ZombieRanger I found this DVD entitled "Invasion" for 5 bucks in a discount bin rotting beneath copies of public domain cartoons and questionably licensed workout videos. Thinking that I might have found a neglected gem, and since I sort of recognized that one guy from "Dead Man on Campus", I bought it and brought it home for a viewing. I can't fully go into why this was so terrible, only that the 'humor' contained in it was so abysmal and anti-funny, that I have to question whether the writer was in fact an alien and that's how comedy worked on their planet. Imagine a confused half-conscious David Lynch directing a comedy written by a first year film student who made it halfway through their modern feminism course before switching to social economics, who then tells every actor to perform their roles like Ren & Stimpy side characters. This movie set off a resentment towards Canada within me that I never knew I had, or perhaps didn't have before watching this garbage. I'm now an emptier, more bitter human being than I was before watching this. I'm going to set fire to this DVD, bury the ashes and salt the earth. That should sum things up!

Katherine Howard This full-colour comedy satirizes the old black-and-white science fiction films that you might see if you watch Mystery Science Theatre, succeeding where the Lost Skeleton of Cadavra failed. First of all, the dialogue and visual jokes come fast, relying on our ability to recognize allusions to Silence of the Lambs, Monty Python, This Island Earth and so on. Deliberately oversimplified science jargon and repetitious rambling one-man soliloquies feature briefly but do not make the majority of the script, making a nod to the style of the birth of the B-movie genre without letting it overburden its listeners.Top of the Food Chain features several of the easily recognizable character tropes: Dr. Karel Lamonte is an "Atomic Scientist from Atomic University", a bespectacled and timid young man who loses said glasses, starts looking a bit more muscular and starts spouting 1950's hero-clichés and barking orders partway through the film. As you watch, however, you see that a man this straight-laced and stiff is sexually repressed to the point of ridiculousness, making it impossible for him to respond properly to the female love interest's perfectly obvious advances. The love interest, Sandy, is Exceptional Vista's femme fatale but over-sexualized to the point where she is a raging nymphomaniac involved with practically every man in town. Other clichés abound as we meet the cop character who is suspicious of the FBI, the small town men who are offended by the "big city" scientist. These clichés are often turned on their heads. At several points in the film Sandy makes it known that she is every bit as bright as the professor, but this is ignored by all. In another example, it is mentioned that the city coroner vivisected himself (and then filled out the required paperwork before he keeled over: a true citizen!) and the so-called "uneducated cop" has been performing all of the town's autopsies since (although when he inspects human remains at one point he uses kitchen cutting boards and eats crackers at the time.) This movie lampoons alien-centric films, government conspiracy-centric films, genetic engineering and sasquatch-centric films, horror films, action films, and mid-1900s' Hollywood. It is dialogue-heavy and relies on the viewers understanding the jokes regarding chauvinistic attitudes, propagandist nationalist/stupidly simplified scientific language, and sexual innuendo that permeate the interactions between characters. This is a funny film, but only if you have a feel for the genre. If you're looking for high-action, special effects or potty humour directed at pre-pubescent teens, you won't find it here. If you want a funny satire of 1950s sci-fi then you're in for a treat.

hokeybutt TOP OF THE FOOD CHAIN (3 outta 5 stars) Canadian director John Paisz came out with some brilliant short movies back in the 80s... culminating in the brilliant "Crime Wave". He showed great promise at the time... his work sharing many surface similarities with the work of David Lynch. But for almost 15 years he seemed to disappear from the world of film... doing a little TV work in Canada and not much else. Well, he finally came back in 1999 with this zany B movie parody film and, while comes nowhere near the quality of his earlier work, it does have enough wit and style to make it worth seeing. The movie starts out TERRIBLY... so don't let the first five minutes put you off... it does get better. Man-eating aliens come down to a small Twin Peaks kind of town and start noshing on the citizens. Luckily a world famous atomic scientist (Campbell Scott) is passing through town to lend a hand. The movie's story isn't quite as well-scripted as the more recent "Lost Skeleton of Cadavra" but it does have some very funny lines... and some bizarre characterizations (the way-too-friendly brother and sister, the town policeman who goes around singing his own jazzy theme song). If you're in the mood for something silly you could do lots worse than this. Choicest lines: "An atomic scientist's life can be very lonely. There aren't many atomic lady scientists, after all." "I got backbone! Matter of fact when I was born I had a tail, too! That's just MORE backbone only it's furry!" "A genetically engineered band of devil worshiping serial killers... or a Sasquatch type thing? I don't like the sound of that!"

okelydokely2 Top of the Food Chain (A.K.A. Invasion!) is a very wacky film, but I recommend it to anyone with a good sense of humor, especially if you like parodies. The humor is delivered deadpan but takes turns you'd never guess. There are all the clichéd characters you could expect in a B-grade horror movie - the religious nut, the pompous scientist, the surly policeman, various suspicious characters, and the smart and spunky love interest - but each of them deviates from the norm in their own way. This is a low-budget film but that actually is a strength for a parody of other low-budget films. This is one of the funniest films I've seen in a long time. It reminds me of Airplane, although it's more subdued and yet more daring in its humor. Rent it if you get the chance.