User Reviews

in that the ending makes no sense whatsoever.

This film is parsecs away better than, say, Highlander 2 or UFO: Target Earth, but it doesn't have the naive charm of Rebane's Monster A Go-Go. It was just a mediocre SF film until the ending ... very seventies in characterization ... but with no real hints as to the real motivations of the "invaders", the ending makes no sense. If an invading force is killing everyone, why create (and I assume the invaders created them) a new Adam & Eve from the last two survivors from the lodge? I liked the claustrophobic feel of the lodge, and the presentation of the story came close to having the same feel of something like Night of the Living Dead or Invisible Invaders. But on the theme and story as a whole, it really wasn't pulled off right ... we the audience just didn't get the information we needed to figure things out either before or with the characters.

Invasion from Inner Earth - I know it's slow moving but it does have a certain charm I attribute it to ITO's eerie synthesizer score. early seventies style, bad acting, desolate location make it worth checking out on a snowy winters night.College students on some sort of field trip are trapped in their guides cabin try and figure out why they can'receive any outside communication,after much speculation they figure it must be an alien invasion.after two attempts to get help (one gets blown up in a plane the other just disappears on his snowmobile ) the rest brave the elements and try and make it to safety.In a confusing ending the remaining two make it to a town see a flying saucer and turn back into children . Beware of the red light!

About 10 minutes in to this movie, I actually thought it might be a bit of fun. I was expecting a low-budget version of THE THING (1951), as an unseen (due to budget restrictions) alien menace stalks and offs the stupid people in the snowbound cabin, starting with the annoying rich guy. (They are killed eventually, but it takes FAR TOO LONG.) Or maybe a killer virus flick like THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN or the made for TV flick WHERE HAVE ALL THE PEOPLE GONE? Oh, how naive I am.

First of all, the alien IS seen, but is a red flashlight beam shined on the wall. As another commentator said, ow. Better that NOTHING at all were seen; just ask anyone who saw THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. The disease IS represented by smoke bombs going off. So what's going on? Aliens or a killer virus? They decide after FAR too much sitting around and talking that aliens have launched the virus. Then more pseudo scientific theorizing and discussion about what they should do, with occasional acid flashback inserts.

The most crazed part that no one else seemed to comment upon were the interludes at the local radio stations, where the announcers seem FAR TOO LAID BACK. "Oh well, hey a disease is killing thousands of people at once, oh well, back to the music..." Then the TV news segment which, unbelievably, offers what I believe to be intentional comic relief as two dopplegangers for Ma and Pa Kettle are interviewed on TV at 2 o'clock in the morning about their sighting of a UFO and subsequent abduction. Then the comic relief scene with the drunk guy at the bar?? Save me, please.

As I said, I judged MANOS: THE HANDS OF FATE far too harshly. This sucker makes MANOS seem like a masterwork. And for that matter, director Bill Rebane's subsequent foray into Wisconsin film artistry, THE GIANT SPIDER INVASION, is a work of Eisenstein or Kurosawa compared to this lummage. At least GSI had real actors in it.

Oh, yeah, the music: BLOWS HARD. Really awful analog synthesizer music. Now, I like early synthesizer music. Give me a Perrey and Kingsley record and I'm a happy man. But this was awful stuff. Really piercing. And I recognized some of the music recycled to/from Giant Spider Invasion.

One more note: this plot could not be written today. "Oh my God, we're isolated and cut off from the world! What's going on? Are thousands of people really dying? We have no possible way of knowing!" "No problem, I'll just look on the CNN web site..."

I can't give INVASION FROM INNER EARTH a 1 because I actually watched the whole movie. Like watching the aftermath of a brutal traffic accident, I JUST COULDN'T LOOK AWAY. But you may require the use of various liquid refreshments just to get through it. I warned ya.

