Strange Invaders
1983 film by Michael Laughlin
Strange Invaders is a 1983 American science fiction film directed and co-written by Michael Laughlin, and stars Paul Le Mat, Nancy Allen and Diana Scarwid.
Produced as a tribute to the sci-fi films of the 1950s, notably The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, it was intended to be the second installment of the aborted Strange Trilogy with Strange Behavior (1981), another 1950s spoof by Laughlin, but the idea was abandoned after Invaders failed to attract a large audience. Scarwid's performance earned her a nomination for Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress at the 4th Golden Raspberry Awards.
Plot
In 1958, the town of Centreville, Illinois is quietly invaded by extraterrestrial aliens. The aliens fire mysterious beams of energy from their hands and eyes, which turn the town's inhabitants into crystalized pulsing blue orbs. Using artificial skin and hair, the invaders then assume the identities of their victims and cover up the invasion.
Twenty-five years later, Columbia University lecturer Charles Bigelow learns that his ex-wife, Margaret, has disappeared while attending her mother's funeral in Centerville, and travels there to find her. He finds the town kept perfectly as it was in 1958 by the aliens, which arouses suspicion and eventually triggers the aliens to try and capture Charles when they fail to convince him otherwise. Charles escapes, but the aliens manage to snatch his dog, Louie.
Charles sees a photo of an alien in a tabloid magazine and, with the help of journalist Betty Walker, finds Margaret, who is now revealed to be one of the aliens.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Strange Invaders” as 1983 film by Michael Laughlin. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as 1983 film by Michael Laughlin. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3236338. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1983, 1981 and 1958.
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This entry incorporates text from “Strange Invaders” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.