Mark Goddard

46) 'Strange Invaders' (1983)

Director Michael Laughlin, with co-conspirators that included writer Bill Condon (the future director of "Kinsey" on the one hand, and "Dreamgirls" on the other), did something odd and different with the teen serial-killer movie in 1981's "Strange Behavior ... more." Their 1983 follow-up gave a similarly irreverent but loving treatment to the sci-fi alien infestation film. Stalwart regular-guy portrayer Paul Le Mat here plays a college prof looking for an errant ex. He tracks her to a Midwest town where the residents are a little -- you guessed it -- strange-acting. Also, the whole place seems stuck in the '50s. The irony is this retro mode is in fact a portent of a terrible future for the Earth! Good action, creepy aliens, scary brandishing of hypodermic needles and, of course (this being an '80s sci-fi movie), cameos from sci-fi cinema/TV icons of the past (Kenneth Tobey from the first "The Thing" turns up, as do "Lost in Space" stars June Lockhart and Mark Goddard) conspire to make this one of the more entertaining romps/pastiches of its time.

(Orion Pictures Corp/Courtesy Everett Collection)