Invasion

Director: John Paizs John Paizs

Overview

Campbell Scott stars in this zany send-up of '50s body-snatching, alien invasion flicks. Scott plays Dr. Karel Lamonte, a pipe-smoking atomic scientist fresh from the Atomic Academy, who finds himself in the small town of Exceptional Vista -- situated somewhere between Fetus and New Imbroglio -- just before a large meteor strikes the local TV tower. Does this herald the beginning of a bizarre alien invasion? The town is littered with unusual characters: Sandy (Fiona Loewi) has an unnervingly close relationship with her brother, Guy (Tom Everett Scott); the town's sole policeman (Hardee T. Lineham) seems more interested in spanking Sandy than in solving crimes; and the mayor (Bernard Behrens) is a religious fanatic who claims that the aliens were sent from God to punish us for watching TV. When freshly gnawed-upon corpses start appearing at the edge of town, Dr. Lamonte responds like any other red-blooded atomic scientist: he bathes with a naked, inflatable likeness of himself. Top of the Food Chain was screened at the 1999 Vancouver Film Festival.

Product Details

Release Date:	11/21/2000
UPC:	0057373151716
Original Release:	1999
Rating:	R
Source:	LIONS GATE
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Full Frame]
Sound:	[stereo, Dolby Digital]
Language:	English
Time:	1:32:00
Sales rank:	49,951

Special Features

Full frame; Stereo Surround; Motion main menu; Motion scene index; Trailer gallery; Synopsis; Cast and crew bios; Spanish subtitles

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Campbell Scott	Dr. Karel Lamonte,Guy Fawkes
Fiona Loewi	Sandy Fawkes
Hardee T. Lineham	Officer Gayle
Nigel Bennett	Michel O'Shea
Elisa Moolecherry	Chris
Peter Donaldson	Kim
Ron Gabriel	Les
James Allodi	Deputy
Maggie Butterfield	Shelley
Robert Bockstael	Jan
Lorry Ayers	Pat
Bernard Behrens	Mayor Claire

Technical Credits

Phil Bedard

Larry Lalonde

John Paizs	Director
Jana Edelbaum	Executive Producer
Phil Bedard	Screenwriter
Eve Battaglia	Casting
Marsha Chesley	Casting
Larry Lalonde	Screenwriter
Paul Simpson	Sound/Sound Designer

Scene Index

Scene Index
0. Scene Index
1. The Arrival [1:51]
2. Better Days [3:06]
3. On The Fritz [4:24]
4. Atomic Joke [5:36]
5. Hiking Boots [2:24]
6. Singing Grace [6:38]
7. Midnight Predator [4:50]
8. Speed Walking [6:44]
9. Humain Remains [6:33]
10. "Hold Me!" [4:33]
11. Frizzle Nerves [3:53]
12. Meat Hooks [4:57]
13. The Searchers [4:35]
14. Evacuation Plan [5:26]
15. Leader Unmasked [4:08]
16. Copulatory Act [5:41]
17. Guinea Pigs [4:02]
18. Moon Men & Girls [5:52]
19. White Wedding [2:43]
20. Final Credits [4:10]

Menu

Side #1
Play Movie
Features Menu
   Cast & Crew
      Tom Everett Scott
      Fiona Loewi
      Campbell Scott
      John Paizs
   Film Synopsis
   Movie Trailers
      The Invasion
      Blowin' Smoke
      Glam
      The Art Of Murder
   Language Subtitles

Editorial Reviews

A meteor streaks through the night sky, crashing behind a convenient hill (convenient so that the producers save money on the special effect) and sending up an ominous glow. But was it a meteor? Who are these odd strangers who have appeared in town? And why are the townsfolk acting strangely? Yes, the premise is right out of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Invaders From Mars, The Thing, and any number of other low-budget, high-minded, too-serious science fiction films from the 1950s. But Invasion!, while showing respect for the revered genre, takes elements from many of the classics and packages them into a fast-moving, dialogue-driven, high-camp, joke-a-minute parody that manages to hit more targets than it misses. In addition to slime-spewing aliens (which, keeping with tradition, are unseen), there's the pipe-smoking, know-it-all "atomic" scientist (Campbell Scott), the single woman longing to leave the small town (Fiona Lowei), and the simple-minded local who comes in handy in the end (Tom Everett Scott). Unlike its predecessors, there is an uncomfortable, but very funny detail involving incest, and there is a dose of gore the older films would never have used that works here. Some of the jokes fly low on the humor radar, a few are downright sarcastic ("With our government in place, no harm will come to us," Scott's scientist assures us), and others are broadly played; but it all, somehow, holds together. Credit director John Paizs' spot-on sense of comic timing for the overall success of the film.

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