STARSHIP INVASIONS (1977)
Article 2182 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-7-2007
Posting Date: 8-3-2007
Directed by Ed Hunt
Featuring Robert Vaughn, Christopher Lee, Daniel Pilon

Evil aliens plan to destroy all human life on earth. Good aliens try to prevent them. A UFOlogist helps the good aliens.

STARSHIP INVASIONS, huh? I wonder where they came up with that title? Yet, in all fairness, I have to say that at least they didn’t just lift the plot of STAR WARS, and had they done so, it would have most likely blown the budget. Yet, what they substitute in its place is hardly worth cheering about. As it is, this glum compendium of UFOs, spaceship battles, mass suicides, telepathy and robots ends up having the feel of watching bad news reports on a static-filled TV screen while suffering from a high fever; it’s woozy and unpleasant. The listless score is of no help, and the fact that this movie consists of the most depressing alien invasion imaginable (they shoot a ray onto the earth that causes mass suicides) just makes things worse. The star power does little to help, for that matter. Still, I did emerge from watching this movie with one big discovery; after having so many scenes of people talking telepathically, I discovered just how much I really liked seeing people’s mouths and lips move when I watch a movie. This movie is singularly lacking in fun. It made me really appreciate STARCRASH.