and his grown son JJ, and his slutty daughter and long suffering wife, live in the backwoods. Joe is suppose to be painted as a stereotypical backwoods bumpkin, we are told in the beginning that he is a liar, a cheat, a drunkard, and one who goes after his sassing daughter with a rifle. My problem is that the writers could not convey the villainy with the lame script, and for reasons of either "good" bad acting, or just inability to capture the fathers wicked nature, Joe played by Richard Ruxton, comes off as mildly offsetting at best.

A secondary character Frank Custor, a friend of Joe's also comes off as a small town, shady con man with connections! it is his idea to capture the space creature and sell it for a profit to the highest bidder. Custors part is overacted, and is enjoyable to watch, played by Don Liefert. JJ the oldest son played by George Stover, comes across as a young Lon Chaney Jr. not much acting to be done, but a interesting presence.

Logic has no part of this story, The alien is neither malevolent nor intelligent, its main job is to lumber around, loosing and finding and then re-losing its space blaster. The night shots call for evocative lighting, that never happens. The musical score is a one song all purpose musical phrase. The sound effects that warn of the creature are sometimes effective, but the lack of suspense has long ago dulled any anticipation. I think the fact that this was done in earnest, gives the production any meager merit it has, and that raises it above it's cheap and amateurish script and production values.

At the edge of humor, but not quite

[siderite · 3/10 · 12 November 2012]

It is so bad it is almost funny... but it's not. The sad thing is that I really wanted to see a bad cheesy sci fi movie, but it was too horrible to watch. The loud "eerie" sound effects, the ridiculous music, the bad camera angles, the incredible bad acting, the green rubber alien who breaths like Vader, the horrendous dialogue, the redneck father that wants to shoot his daughter because she threw a glass of water in his face...

Just stay away from it. I made the effort of writing enough of a comment so that it gets saved and protect potential viewers from this crap.

Close Encounters of the Unkind

[wes-connors · 4/10 · 27 March 2010]

A green alien, carrying one ball, inexplicably lands in rural Maryland. Director Don Dohler's blond son Greg (as David Harmon) sees the landing, and calls UFO enthusiast Richard Dyszel (as William Tracy) with the news. While young Mr. Dohler waits patiently by his car, for SIX HOURS, Mr. Dyszel drives out to the area. But, before the two can make friends with "The Galaxy Invader", local redneck alcoholic Richard Ruxton (as Joe Montague) has tied up the alien, and stolen his ball.

Dohler and Mr. Ruxton's rebellious daughter, Faye Tilles (as Carol), want to give the alien back his ball, but Ruxton has discovered its power makes his gun shoot better. Ruxton, his family, and the local rednecks are hilarious. The alien isn't too bad, for a limited budget affair. From a technical viewpoint, most everything about this film is wretched, but the totality is not truly awful - it's not really "so bad it's good" and it doesn't have a redeeming thesis - but, it is entertaining in its way.

**** The Galaxy Invader (4/85) Don Dohler ~ Richard Ruxton, Greg Dohler, George Stover, Anne Frith

Incredible trash you'll want to watch over and over

[danmyersco · 1/10 · 13 March 2008]

I like the fact that apparently there are no actual actors. The sappy repetitive dialog contains phrases that you look forward too each time you watch it. Like, when pa says "and wait to ya see what it does" then Custer says "yea, I'm real anxious to see what this thing does". The alien which apparently has no real purpose in landing on earth other than to run around in the woods with a weapon and dig through the basements of country folk is a real treasure. This movie is so bad I almost couldn't finish it the first time through, even though I was playing it in the background and not paying attention. And then it draws you back. It's like a bad penny. Enjoy!

Amazing duffer

[alistairc_2000 · 10/10 · 21 April 2007]

It pains me greatly that Dohler made this z movie as it is a real duffer. A spaceship crash lands in the woods. It contains one alien who is really stupid. Does this alien try to fix his ship? Not a chance he wanders around the woods waiting to get shot. Happily for him some red necks oblige and he has an inter galactic war with them. That turns out to someone firing rockets at trees. Then the alien is captured and... well I do not want to give the game away. The dialogue is pathetic. I think that Dohler must have known as he was really just going through the motions on this one.The plot is really slow and the acting fits in perfectly as it is terrible. On a plus side the music is excellent. Watch it if you want to watch a really really bad movie.

