Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Rating:
Summary: The Seed Is Planted. The Terror Grows.
Review: Philip Kaufman's 1978 remake of Don Siegel's 1956 Sci-Fi masterpiece is more action-packed than the original, and there are more high-tech special FX and certainly much more graphic gore. The film's stellar cast includes Donald Sutherland, Jeff Goldblum, Leonard Nimoy, and beautiful and able actresses Brooke Adams and Veronica Cartwright. Kaufman's creative yet tight direction and cinematographer Michael Chapman's interesting use of the camera combine into an outstanding cinematic aesthetic that is somewhat nourish and which serves the tone of W.D. Richter's script very well. Even with all this going for it, however, this incarnation of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS doesn't quite reach that same lofty summit occupied by its predecessor. Nonetheless, it is still a very well-made SF thriller in its own right, and genre fans won't be disappointed.

The setting has changed from small-town rural California to urban San Francisco, and the McCarthyist subtext has been updated to reflect the new paranoia percolating in the late 1970s--to wit, the less-cogent, anarchist, conspiracy-theory ignes fatui that would eventually coalesce into the deplorable and frightening actions of all-too-real monsters like Timothy McVeigh.

In this version, the audience gets a clearer idea about the origin of the film's nefarious doppelgängers, as it opens with a visually stunning FX sequence that shows the alien spores leaving their dying planet and arriving on earth, where they soon grow into the infamous body-snatching pods. In addition, a delightful cameo by Kevin McCarthy, star of the original film, implies that this flick is not so much a remake as a continuation of the first. (Also watch for a cameo from the original's director Don Siegel, who here appears as a cab driver.)

The reasonably priced DVD from MGM offers an acceptable digital transfer of the film--there are a few noticeable compression artifacts, and a little bit of noticeable wear on the print used--in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio and with its original Dolby 2.0 Surround-sound soundtrack. Also included is an optional feature commentary with the film's director, Philip Kaufman, in which he provides interesting and often insightful information about the making of the movie.

In short, 1978's INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS is a very worthy remake that is also a very strong film in its own right. The MGM DVD, while not of the highest calibre, is still well worth the price and will make a nice addition to the film collections of genre fans.

Rating:
Summary: As good as tops the '56 version
Review: This was an unusual picture indeed. It also came out at an unusual time. Too much loaded with science fiction to be horror and too suspenseful and downright scary to belong to the sci-fi genre, 'Invasion...' strikes the viewer as being a fresh idea even today, notwithstanding the fact that it's really a beefed-up remake of an original. Sutherland fits the role of the prime protagonist public health inspector like a glove while Nimoy does the same for his part as the agent of evil. The story opens up a little slowly but that adds to the effect. When it becomes apparent what the pods do and, more importantly, the gross-out fates of the unfortunate 'originals' (the humans whom the extragalactic spores duplicate), enough of the movie has passed for the viewer to appreciate the sheer enormity of the depicted crisis. Where Siegel's '78 version has the edge on the original lies in the fact that there are more chills and a feel wholly alien to the first version, a flavour doubtlessly borrowed from the jarring, siege mentality that can be found in earlier films like 'Night of the Living Dead'. This is a very powerful film which appears to have been swept under the carpet of the popular psyche thanks largely to its reputation as a 'B' picture and also to its small standing when put beside the likes of the mainstream of sci-fi flicks being made at the time (as if you need me to mention titles here). Even so, 'I.o.t.B.S.' mark 2 is helped along by some clever devices indeed. Aside from the nauseatingly organic vividness of the SFX, the nature of the movie's antagonists lends immensely to the horror. The question of 'who is a duplicate and who's left who is still himself?' comes to burn in the mind of the viewer before even half the film has played out. It's a thinking man's picture, this and it's that which amplifies the fear factor to levels almost too excruciating to bear. After all, it is a large idea that the film is driving at and it was good to see that encased in a large picture laid out on a good budget. Great performances all round (especially from Veronica Cartwright in her last pre 'Alien' picture'), wonderful SFX and a good long run at just under two hours easily give this version the drop on the 1956 original. A nice bleak ending hammers the last nail through the palm and leaves the viewer crucifed on an apocalyptic note. Definitely a much-overlooked classic that's too full of working components to be constrained to a cult following. This one needs to be more than a rental only.

Rating:
Summary: Bashful's DVD Summary #021
Review: Best:

1) The production values are higher and the acting (with the possible exception of Kevin McCarthy) is better than the 1956 original.
2) We get more information, this time, as to where the aliens came from and how they function.
3) The beginning realization scenes are fairly suspenseful and the later chase scenes are pretty exciting.
4) The alien's growth stages and high-pitched voices are scary.
5) There's a trivia booklet in the case and a commentary track on the disk.

