INVASION SINIESTRA [Sinister Invasion]
(Filmica Vergara/Columbia Pictures, 1968) Prod: Luis Enrique Vergara C.;
Dir: Juan Ibañez; Scr: Karl Schanzer, L.E. Vergara C.; Photo:
Raúl Domínguez; Music: Enrico Cabiatti [sic]; Prod Mgr:
José Luis Cerrada; Prod Coord: Guillermo Olivera; Co-Dir:
José Luis González de León; Dialog Dir: Stim Segar;
Film Ed: Raúl Caso; Art Dir: José Méndez, Octavio
Ocampo; Decor: Raúl Cárdenas; Camera Op: Eduardo Rojo;
Makeup: Tony Ramírez; Spec FX: Enrique Gordillo; Rec/Re-rec:
Heinrich Henkel; Dialog Rec: Víctor Rojo; Union: STIC
[note:
U.S. scenes were probably directed by Jack Hill and photographed by Austin
McKinney, who were credited on La Muerte Viviente. Hill was
credited on 3 of Karloff's 4 Mexican films with script work. This film is
also known as Alien Terror (see below for comments on the
English-language version)]
CAST: Boris Karloff (Prof. John Mayer),
Enrique Guzmán (Paul Rosten), Christa Linder (Laura), Maura Monti
(Isabel), Yerye Beirute (Thomas), Tere Vález (Nancy), Sergio
Kleiner (man from space), Mariela Flores (deaf-mute victim), Griselda
Mejía, Rosangela Balbó (first victim?), Tito Novaro (General
Nord), Sergio Virel, Víctor Jordán, Carlos León
(villager), Frankestein (villager), Julián de Meriche (dignitary
who visits Mayer), Arturo Fernández, Jorge Fegan (officer),
Victorio Blanco (old villager carrying cross), Angel D'Estefani (visitor)
NOTES AND SYNOPSIS:
In the village of Gudenberg in 1890, Professor Mayer and his
assistant are working on an invention that produces a powerful ray beam.
One day, the device malfunctions and the beam shoots off into the sky,
right through the roof of the house. This beam attracts a flying saucer,
which lands on Earth. The aliens want to destroy the ray so that Earth
cannot destroy itself or threaten the rest of the universe. To accomplish
this, the alien pilot of the ship implants an alien intelligence into the
body of Thomas, a sex murderer. Thomas infiltrates Mayer's house and
arranges to have another alien spirit possess Mayer's body. Meanwhile,
the government and army, having seen a demonstration of the ray's power,
want to control it for use as a weapon. One of the government
representatives is Paul, a young scientist who is in love with Laura,
Mayer's niece. He agrees to stay on and assist Mayer.
The alien
"Mayer" and "Thomas" plan to rig the ray machine so that it will explode,
killing all those who know about the device and dissuading future
scientists from experimenting in that field. However, Thomas's unnatural
sexual cravings eventually cause him to murder several village women--and
Mayer's assistant--which attract the attention of the townspeople.
Thomas then tries to murder Laura, but has the ray beam turned on his face
and dies in agony. Mayer throws off the alien intelligence from his mind,
but Laura is temporarily possessed. Finally, Mayer succeeds in trapping
the alien between two force fields. He then destroys his lab and
equipment, since it is too dangerous to be used by humans. As the film
ends, the alien spaceship leaves Earth, its mission accomplished.
As
is generally known, Karloff's scenes for his 4 Mexican films were all shot
in California (at the "Dored Studios"). Invasión Siniestra
is a fairly insular film, but it is pretty obvious that only Maura Monti,
Christa Linder, Enrique Guzmán, and Yerye Beirute made the trip to
LA to act with Karloff. The scene in which the scientists and military
officers watch Mayer's demonstration consists of shot/reverse shot between
Karloff and the others--no footage of Karloff with these
men--indicating that the Mexican scenes were probably shot afterwards.
At the climax, one exterior shot shows a double for Karloff (shot from
behind) watching his house burn, with Guzmán and Linder. As far as
Karloff's Mexican quartet is concerned, Invasión Siniestra
is much better than Serenata Macabra and La Cámara de
Terror (both of which had little Karloff footage); La Muerte
Viviente [Isle of the Snake People] is perhaps a bit better as a
fully-realized film, but Invasión Siniestra has its witty
moments.
These "moments" include Beirute's footage as the murderer
Thomas. He is particularly amusing as the alien-possessed Thomas, who
still has an eye for the ladies (in one scene, the alien Thomas is
fondling a statue of a nude woman while the alien Mayer is talking; Mayer
snaps--"What are you doing?! If you're going to be trouble, we might as
well get rid of that body right now!") This was one of Beirute's most
substantial roles (he was usually a surly henchman) and he makes the most
of it (ironically, another film in which he had more footage than usual
was La casa del terror, which featured another Hollywood horror
star, Lon Chaney Jr.).
There are a couple of surprisingly reflective
moments--particularly for this type of film. For instance, the alien
Mayer's radioactive body causes roses to wilt in his presence. He
wistfully comments that, when his job is done, he'll be returning to his
own planet: "But we don't have flowers like these, there." In another
scene, Isabel--who has one side of her face horribly scarred as the result
of a lab accident--makes a gentle pass at Paul, but he turns her down
(since he loves Laura). Maura Monti handles this scene (in fact, her
whole role) quite deftly (interestingly enough, the scarred side of her
face is rarely shown; almost as if she was really scarred, Monti
keeps her "good" side turned to the camera most of the time). Christa
Linder is adequate (and beautiful) but Enrique Guzmán seems
distracted and uninterested in his underwritten "hero" role.
Although
I have never been able to determine for sure if a "nude scenes" version
exists for this film ( La Cámara de Terror--in its
incarnation as The Torture Zone-- did contain such scenes; at least
one of John Carradine's films for the same producer did have a
minor nude scene), Invasión Siniestra seems a likely
candidate. At least, in this version there are endless scenes of
overflowing cleavage featuring Christa Linder, Maura Monti, and Beirute's
victims. Linder also has a bubble bath scene.
Karloff's Mexican
films are not classics by any stretch of the imagination, but--with the
possible exception of the boring Serenata Macabra--they are
entertaining.
Notes on the English-language
version
I recently watched Alien Terror, the Sony
video version of this movie. One of the most interesting aspects of this
version is the dubbing. Boris Karloff does his own voice. In the opening
and closing "saucer" scenes, the voiceover of the alien leader (not the
Sergio Klainer character) sounds like it was done by Claudio Brook.
Maura Monti is obviously dubbed. However, the most fascinating thing is
that Christa Linder was mostly dubbed, but not always! In the
first scene, she runs into the lab where Karloff and Monti are
experimenting. In medium long shot, she says "Oncle Chon" (in her own,
accented English). Then, in a medium closeup, she says "Uncle John?" in a
DUBBED voice. She turns to Karloff and says "I vas so frightened. Vat vas
the terrible noise?" and in voiceover (as the camera focuses on Maura
Monti), Linder says "I candt helb it. Ever zince Isabel had dat terrible
axident," sounding a bit like Eva Gabor. But for almost all of the rest
of the film, Linder's dialogue is dubbed by someone speaking perfect,
unaccented English. There is one scene later on--where the
alien-possessed Karloff introduces Yerye Beirute as his new lab assistant
to Linder and Guzmán--in which Linder speaks in her own voice, but
when she and Guzmán leave the lab and are in the hallway, the
dubbed voice is back! Puzzling, but it's nice to hear Linder's real
voice.