Or, I should say, the first Bill Rebane film I can make it through without being bored to tears. I got this film on one of those 50 movie packs called "Nightmare Worlds", so you know I couldn't have wasted too much money on it. I don't know why, but I really like this film. Maybe it's the goofy music that sometimes sounds like an off key version of the theme from "The Good, the Bad,and the Ugly". Maybe it's the attention grabbing beginning. Maybe it's the original characters that I actually started to like about a third of the way through the movie. There's the drab but somehow attractive female protagonist, her brother who cares so much about the group that he actually leaves the cabin for help, the rich snob who is slightly reminiscent of Charles Winchester from M*A*S*H, the guy the female protagonist is infatuated with, and the brainy, slightly crazy nerd who looks somewhat like a walrus, and is actually more important to the story than you think he is at first. The atmosphere and cinematography were also above average. Now, I'm not saying this is a great movie. Heck, I'm not even saying it's a GOOD movie... it's slow paced, has bad acting, and the quality of the DVD transfer is god-awful... but you might like it if you have a very distinct taste in cinema... a BAD taste.

You want to see a candy movie? Then go see Star Wars VII, Force Awakens (or a clone), or Thor, or Avengers, or any other unrealistic piece of garbage that is spoon-fed to the masses.

If you want to see a movie about an apocalypse, that is being experienced by a few isolated people who are confused and unaware of what the hell is going on, then this is the movie for you. What we have here is a movie with great characters. A brother and sister Nick Holt as Jake, and Debbi Pick as Sarah who run an isolated cabin for adventurers or scientists. These are the best actors here. Not great, but realistic. Very important, REALISTIC! Jake and Sarah's guest are scientists Paul Bentzen as Stan (Beardman), Karl Wallace as Eric, and Robert Arkens as Andy (Richboy). Stan is the most joker and the actor is garbage. Wallace is also garbage. Arkens is better and had a few decent scenes. I liked his death scene on the airplane. So, acting department, no awards, and maybe no career. But, as far as what is required, they all provide the realistic aspect. Isolated, confused atmosphere.

Cinematography was very good. The editing was good but could have cut back on some extra footage. The music was great. The main theme song was very eerie. The snowride theme was a copy from a spaghetti western, which was weird but fine. Mostly synth music. The fxs are garbage, red lights, smoke bombs, and cheap ufo ships. I liked the superimposed fx.

So, this is a story about the apocalypse. But not about all over the world. Just what happens to a few people. We are show what is happening in other areas but we are never given a definite explanation about the apocalypse. The five people dwindle, fist Andy Richboy dies steeling the airplane. Great stuff. Then Jake is taken out after the snowride. Eric freezes in the snow and is taken out. The last two survivors are separated. The best part of the movie is when Sarah is seen by the train tracks, eerie music playing, she sees something and is overjoyed, we see her running, happy music, long shot we see man from the back as Sarah runs towards him, it's Stan the jokeman. They are so happy to see each other, maybe love. They walk past a desolate, cold snowy town, up on a hill they transform into a young boy and girl in loincloths, and walk through the grass and flowers, the survivors, the new Adam and Eve.

Now this ending is completely out of outer space, or inner earth. But it works.

I've read all the user reviews. Most hate this movie. Too bad for them. Some like it, and see the problems with it. I've seen it twice now. First in 2016, Rating B-. I've also read the critic reviews and they also see the problem with it, but most love it. 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting (Scott Ashlin) Bleeding Skull (Dan Budnik) Ha ha, it's Burl! (Burl Cummings) The Eclectic Screening Room (Greg Woods)

Rating is a B, for a B movie, or 7 stars. 10 is given as balance, for losers who give this a 1 or 2 or anything below a 5. I suggest those viewers go watch Star Wars VII and get excited by the assembly line film making from those big budget films.

Although I remember panning "Giant Spider Invasion" and "Monster A Go Go" here on IMDb, I thought that the Spider film at least had a little energy and some comic interest. And "Monster" was just deliriously bad -but it wasn't entirely Rebane's fault (as I understand it) because some one else picked it up and tried to edit it into a different movie altogether. And I remember "Twister's Revenge" as being silly, but mildly amusing...there was a tank and a monster truck crushing things at one point,and the hero got thrown through a barroom window.

