Alien Terror

The Sinister Invasion (1971)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

This here was one of the four Mexican films Boris Karloff filmed before his death and this is one that was released after the horror icon had passed. In the film he plays Professor John Mayer who in 1890 has created a ray machine, which he shoots into space. The ray just happens to cross paths with a flying saucer and the aliens decide to come and destroy it but to do so they take over the body of a serial killer. Also known as ALIEN TERROR, THE INCREDIBLE INVASION and about a dozen other titles, this film is probably the most entertaining out of the films Karloff did below the border but that's really not saying too much. This is a hard film to fully understand as the plot never makes too much sense but I'm going to guess this is due to two directors making the picture (Jose Luis Gonzalez the Mexican stuff, Jack Hill the Karloff material). It's also worth noting that the aliens here are so stupid that they have to be the children of those seen in PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE. OK, one understands why they want to destroy the ray but they've got the technology to do so without taking over the body of this killer. This killer just ends up causing so many problems and yet the aliens keep on using him. The entire subplot with the killer is quite strange to watch but it does add a rather surreal feel to the picture. As for Karloff, he's certainly showing signs of his health issues but he's pretty good here. Unlike the other three films where he's basically just an extended cameo, he actually gets a pretty big role here, which is nice to see. The rest of the supporting players aren't as memorable but we've all seen much worst. The production values are cheap and it's obvious you're not in the 1890s but this could have been much, much worse. With that said, this was released a couple years after Karloff's death and you really have to wonder who would want to see something like this other than those curious die-hard Karloff fans.