The Puppet Masters (1994)

The Earth is invaded by stingray-shaped alien "slugs" that ride on people's backs and control their minds.

Director:

Stuart Orme

Writers:

Robert A. Heinlein (novel), Ted Elliott (screenplay)

Stars:

Donald Sutherland, Eric Thal, Julie Warner

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Donald Sutherland	...	Andrew Nivens
Eric Thal	...	Sam Nivens
Julie Warner	...	Mary Sefton
Keith David	...	Alex Holland
Will Patton	...	Dr. Graves
Richard Belzer	...	Jarvis
Tom Mason	...	President Douglas
Yaphet Kotto	...	Ressler
Gerry Bamman	...	Viscott
Sam Anderson	...	Culbertson
J. Patrick McCormack	...	Gidding
Marshall Bell	...	General Morgan
Nicholas Cascone	...	Greenberg
Bruce Jarchow	...	Barnes
Benjamin Mouton	...	Higgins

Storyline

Strange aliens land in the Midwest, taking over people's minds in order to spread their dominion. Sam Nivens and Andrew Nivens, aided by Mary Sefton, are part of a government agency who must stop the the aliens before the aliens get to them...

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Plot Keywords:

alien | iowa | ambulance | fire truck | sheriff | 

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Taglines:

Trust No-one.

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, sci-fi gore and brief language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 October 1994 (USA)

Also Known As:

Robert A. Heinlein's The Puppet Masters

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles Convention Center - 1201 S. Figueroa Street, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Gross USA:

$8,638,072

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hollywood Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

At the start of the film when the boys are trying to convince Mary to go inside the fake spaceship, Andrew Nivens says, "She balked at Pirates of the Caribbean." Both Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, two of the films credited screenwriters, went on to write the "Pirates of the Caribbean," series of movies.

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Goofs

After Jarvis is captured and searched, an agent hold up a 3.5" floppy disc which he says contains their plans to handle scenarios like this. He's holding the floppy up with one side facing him and the other facing the Old Man. When we see the agent from the front, we see the bottom of the floppy. When we see over his shoulder, we still see the bottom of the floppy. He'd have had to turn it over in his hand repeatedly for it to look like this.

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Quotes

Niven: It's the kid from the spaceship. Get him off the car.

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Connections

Version of The Brain Eaters (1958)

User Reviews

Disappointing version of a fantastic book

This was a decent film. The book was far better.

If the book had been made into a three-hour film, it would have been excellent. They would have had time to do things right. As it is, they compact a wide-ranging tale set in the future into a dodgy action flick in the present day.

Do yourself a favour - read the book.

Donald Sutherland is too cool, though.