Classic Alien Invasion Movies

I always enjoy watching James Nintendo Nerd's videos on his blog Cinemassacre or on youtube. In this video he reviews some of the old classic alien invasion movies and compares them with their newer versions.

Reptilian Movie

In the mid-1960s, inspired by the success of the Heisei era Godzilla and Gamera films in Japan, and Roland Emmerich's Godzilla remake, director Shim Hyung-rae envisioned his own monster film. The reptilian movie was titled Yonggari in South Korea, internationally Yonggary, and in the US Reptilian. A remake in name only of Yonggary (1967), Shim's film uses conventional computer-generated imagery effects, and an American cast to appeal to international markets.

Yongary is a popular reptilian movie. While Yongary, Monster from the Deep only popped up sporadically on local sci-fi TV matinees throughout the '70s, the Koreans have always had a soft spot for their homegrown creature. Yonggary was totally computer animated. The plot of his movie would feature invading aliens in a giant mothership and all of the characters would be played by Anglos.

Yonggary opened in Seoul in the summer of 1999 to rave reviews in the local press and record-breaking ticket sales. In the movie the reptilian Yonggary proving himself a hero after all, joins in the defense of Earth. The aliens add further evidence to the illogic of their plan by sending their own monster Cykor in to fight Yonggary. Though the special effects are inferior to those in most Hollywood productions, they are still fun to watch, and are even darned impressive in some shots.

The DVD presents a trouble-free transfer, and comes with a few minor extras, the most valuable of which is the “production notes” section, which is upfront about the film's origins without putting it in a bad light. The only thing the package lacks is the original Korean trailer, which would have been nice to have - and perhaps even the original credits, that had a catchy Yonggary pop song over them.

The film was re-released in 2001, with improved special effects and additional scenes. The re-release did not do well in the box office, possibly due to poor promotion. This version of the film was first shown at a Japanese film Festival in 2000, being re-titled ARMAGGEDON BEAST: YONGARI, before its 2001 showing at the film's native country South Korea. Overall, when it was widespread released on Jan. 20 2001, it only reached at highest, number 10 at the box office. Unlike the first version of the film, this 2001 Upgrade edition had barely any publicity. Among the scenes that were added to the “2001 Upgrade”, the beginning scene with a team of archeologists entering the cave was an addition.

Old Alien Movies

It is always nice to engage in a good movie once in a while, because movies have a certain way of making people relax. Although there are some people who are really addicted to watching movies, a good number still engage in it occasionally. Finding the best movies that would suit one’s mood would seem quite difficult, as there are various types of movies. Some movies make one feel good, while other movies make one think about life twice. In some instances, it is also nice to watch movies that would bring out excitement and thrill in such a way that it would put one on the edge of his seat. Movies such as these are very popular in the 1980’s when the rumor of alien invasion was still at its peak.

Old alien movies practically started in the late 70’s down to the early 80’s when there were stories of UFO sightings in different parts of the world. These stories have triggered on the production of alien movies in different movie outfits. Some of the old alien movies that were very famous then usually had the plot of aliens invading certain areas of the planet and taking over the entire place making the human beings their captives. Different alien creatures were made popular from old alien movies, which usually have antennas on their head. The concept behind this might be for communicating to other aliens outside planet Earth. In one way or another, this concept has actually mankind, as this lead to the development of cellular phones.
For most people, old alien movies give them a feeling of nostalgia of a certain era in the history of the world. This era was in the late 70’s down to the early 80’s, and was the time when ET visited the planet Earth and made friends with human beings. Perhaps, ET was even more popular than some movie actors at that time, and as a matter of fact, it has become a household name.
Another one of the old alien movies that is considered the longest running alien movie is Star Wars. This was definitely the movie that brought George Lucas to fame. The different characters and creatures in the movie were amazingly created in such a way that one could almost believe that they were all real. It was in fact so popular that there were even caricatures of the characters that were produced and sold out. A good number of movie items such as Star Wars shirts, caps, and bags were selling like hotcakes at that time. This movie has truly revolutionized alien movies.
The last, but not the least of the popular old alien movies is Alien, which starred Sigourney Weaver. It is probably one of the scariest alien movies of all times. The concept of getting stranded in one of the planets in space, and encountering aliens who obviously would not welcome any invader in their planet is enough to get one pinned down to his seat until the end of the movie. Indeed, these alien movies encouraged different types of emotions in each individual, making them a must have in anyone’s movie collection.