Sweet shot of regional science fiction lunacy from the inspired Don Dohler

[Bloodwank · 7/10 · 20 December 2010]

Appearing like a stranger from a strange land, The Galaxy Invader must have thrown people for a loop back in '85. At a time when slashers were all the rage, the PG level thrills and cracked sci-fi spills are about the last thing you could expect, but lowbrow legend Don Dohler pulls it off and then some. The key to it all is commitment, there's a fair amount of overlap between cast and crew and many of both cast and crew cut their teeth on previous Dohler pictures, which he had been making for a while. It all adds up to confidence, to actors pinging off each other with dramatic result, bold use of shaky effects, competent framing, poignant message, this is a film where all the lunacy can't overpower the fact that these people weren't screwing around. There's effort here and it shines. The plot wraps around an alien crash-landing in redneck backwoods territory espied by a couple of mean spirited idiots, Joe Montague and Frank Custor (can you smell the sweat?) who elect to catch and sell it. Meanwhile, a sky watching professor and his student are on the hunt for the being, and Joe's wife and daughter are just trying to get away safe from him. The film wrong-foots the viewer pretty early on, man is the aggressor here, man the wild beast. The title is a misnomer, the alien isn't any kind of an invader and is actually kinda sympathetic, also it has the look of a novelty store riff on the Creature from the Black Lagoon. At times it almost feels like a red herring in its own film, such is the focus on the nefarious Joe. With a lesser actor this wouldn't have worked at all, but Richard Ruxton brings a tour de force to the table, with a perpetual scowl plastered on his face and twitchy, violently irate demeanour he blows gusts of derangement through his every moment of screen time, a remarkable gonzoid villain. Don Leifert is slightly lower key but nonetheless palpably loathsome as Frank, while various Dohler relatives and local types bulk out the cast. There are a few shootings, cool shonky mini explosion effects and powerful spurts of tension, this undoubtedly aided by driving synths from Norman Noplock (sadly this is his only credit), like I said up top this one is committed and so when it strikes, it strikes hard. Things move at a smart clip and the short runtime feels like a breeze, by the time the ending locks in it's a breathless ride and the ending itself is a terrific capper. Now I wouldn't possibly recommend this to "regular" cinema fans, but as a devotee of low budget science fiction lunacy I thought this a really great time. If you're still reading this, you might to. Check it out say I, 7/10.

For True Fans Only

[Scott_Mercer · 5/10 · 5 December 2009]

Don Dohler made his films in the spirit of a true science fiction fan.

Unfortunately, like Ed Wood before him, he was handicapped by insanely low budgets. At least Ed had a few decent actors working on his productions (Lugosi, Gregory Walcott, Kenne Duncan, etc...okay Mona McKinnon and that butcher's son, Tony whatever were both pretty horrible actors) Ed also worked in a few "professional" Hollywood studios.

Don Dohler had no access to luxuries such as these. He had to work with all amateur actors. He was crippled by his own awful writing. His movies are rife with cheesy synthesizer scores that sound worse than what you currently get on a state-of-the-art video game as far as musical accompaniment.

Yet somehow, his movies are not total disasters. Galaxy Invader does pack some entertainment into its running time. The twist of drunken rednecks chasing the alien invader is a good one. We haven't seen that before. Usually, the alien lands in the hick town, then blows away everyone with his superior technology, leaving the authorities scratching their heads. In this case, the stupid rednecks get the upper hand pretty easily.

But not for long. Look there's plenty of crusty dialog in here. But I still found this to be a somewhat enjoyable take on the alien invasion genre. If you are not a science fiction fan, stay away.

But it you enjoyed THE BLOB, or INVISIBLE INVADERS, or WAR OF THE WORLDS, or IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE, give this one a shot, because it is in the tradition of those films. Yes, it is much more shoddy and cheesy than all of those, but it is fun with an adult beverage or two marinating your brain. Not sure if Mystery Science Theater ever covered this flick, but they certainly should have. So gather your friends, and a few cocktails, and watch 79 minutes of your life slide away into oblivion.

And yes, the ending is REALLY hilarious! It had me scratching my head and backing up the DVD several times. What a hoot!