They

They (aka. Invasion from Inner Earth) (1972)

Three students are returning from a camping/research trip that had them staying with a brother and sister in an isolated cabin. Before they can return to civilization they discover that the machinery is failing and that everyone is dying mysteriously. They decide to head back to the cabin to barricade themselves in before deciding what to do next. Is this some natural disaster or is something sinister happening? Will any of them make it? Did the writer run out of ideas before they finished making the movie? Well I can answer that last one. Yes they did run out of ideas.

If you are a fan of bad drive-in flicks then you have to be familiar with the works of Bill Redbane, who has made everything from a bad creature feature (Rana; Legend of Shadow Lake, The Giant Spider Invasion) to a ghost story (The Demons of Ludlow). This movie is a strange little end of the world opus that plays much like a poorly done Night of the Living Dead want to be without any real creatures. The movie does manage to create some atmosphere and is a bit creepy in the beginning with the cast flying around in an airplane and being waved off from the airport. But when they finally return to the cabin to hide the movie slows down to a crawl and becomes a chore to watch. As I mentioned in the synopsis above it feels as if they had the beginning of an idea for a movie, but didn’t flesh things out before making the movie and because of that the film runs out of gas early and never recovers. The performances range from passable to downright bad, which is sort of expected in a low budget drive-in flick like this. Though combined with the weak story the wooden acting makes for a very slow movie. I recommend having a whole lot of caffeine before sitting down to watch this one you will need it.

Not only is this a poorly written movie, but also it isn’t a very well made on either. I actually like some of Redbane later movies but this one is rough. The movie is dark and I don’t mean the print. Some of the interior shots are very poorly light. Also the same musical cues are used over and over again, which gets annoying and distracting. Also I understand that this is a low budget movie, but if the “creatures” are nothing more than a red light then your film is doomed to fail. How scary can a flashlight with a red lens on it be?

Unless you are a huge fan of director Bill Redbane I have to recommend skipping this one. Unlike some of his later efforts that have a sort of cheesy charm to them this one is just miserable. Still if you are a collector and need to have this movie it can be had on the cheap from Mill Creek. Check them out at http://www.millcreekent.com/ for more information.

½ out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer