Instant Favorite.

brilliant actors, brilliant editing

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

There are a lot of things wrong with this movie; the plot is clichéd and routine, the editing and photography bad, the acting and dubbing appalling. Yet, despite of all these detractions, I found myself thoroughly enjoying this science fiction / horror hybrid which successfully mixes both genres by the crude methods of having two sub-plots which regularly clash. So far I've only seen two of the Karloff/Mexican quartet made shortly before the actor's death, but this beats DANCE OF DEATH hands down by never succumbing to boredom.Things open with two scientists experimenting with radium with machinery that looks like its come straight out of a Hammer Frankenstein movie. Throughout this movie there is a definite Hammer influence in the setting and the costumes, what with the low-cut dresses of the women, the horse and carts that the men drive and the mob of torch-wielding villagers who go on the rampage at the end. Although the poor film stock used and the washed-out colours make this look like a cheap imitation, it's the thought that counts and ALIEN TERROR benefits from the similarity.The two scientists are soon revealed as Boris Karloff and his female assistant, who has been facially scarred (a typical requirement for the genre). Karloff actually has a fair bit of screen time in this film, I would say about half an hour of it, which was something of a surprise. Obviously all of his scenes are filmed on one set again, and sometimes, hilariously, a double stands in for him just like that guy did for Bruce Lee in GAME OF DEATH. At the end we see Karloff supposedly watching his house burn down, although it's obviously just an actor with fake grey hair - luckily he never turns round! At another time Karloff appears with his mask on while another actor dubs his voice - the only trouble being that a Mexican trying to sound British doesn't work very well. The effect is absolutely hilarious! Anyway, on the arrival of a UFO (animated), an alien visitor arrives on our planet. Is he slimy, scaly, scary? Well, err, no. Actually this "alien" is a blond guy with wavy hair wearing a shiny silver suit! Again, another moment of hilarity comes from his presence. He spends a lot of time lurking in bushes watching people, or hiding out in his UFO, which is commendably surreal with a blue-lighted set. His plan is to destroy all of Karloff's equipment which has the power to destroy the universe - basically this is a variation on an old theme. But first he must possess a number of people into doing his will.The possession occurs via a translucent "blob" (briefly seen, but it looks just like THE BLOB) which melts into the victim's hand. I'm not making this up. The first to go is a swarthy man called Thomas, who also happens to be a sadistic sex murderer who receives sexual pleasure from hacking up his female victims with a straight razor. Thus the scene is set for a number of non-gory but pretty grisly murders in which the females are at first seduced and then killed. Incidentally, this is a very sexist film, in which EVERY female character wants a man to be with and only has one thing on her mind - sex! Subservient isn't the word.After a string of murders (as there is apparently no police presence in the village, nobody cares), Thomas eventually reaches Karloff's laboratory where Karloff himself is possessed by the "blob". They also find time to fit in a cool scene where a bunch of flowers wither and die because of the radiation the "blob" emits. More people die, a bland young scientist hero investigates, Thomas is wounded and butchered by the vengeful villagers and the alien presence is destroyed - only for Karloff to blow up his equipment anyway, and for the alien to leave happily! Which begs the question...why didn't the alien just go and ask Karloff in the first place? It would have saved an awful lot of time and effort.The acting is generally bad but fun to watch, of course with the exception of Karloff who once again gives his all and is the best actor in the film. However, honours must go to Yerye Beirute's snarling turn as the sex murderer, for managing to create such a loathsome, despicable character. Plus, a couple of the female leads are given more to do than usual, including one getting possessed by the alien herself in a shocking twist. Everything else about the film is pedestrian, but in the mish-mash of plot ideas, there are a couple of neat twists. The "alien possession" theme would later be explored (through much better special effects) in the likes of THE HIDDEN, which came twenty years later. ALIEN TERROR may be cheap and dodgy entertainment, but it passes the time quite nicely and is a bit better than you would expect from its lack of pedigree.

