Search - Invasion on DVD

For some reason ...

One of the Dead | 12/28/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"For some reason ... perhaps it was the glowing review on the front of the cover ... I was expecting a lot more than I ultimately got from this film. It's a simple idea really; capturing a series of strange events directly through the front window of a police cruiser while it slowly moves down a country dirt road. When it's not moving it sits still with it's spotlight directly on the road or woods ahead. Admittedly, at least initially, this concept is kind of creepy.

The 'events' seem to be part of an invasion of some sorts. The only indicator of something weird is a few meteors lighting up the sky, distant explosions and from the transmissions of a police radio, apparently some town folk are reporting some unusual things. In a few instances we are made aware of the fact that regular folks are being attacked by other seemingly 'regular' folk, and are thus turned into some kind of quasi zombie-alien thing that talks backwards.

I have to admit that at first "Invasion" worked and kept my attention, but at about the half-way point, I saw exactly where the film was heading and became quickly tired of the whole thing. What had a promising start, fizzled quickly and became hopelessly and irritatingly BORING.

Judging by the incredibly long end titles, it's obvious that the fillmakers think they have created something really special and unique with "Invasion." I don't think so. This bloodless "Blair Witch Project" meets "Night of the Living Dead" meets "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" if made by a bunch of middle-school kids on a budget of their combined yearly allowances, while promising 'something,' actually delivers very little.

This frustrates me, because I think some talented people were involved with this and I think if executed better, this could have been a really scary, suspenseful and quite effective movie. Unfortunately it is neither.

Others may disagree and that is fine."

Yawn,a real awfull bomb

b movie lover | Franklin, Wi USA | 03/14/2008

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Worst si-fi yawner I have ever seen.The cover box describes it as "A risky tour de force,a stunner,challenging,hypnotic".A 80 some minute vuew of a lonnnnng dirt back road(TOUR de farce).A STUNNER,(budget $25,4 gallons of gas and batteries for the spotlight.CHALLENGING(to anyone who can actually watch this dreck for longer than 15 minutes). HYPNOTIC as watching a cat sleeping.I suspect that reviewers that gave this thing 5 and 4 star ratings were the actors that were in this camcorder made zzzzzzz grade god awfull spamola.Not worth watching this thing(even as a free rental)."

BAD! Beyond all reasonable definitions of badness

"Franky" | USA | 02/22/2008

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Hideous, stupid, boring, FPS viewpoint irritating beyond patience. NOT SCARY at all. My kids and I came up with a special word for movies this bad, since, alas...negative rating are unavailable; This movie is SUCK-NORMOUS!"

Fascinating Prototype

Gollypix | USA | 12/25/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This is a very unique experimental film, more like a prototype. Classic horror/sci-fi story, completely original in how it gets told. I read the review on the link below before watching it and I'm glad I did because this movie isn't for everybody.
http://www.horror-movies.ca/horror_reviews_3240.htm

I sure hope Pyun uses what he figured out from this film to make another one-shot movie.
Invasion needs to be viewed at night without interuption because the film watcher has a part to play. Your imagination has to be intact. Invasion is not for passive film watchers expecting mainstream or blockbuster movies.

It's extremely low budget, but that's part of what makes it so entertaining. I hate it when 150 mil get splashed on the screen and it fails to entertain and I'm impressed when something as inventive and clever as this entertains for pennies on the dollar.

The story unfolds in front of a police car dash-cam and relies heavily on the sound (excellent) because often nothing happens in front of the camera, which makes the concept that much more believable. A police officer (Brick Bardo) is cruising through his usual nightly rounds on prom night. This night just happens to have meteor showers falling on his town. There is something inside the meteors that could potentially destroy the world. Officer Bardo just happens to meet a town resident who had the misfortune to encounter whatever was inside of one of the meteors. These and more happenstance occurrences take place in front of or near the dash cam.

I've watched enough of those 'cop' shows with police officers searching and busting criminals on the hoods of their cars, in front of their dash cams, to be able to follow a film like this without becoming impatient and the view is a lot better on Invasion. I liked that my imagination could fill in some of the mystery. But I did wish, over and over, that more could happen in front of the camera.

Mr. Pyun, please do this again, only better next time.

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