30 Most Ridiculous Alien Invaders Of All Time
They came, they saw, they were defeated by Peter Graves.
Whenever an alien civilization attempts to conquer Earth, they always send their least competent delegation to some American backwater - with hilarious consequences.
Whether it’s a bad script or a wacky idea that just doesn’t come off, there isn’t a comedy as good as a cheesy sci-fi movie, but the most common cause of giggle fits is usually the low budget. When a filmmaker’s vision is humbled by economic factors, the results often resemble what Joe R Lansdale said about watching an alligator eat a pig – messy, but fun on a primal level, especially if you’re not the pig.
Budgetary constraints have over the years been responsible for countless economically staged invasions by walking tree monsters, man-jellyfish hybrids as well as that perennial favourite, the rubber-suited Man From Mars, but in terms of ineptitude, no movie can match the bargain basement clunkers of the 1950s.
Shot in Bronson Canyon in four days, and starring nobody you ever heard of, these pictures use stock footage ripped from other movies to convince us that life as we know it has been wiped out save for a half-dozen actors whose thesping makes Tod Slaughter look like Laurence Olivier. If these people represent humanity’s best hope, then we really are in trouble.
Bad acting is a constant theme in the 30 movies that follow, but fans of clunky special effects and ridiculous narratives will also get their fix.
30. Melted Candle Monster - The Incredible Melting Man
After encountering some stock footage of solar flares in outer space, an astronaut returns to Earth and rampages across the country while his body melts.
In the final shot, he’s shoveled into a garbage can by a bored janitor.