This movie likely won't be of much use to the bulk of humans infesting the surface of the planet Earth. But it may interest Boris Karloff fans and amateur theatrical detectives who like to dissect bad movies like lab specimens. What you get here is one of the most disjointed and bizarre films ever made, a combination of what appear to be two films edited to seem like a larger whole. The first movie consists of about thirty minutes of footage featuring Boris Karloff playing a white suited scientist who invents a disintegrator ray device. The were filmed on soundstages in southern California, with some ending up in this film and others in FEAR CHAMBER, THE SNAKE PEOPLE and HOUSE OF EVIL. The second movie was filmed after his scenes were completed in Mexico and attempts to match the Hollywood scenes with actors -- some the same -- wearing similar costumes on similar sets, reciting more or less similar toned dialog & engaged in similar actions. Idea being that they are on one side of the room and Karloff on the other: Sometimes characters who were present for both sessions walk back and forth between the scenes, which is quite strange. Their hairstyles and lighting changes subtly, creating a disjointed viewing experience that overwhelms whatever the script was about.If memory serves, a space alien in what can only be described as an Art Neveau flying saucer gets wind of the disintegrator ray and decides it is too great a threat for mankind to posses. The alien looks like Yahoo Serious and wears a silver lame space jump suit that reminded me of David Bowie from THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH. So did some of the flying saucer's design elements, consisting mostly of beakers with colored fluids bubbling through them. The spaceship is mostly shown from the inside too, requiring the viewer to sort of have to take the director's word for it's existence.The alien takes possession of various cast members and compels them to sabotage the disintegrator ray, which is probably for the best after the local military gets wind of the situation and decides they want a portable version to serve as a weapon. This results in several conversation scenes where characters veer from the California shoot to the Mexican footage. It's a great lesson in how a film can be constructed, and we can only hope that we can learn from it or the seventy three minutes it runs is a waste.Fans of Boris Karloff will likely be pleased, he's on screen a bit in this one and looks great in that white suit which sharp viewers will recognize as the same one from THE SNAKE PEOPLE, likely filmed earlier that day. Others are well warned to try something else.

Boris Karloff was a great actor, responsible for some of the most iconic performances in the horror genre and most effective in roles that showed menacing and sympathetic sides to his character's personality. Sadly, he was also an actor whose last few films didn't do justice to him or his career. The Incredible Invasion(or Alien Terror) is his last and while it is marginally better than House of Evil and especially Fear Chamber that's not saying much as it is still a mess, if there was a word that this movie is not it's incredible. Karloff of course is the best and only good thing about it, that the role is bigger here already makes it better than House of Evil and Fear Chamber and he performs with class and dignity, which is more than The Incredible Invasion deserved. Apart from Karloff the acting is just amateurish, Yerye Beirute brings unintentional humour in how bad especially he is. The Incredible Invasion is cheap-looking too, you get the feeling from the editing and photography that the movie was done in a matter of days(it mayn't have been but it honestly looks like it) while the sets are tacky and don't exude any atmosphere at all. The music is shrill and strident, while the dialogue sounds incredibly stilted and to even describe the direction is inept is insulting. The story has a cobbled together feel with no thrills, tension, scares or suspense despite having the elements that had the potential to make it so. Instead it was dull, often incoherent, thinly structured and far too strange for its own good. All in all, just a mess. Boris Karloff had a great career, but The Incredible Invasion was a very sad end to it, easily one of the absolute worst final films of any actor. 2/10 Bethany Cox

I don't know what it is about this one actor, but Yerye Beirute ROCKS. Not because he was a good actor (he was OK) but because you can make so much fun about his character in FEAR CHAMBER/THE TORTURE ZONE (Roland) and in THE INCREDIBLE INVASION/ALIEN TERROR (Thomas). They are both so over the top you have to make fun about them.I had a pretty good time with this film. Taking it for what it is, this film is very enjoyable. Enjoy it with some good friends and have some beer and you will find yourself having a wonderful time. The hardly makes any sense, the dialogues are beyond bad, ... It's a very special kind of a stupid film and very enjoyable as well.There's some kind of an anti-nuclear message in it, but it's a very forgettable one.