Strange Invaders (1983)

An entomology professor's (Paul Le Mat) ex-wife (Diana Scarwid) leaves their daughter (Lulu Sylbert) in his care so she can return to the small town in Illinois for her mother's funeral. But when she never returns, he becomes suspicious and visits the town where he encounters visitors from another planet. Directed by Michael Laughlin (STRANGE BEHAVIOR), this is a fun affectionate homage to 1950's B science fiction movies. Despite favorable reviews, the movie fared poorly at the box office which is a pity because it works both as a satire of 50's sci-fi and on its own as a well constructed straight piece of science fiction. The film avoids the nudge/nudge wink/wink "get it" style of many movie parodies and the actors play it straight rather than broadly. Not that the film isn't without flaws. When Nancy Allen (as a tabloid journalist) and Lulu Sylbert make a mad dash for freedom in an escape attempt from the alien creatures, it inexplicably takes a lot of time for the aliens to chase after them rather than doing so immediately. But hey, 50s B sci-fi lacked logic most of the time anyway. With Louise Fletcher, Michael Learned, June Lockhart, Kenneth Tobey, Fiona Lewis, Mark Goddard and Wallace Shawn.