Invasion Horror

I didn’t know what to write about this week… I will say the benefit of being a constant writer and note taker is that I will write down ANY idea that comes into my head about topics on this blog. I haven’t had time to watch anything new (especially Poltergeist II) but I’m hoping for better and easier days to do so. So until then, I have decided on THIS topic which I’m shocked I haven’t done. I’ve done different iterations of this but not this direct.

In my notes from February of 2023, I had this idea of horror movies that the main focus is something or someone who slowly (or in some cases, overnight) invades and changes the landscape. And I took out some options, added some in and I hope they make sense. The overall point is that there is a lack of control or even delayed response to what the outside is happening.

Ironically, this fits in with the talks of aliens and um weirdness happening like locusts invading a town like it’s the first of MANY plagues.

So let’s look at some Invasion Horror movies…

The Void (2016) – underrated for sure
Slither (2006) – an underrated James Gunn feature
The Mist (2007) – if we waited 5 MINUTES
28 Days Later (2002) – you wake up from a coma to find the world is in literal hell
Night of the Living Dead (1968) – they’re coming to get you, Barbara!
The Blob (1958, 1988) – a decent remake to a cool original
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) – when i say overnight, i meant it
Signs (2002) – if y’all really think we’re alone in this universe, please
Attack the Block (2011) – one of John Boyega’s first roles!
They Live (1988) – consumerism, brainwashing, OBEY
Demons (1985) – when a free movie experience goes horribly wrong
Cloverfield (2008) – it’s Godzilla’s cousin imo
The Crazies (1973) – i watched this during quarantine times…
One Dark Night (1982) – more like invasion of dead bodies due to telekinetic powers in a graveyard?
30 Days of Night (2008) – literal vampires invading a town in Alaska
A Quiet Place (2018) – they love sounds so be very, very quiet
Salem’s Lot (1979) – a strange town that is invaded by a vampire and his lackey
John Carpenter’s The Fog (1980) – deep secrets in a small town with pirate ghosts


So why did I choose these? Well, there’s a variety to begin with. These are not ALL sci-fi (under the umbrella of horror) and “invasion” already feels like a sci-fi word in general. These movies are also from different times which I believe that any horror movie depicts what is happening in the climate of the world at the time.

We have movies that depict what has happened in our world today with the pandemic, quarantining, different viruses spreading, how incredibly traumatic that is and on the flip side is like there are dangerous creatures coming and we are not equipped to stop them. Even crazier is if they are people like us, or they were us and now they have transformed into something else. And it begs the question: what is more terrifying for you? For me? For us? Is it encountering creatures that our minds would try to dismiss, or seeing our neighbors and loved ones become something unrecognizable, no longer ours? Or seeing the world go completely to shit?

Invasion Horror can be a lot of different things and that is the purpose of this post. I could have thought of some other options, at one point, I thought of The Thing (1982) which involves an alien/mutant creature invading multiple hosts and it almost made the list. ALMOST because you can finesse it into a list like this! You could also argue your way into saying The Evil Dead (1981) can count as this, or Night of the Demons (1987), it is on the same scale as Demons but I think what makes it slightly different is The Evil Dead is more environment and concentrated in one area and Night of the Demons is kind of the same (in a house) whereas Demons, they are escaping further out and out into the city to spread. I guess The Return of the Living Dead (1985) would be acceptable and Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988) is literal killer klowns from outer space coming here and basically making everyone into human cotton candy spheres? 

We can keep going! But leave a comment below of what movie(s) you would throw into a list like these, even the mini honorable mentions in the paragraph above! I will see you guys next week!