However...if "Giant Spider Invasion" is Rebane at his best, this movie (and "The Alpha Incident") are examples of movies where he didn't manage to make them entertaining even by accident.

Listen...if you don't have any money for special effects and you can't really write dialog, and you can't really do a good plot, and you can't really direct the actors in any helpful way, and the actors have no real idea of what they are doing...if you have all those problems and you are relying on scene after scene of spoken exposition to carry and advance the plot, plus you never really let the audience in on what the aliens are or what they want...then your movie is in serious trouble. In fact, it's going to suck, and not in a good way (the "so bad it's good" way either.)

The basic concept is sound enough - George Romero took a similar situation and turned it into "Night Of the Living Dead" - but Rebane manages to strip his movie of any conceivable energy, interest or dramatic tension in the first 5 minutes, and after that I was checking the time display menu on the DVD player every 30 seconds to see how much of this bore-fest I had left to go.

I wouldn't watch this movie again unless it was under the influence of high narcotics (not that I indulge), and neither should you.

This is a "sci fi" film light on special effects. Jake (Nick Holt) and his sister Sarah (Debbi Pick) live in a remote northern cabin 205 miles north of Manitoba. They have a few scientist guests when the earth is invaded by aliens we never see, but they attack us with red lights and red and blue smoke bombs.

People get ill and die as our group stay in the cabin listening to the short wave radio, trying to figure out what is going on in the world. Yup, that is pretty much it.

The transfer to DVD wasn't the quality I hoped for on my Mill Creek edition. The dialogue concentrated on bad humorous stories, which actually made the film. . . yes aliens from Uranus. The sound track seemed to be added at random and didn't necessarily reflect what was on the screen. Was that a harpsichord? Really?

The acting was sad also. Lovers of bad films can find moments of enjoyment. The original title of this film was "Invasion from Inner Earth."

Kid safe.

"A group of campers in the Canadian wilderness begins (sic) to hear strange reports over their radio. Tales of a plague spreading across the Earth, sightings of bizarre beings as well as planes and cars malfunctioning fills the airwaves. Terrified by what they've been listening to, the campers decide to barricade themselves at their cabin in order to face the danger," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

Aka "They", this is a very difficult movie to sit through. Hardly anything ever happens to the five main characters. They seem to be isolated in snowy Wisconsin, for reasons severely lacking in clarity, as the Earth is invaded from within. The "leader" finally emerges as "Stan" (Paul Bentzen); he is the blonde guy with the beard. "Sarah" (Debbi Pick) and "Jake" (Nick Holt) are brother and sister. "Eric" (Karl Wallace) seems to be the early "leader"; and, "Andy" (Robert Arkens) quintuples the group.

The startling ending (a pair of loin-clothed young children are tastefully shown) would have worked; however, the preceding 90 minutes don't lead you there. The very derivative soundtrack jumps the shark when "Jake" goes for help in his snowmobile, to the tune of "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly"!

*minor spoilers*

Easily selectable as one of the crummiest sci-fi flicks of the 1970s, INVASION FROM INNER EARTH is a bland recipe which denotes Earth being menaced by Martians who took residence within the Earth's core thousands of years ago. They launch germ warfare against humanity, sending colorful smoke-bombs into populated areas. A group of field researchers in a remote forest cabin are unaware of this situation, and wonder why they can't seem to reach the outside world by radio.

Dismally cheap micro-production with inane dialog delivered by thespians who probably couldn't give a believable performance in a photograph. The only special effect in this economically underprivileged little lacuna is a red-filtered light being repeatedly flipped off-and-on. The nonsensical story(rather, the meager provision we're given as such) sails straight over the edge of a very steep, intelligence-insulting, WTF conclusion you'll NEVER see coming.

Worth a peek for high schlock value by bad movie enthusiasts, anyone else might consider self-immolation over watching it.

2.5/10