Invader
Invader is a science fiction film released directly to video in 1992 and directed by Philip J. Cook. The movie stars Hans Bachmann, A. Thomas Smith, and Rick Foucheux. The story is about a journalist who discovers that an extraterrestrial being has taken over an air force base in Washington, D.C., and must stop its plan of world domination.
Most of Invader was made independently in 1989 by Philip Cook and producer John Ellis because Cook’s previous film Beyond the Rising Moon had not been successful enough to attract investors. Cook filmed all the cheap dialogue scenes himself, which impressed Menahem Golan so much he agreed to finance the rest of the project. Trimark originally released Invader on VHS while Pioneer Corporation put it out on LaserDisc; the former earned some good reviews.
In 2006, for its DVD release Eagle Films recut Invader. The new version of the movie features CGI special effects added to the in camera effects from 1992.
At Clark Air Base in Washington, D.C., four airmen are shown trying desperately to flee from the base but are soon blocked by a contingent of soldiers; most are shot but one sees a flying saucer that burns him with its energy weapon.
Frank Mccall (Hans Bachmann) is an overqualified photojournalist who writes about two headed dogs and alien abductions for the sleazy National Scandal tabloid. He is assigned to cover this story when they find the airman’s charred corpse. When government agents try to keep him out, he resolves to sneak into the airbase where they’re demoing a top secret fighter plane equipped with an experimental software system called A.S.M.O.D.S., which suddenly malfunctions mid-demo, crashing the plane; as disappointed top brass leave Mccall is intercepted by Captain Anders (A.Thomas Smith), who has him taken into custody and his camera seized.
Sinister men in black wrench Mccall away, taking him to a storage compartment where they inject him with a glowing green substance and brainwash him with an electronic apparatus. Anders and Colonel Faraday (Rick Foucheux) arrive just in time to stop them, at which point the men shoot themselves. Anders takes Mccall into custody himself, while Faraday returns to the base. Then the flying saucer from the opening appears; Anders shoots it, but nothing happens; Mccall photographs it with his backup disc camera. Powerless against the invader, they drive away from it, dodging more men in black on the way, and lock themselves inside the base.
Mccall’s camera is again confiscated, its photos to be developed as evidence. While this is happening Mccall manages to secure for himself prints of all these pictures he also spies on Anders talking to the General so he finds out that the A.S.M.O.D.S. system uses alien technology recovered from a crashed spaceship in New Mexico desert, which seems to have a mind of its own. They break their way in (men in black), so Mccall escapes with Anders using F-117 stealth fighter; they briefly dogfight some F-16s out of Clark before securing air support from The Pentagon
McCall and Anders are interrogated by General Anheiser (John Cook), whom they eventually convince that A.S.M.O.D.S. has taken over the base computers via the intranet, brainwashing every soldier into being under its control. They agree to investigate the following day. In the meantime, McCall quits his job at The Scandal, realizing he is on to the story of a lifetime.
At the airbase, Faraday greets the trio as a now-brainwashed man. His troops shoot down their helicopter escort and bring them down to what used to be the subbasement, but which has been expanded into an enormous cavern. Down there, Faraday explains that it ate up all of their hard drives and things in order to build itself a giant robot called HARV with which it plans to take over the world after nuking China and Russia; however, just like Mccall had noticed about how A.S.M.O.D.S.’s alien programming started leaking through into itself, so too did some parts of ASMODS wind up inside this creature’s mind thus giving it patriotic fervor against America’s foes.
The heroes shoot Faraday’s guards; HARV tries to intervene but only kills him instead. They search for weapons in order to stop HARV from starting World War III finding eventually a rocket launcher with two rockets missing on first shot but hitting directly second with one second remaining before HARV would have launched its missiles. In an end montage various newspapers honor McCall as hero while National Scandal calls invasion bogus.
Having completed space adventure movie Beyond The Rising Moon (1987) producer John Ellis and director Philip Cook wanted their next film not require them building sets from scratch so grounded theme wise.Cook penned script for Invader then titled The Killing Edge within fourteen days.He wanted give picture some satire edge due political climate during that period hence making it lighter in tone than Moon which he thought was “a bit pretentious”.
They brought the movie to the American Film Market, where Menahem Golan agreed to provide the $125,000 necessary for completion. The rest of the film was shot between fall 1990 and 1991. Like in Moon, most of the special effects were done with miniatures Cook cites Gerry Anderson’s shows as an inspiration. The heroes’ helicopter never got off the ground; flight shots were achieved with remote control models. The fight with HARV in the cavern was filmed using stop-motion animation on a miniature set. Matte paintings were used to put the actors into the cavern.
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