Spaced Invaders

    Spaced Invaders
    1990

    Synopsis

    A crew of Martians overhears a radio broadcast of Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds" coming from Earth, and, thinking the Martian fleet is attacking Earth, they land their broken-down ship in a backwater mid-American town. As luck would have it, they land on Halloween and get mistaken for trick-or-treaters. Comedy ensues as the Martians try to get taken seriously.

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    Cast

    • Douglas BarrSam
    • Royal DanoWrenchmuller
    • Ariana RichardsKathy
    • J.J. AndersonBrian (Duck)
    • Gregg BergerKlembecker
    • Wayne AlexanderVern
    • Fred ApplegateRussell
    • Patrika DarboMrs. Vanderspool
    • Tonya WilliamsErnestine
    • William HolmesDumb Guy #1

    Recommendations

    • 60

      Empire

      Unashamedly rubbery fun.
    • 58

      Entertainment Weekly

      Set on Halloween, this intentionally cheesy sci-fi parody doesn’t offer much variety among its human characters, but its animatronic aliens — who look like sourpuss versions of Spielberg’s E.T. — are amusingly obnoxious.
    • 50

      Time Out

      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.
    • 50

      TV Guide Magazine

      While there is nothing Earth-shattering about director Patrick Read Johnson's first film, it is often quite entertaining. SPACED INVADERS makes fun of just about every outer space film ever made, and throws in some Three Stooges-like mayhem for good measure.
    • 50

      Chicago Tribune

      With its old-timey special effects, multiple plots and silly humor, it scampers through its 102 minutes untethered to the demands of strict logic, continuity or character development. This film is just out to have a good time. Often, it succeeds. [27 Apr 1990, p.D]
    • 40

      The New York Times

      Spaced Invaders should have been funnier than it is. It rambles and has too many poorly defined characters. Also, because most of it takes place at night, it's not easy to tell what is going on sometimes, which will confuse the audience for which it is intended.
    • 38

      Chicago Sun-Times

      Maybe I've lost touch with silly, brainless entertainments like this. Let's hope so: One of the purposes of growing up and getting an education is to learn why movies like Spaced Invaders are a waste of time. And yet, a small, far-away voice inside of me says there once was a time when I would have liked this movie, when I was young and open to wonderments.
    • 37

      Washington Post

      Spaced Invaders is a slight, obvious sci-fi parody that would like to be in the same league as Spaceballs, but doesn't even deserve the comparison.