Galaxy Invader (USA, 1985) 79 min color DIR-SCR: Don Dohler. PROD: Anne Frith, Don Dohler. MUSIC: Norman Noplock. DOP: Paul E. Loeschke. CAST: Richard Ruxton, Fay Tilles, George Stover, Greg Dohler, Anne Frith, Richard Dyszel, Kim Dohler, Don Leifert, Glenn Barnes. (Moviecraft Entertainment)
Upon witnessing the opening of Baltimore auteur Don Dohler’s fourth movie, in which for the third time a spacecraft heads towards Earth, one surmises that a lot of strange stuff happens in Maryland! Otherwise, this film is a departure from Dohler’s earlier science fiction thrillers. Made quickly to honour a video distribution package deal when some of the partners of the previous film Nightbeast opted not to have that film included in it, Galaxy Invader is a no-budget take on King Kong, where instead of a giant ape, a sympathetic alien is brought to civilization. Assuming the writer-director ever intended his work as satire, never was it more uninhibited than here. It appears as his one film to have been played for laughs.
Into the Don Dohler stock company comes the silver-haired Richard Ruxton, who steals the picture as the despicable Joe Montague, a redneck father who always wears the same white T-shirt with a big rip in the front. He even manages to outshine Don Leifert, who is once again given a colourful role, as the enterprising hillbilly Frank Coster. (Was this movie meant to spoof Custer’s last stand?) Montague shoots at the alien in the forest, and the creature drops this glowing ball, which we discover powers its laser gun. These two goons reason that this could fetch a lot of dough, but not as much as the beast itself. So they recruit every twerp with a rifle down at the nearby bar to help capture the monster!
Most of the film’s enjoyable moments come from the hilarious takes on Montague’s domestic life, especially the early scene at the breakfast table where the younger daughter Anne (Dohler’s daughter Kim) argues with him. Every time one of the Montague clan complains to their long-suffering mother (Anne Frith) about their father, she reacts mostly with a shrug. George Stover is cast as the halfwit son J.J., who is left in charge of keeping the glowing globe safe, and naturally he screws that up. As much as these scenes are played for laughs, we are still aware how much of a dysfunctional family this brood is. As we can guess, the true monsters of the movie are the rednecks, as the rubber-suited alien with a skull face (played by Dohler’s half-brother, Glenn Barnes) really isn’t all that threatening on camera, despite its impressive laser gun. In fact, the creature subplot really becomes an excuse for the family to vent even more hatred toward the abusive, drunken father figure, resulting in a showstopping denouement, lovingly shot from multiple angles, presented in slow motion!
Galaxy Invader has quieter moments, in its other story thread of astronomer William Tracey (Richard Dyszel, in a more mannered performance than in The Alien Factor or Nightbeast) and his student David Harmon (Dohler’s son Greg) who investigate the crash site. This subplot too gives way for the broader domestic drama at hand, however Tracey’s line says it all: “The greatest scientific event in the history of the world is being lassoed by a bunch of rednecks!”