Waste of time

Great Film overall

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

The Hidan of Maukbeiangjow (1973)1/2 (out of 4) This here has one of the worst titles in film history and it's easy to see why it was changed to INVASION OF THE GIRL SNATCHERS for its VHS release, which to date is the only release it's had on home video. The film is, I think, a spoof of various types of films from the drive-in era. A couple men kidnap beautiful women for some nutty preacher type. This group then runs into some female alien cult leaders (or something to that effect. THE HIDAN OF MAUKBEIANGJOW is a really, really bad film but apparently it's gained a cult following over the years, which means you're either going to hate it or fall for it. I will admit that it does have a certain Southern charm going for it but sadly the thing just drags on way too long and has way too many long dialogue scenes that are just downright boring and slow. Director Lee Jones is probably best remembered for working as a producer for several films by William Girdler. Apparently this film was shot using the same equipment and some of the same locations as Girdler's 3 ON A MEAT HOOK. Either way, this film here just never overcomes it's low-budget nature and even a funny opening song can't save it. In all reality the performances aren't too bad and I think Jones could have directed something. The biggest fault is without question the story that just tries to be clever but never really is. It also can't overcome the incredibly boring and long stretches where nothing is happening.

This wonderfully wiggy, shot-in-Arkansas tongue-in-cheek regional low-budget oddity serves as a breezy, irreverent send-up of both chintzy indie Southern-fried 70's drive-in swill in general and equally cheeseball 50's sci-fi alien invasion tales in particular. The plot itself is an elaborate deadpan put-on: Two scuzzy hoods kidnap nice-looking chicks for a gibbering religious kook magician who uses the lovely ladies' bodies as vessels for a race of evil extraterrestrials he has come in contact with. It's up to a crack(ed) team of bumbling, incompetent "private pig" specialist agents to thwart 'em. With its dry, off-handed, throwaway humor, outrageously campy dialogue (favorite lines include "Great gobs of baby owl s**t!" and "You been smoking ragweed, baby?"), game, spirited, aiming to please acting from an enthusiastic no-name cast who all speak with thick, heavy hillbilly drawls, uniformly flaky characters, casual, deliberate pacing, choppy, abrupt, arrhythmic editing, a top-drawer soundtrack of twangy, jubilant, banjo-plucking s**t-kicking country and western songs, ripely abundant gratuitous nudity and bloody violence (two key ingredients which always spell winner in my book), ineptly staged action scenes, and a tasty, eye-filling supporting cast of buxom, shapely, full-bodied good old gals, this thoroughly flipped-out flick remains a hilariously inane and off-the-wall gut-busting laugh riot from start to finish. The whole film has a loose, nonchalant, very playful and wildly spontaneous improvisational quality to it. It's as if director Lee Jones (who also handled the shaky cinematography and produced William Girdler's abysmal backwoods psycho pic "Three On A Meathook") and screenwriter Phineas T. Pinkham (who also co-produced the movie with Carla Rueckert) made this feature on the faintest of silly whims and merrily made things up off the top of their (possibly stoned) heads while shooting it. Naturally, the net result of all this cheery tomfoolery is occasionally a bit uneven and inconsistent, but overall the film's zany vitality, relaxed, good-natured tone, and infectious sense of go-for-it impromptu gonzo élan make it a terrifically idiosyncratic one-of-a-kind off-beat treat.

You know, of all the cheap 70s movies out there, most have something that redeems them from being utterly unworthy of remembrance. Maybe it's erratic editing, crummy dubbing, pretentious or unintentionally stupid dialogue("This is where the fish live," from THE TOUCH OF SATAN springs to mind), cheap special effects, or (especially)overacting. INVASION OF THE GIRL SNATCHERS really has none of these. This low budget exercise in tedium concerns the employees of some government agency trying to run a sting operation to catch some crooks and instead running into some extraterrestrials who want to possess people's minds ala INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS . . . I think. The action takes place in and around a run-down motel and an old house, with a mostly amateur cast. As this film nears its conclusion(mercifully)the head E.T. guy performs some sort of Black Mass/alien induction ceremony, pausing to lift up his ceremonial robe and take a key out of his jeans pocket--one of the few unintentional flubs in the movie I could spot. Oh, there is something to watch in lieu of a coherent plot: a blonde chick the fed guys were going to use as a decoy for the crooks gets possessed by the E.T.s about a third of the way through her time on screen. The outer space being gets curious about the earth body it has inhabited, and for the rest of her time on screen the actress runs around topless! It's almost as if the filmmakers were giving us a consolation prize! Still, I'd take THREE ON A MEATHOOK over this anyday. At least the lengthy exposition in that film keeps you occupied!

If you want to understand the work of Lee Jones, "Invasion of the Girl Snatchers" is widely considered the best place to start your studies. Jones, with a little help from his friend Don Davison, also brought us "Shanty Town Honeymoon," "Moonshiner's Woman," and "Supervan."Incidentally, some of Jones' alternate titles are quite worthy of Drive-In Academy Awards, such as "Hillbilly Hookers," "Little Whorehouse On The Prairie," et al."Invasion" was made around the same time as William Girdler's "Three on a Meathook." In fact, "Invasion" borrows some of the "Meathook's" sets and locations. Many members of the Louisville-based crew on "Invasion" were Girdler alumni, including Hugh Smith and Bub Asman."Invasion of the Girl Snatchers" hasn't been available on video since the late 80's, which is a crime. Keep your fingers crossed for a re-release sometime in the future!