The Monster Squad (1987)
The ragtag bunch of kids in Rim of the World may as well be known as the Alien Squad, because just as with the plot of The Monster Squad, they’re basically just the Goonies tasked with defeating a non-human force. Dracula, The Mummy, The Gill-Man, The Wolf Man, and Frankenstein’s Monster are not extraterrestrials, but they are sort of otherworldly and just as set on taking over Earth. The virginity jokes aren’t great in either movie, though at least they seemed normal in the ’80s context of this horror comedy co-written by Shane Black.
Watch it on Amazon Prime
SpaceCamp (1986)
Little Joaquin, I mean Leaf Phoenix again. SpaceCamp, which pairs well with The Mars Generation, is one of the more underrated kids’ movies of the ’80s (it had the misfortune of releasing soon after the Challenger explosion and was ignored by many as a result). With a wonderful cast also consisting of Lea Thompson, Tate Donovan, and Kelly Preston in their youth, plus Kate Capshaw in one of her last big roles, the sci-fi fantasy picture sees some future astronaut hopefuls at the US Space Camp who accidentally wind up launched into space and then have to use their wits to return.
Buy it from Amazon
Explorers (1985)
When we first meet the main character of Rim of the World, he looks intentionally similar to one of the boys in Joe Dante’s Explorers. The one who happens to be played by a Phoenix kid, this time River Phoenix. Similar to SpaceCamp, this sci-fi movie brings the kids to space and it also doesn’t involve an alien invasion. But Explorers does have extraterrestrials. They just send the kids (including a little Ethan Hawke) the means with which to visit their spaceship rather than coming to Earth themselves.
Red Dawn (1984)
Given its lack of focus on a target audience — too childish for adults, too crude for kids — what I wish Rim of the World evoked more is the original Red Dawn. The kids in this action drama are a little older but regardless they’re more innocent and emotional, more scared yet also brave, and just altogether more real than the boys and girl of the Netflix movie. We can believe this is how young men and women (again including Lea Thompson) would respond to being caught in the middle of a foreign invasion — or maybe even an alien invasion, either way. Wolverines!
Watch it on Amazon Prime
Invaders from Mars (1953)
We could keep with the ’80s predominance and recommend Tobe Hooper’s remake, but the original Invaders from Mars is much better (and also more easily streamed at the moment). And you can be sure there’s no crude dialogue or cheap pop culture references (it does feature condoms for special effects, however). If it’s not the very first, this is at least one of the original alien invasion movies depicted from a child’s point of view, as it follows a boy witnessing his town and its adults being taken over by extraterrestrial bodysnatchers from Mars. It’s also the first movie of its kind presented in color.
Watch it on Amazon Prime
Related Topics: Movie DNA, Netflix, Rim of the World