Worst:

1) The movie is SO quiet much of the time (no soundtrack) that it might put you to sleep if you aren't really engrossed.
2) The first half of the story is slow as the suspense builds up almost too gradually.
3) Donald Sutherland's afro hairstyle was just plain bad (ha).
4) Leonard Nimoy's leisure suits were even worse (double ha).

Recommendation:

This one is every bit a classic as the original and it will appeal much more to younger people. It's also a must-have for any serious sci-fi/horror movie collector.

Rating:
Summary: Horror/Sci-Fi Classic
Review: I first saw INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1978) in a movie theater back in mid-'79. I was not quite 12 years old then and this film freaked me out. I had nightmares for days. This gives you an idea of how effective this chilling update of the 1956 story was! Now that I have owned it on VHS for several years and have seen it a few more times, I can still appreciate this movie for the masterful way it was constructed by director Philip Kaufman, and for its intelligently written screenplay by W.D. Richter. (I know, W.D. Who?)

You know, I have still never seen the 1956 original (or the 1995 re-update), but this version is so good (and, indeed, considered by many to be the best of the three) that I don't feel like I've missed out on much. Of course, I have read about the first version and its allegories to McCarthyism, which was such a big part of American life in the 1950's. If this version can be considered allegorical to anything, it would have to be to the national decline of individualism in the post-Vietnam era. In fact, on that level it can also be considered to be a prophetical foreshadowing of the Yuppie Era of the 1980's! Think about that chilling final scene: Hundreds of men and women, who all act alike and dress alike (in suits & ties, no less), going about their daily office jobs like the mindless drones they are. Pretty much what we've all seen in our big cities in the past 20 years or so, isn't it? Now, that's REALLY scary!

INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS has it all: Wonderful actors--Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum (in the first really significant role of his career), Veronica Cartwright and Leonard Nimoy, suspenseful directing, taut editing, realistically scary makeup effects, spooky score and one of the five greatest endings in Horror movie history. A bit hit when it was released over 25 years ago, this film had become practically forgotten over the years. Now that it's been finally released on DVD, many fans have been revisiting it. I will be purchasing the DVD soon--and so should you, especially if you love great, scary Horror/Sci-Fi films.

One final note: Although relatively tame by today's standards, I was surprised at the PG-rating when I first saw INVASION back in 1979. It still has the PG-rating; however, if it had been released today, it would have definitely been PG-13 all the way. This film has a fairly significant quotient of blood and gore, as well as copious nudity (both male and female), so if you're wondering about showing it to your kids, I'd say that 11 & up would be appropriate. Just be forewarned: as I mentioned earlier, I saw INVASION when I was 11 1/2 and it gave me nightmares for several days afterwards! Not bad for an old Horror film from the '70's. :)

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
MOST RECOMMENDED FOR HORROR/SCI-FI FANS

Rating:
Summary: Fibrous Fiends From Outer Space
Review: The best of three very good big screen adaptations of Jack Finney's classic sci-fi novel is the closest thing to a filmed nightmare you're likely ever to see.

This entire picture is a horror masterpiece. Director Philip Kaufman puts together a hell of a movie, colorful, claustrophobic and atmospheric. Donald Sutherland and Brooke Adams head-up a stellar cast, including Jeff Goldblum, Veronica Cartwright, Leonard Nimoy, and even Robert Duvall in an early blink-and-you've-missed-him cameo. Kevin McCarthy reprises, more or less, his role from the original 1956 film, initiating Sutherland and Adams on a nightmare ride of alien invasion that escalates to apocalyptic proportion.

There's not a thing wrong with this movie. Denny Zeitlin's eerie, atonal electronic score highlights the often very unsettling visuals, which include disintegrating people, fibrously materializing doppelgangers, and a dog with a human face. The script is flawless, succeeding - like Finney's novel and the original movie - by presenting us with recognizable people facing an impossible reality, updated for modern times. The actors underplay the tense melodrama, making it all the more dramatic when they're ultimately driven to screaming madness.

I can't recommend this movie highly enough. If you're a horror or science-fiction fan, or simply love a wonderfully performed, tensely scripted melodrama, this movie is for you.

Warning: this film is very, very disturbing, at times. You might want to keep it on the upper shelf.

Rating:
Summary: 4 1/2
Review: Most remakes are a joke but this one was pretty good! I gave it minus half because it's not the original but captures the eerieness of the story very well. The cast here is good and the creepy atmosphere is updated and good. If a completist as I am get this along with the original.

Rating:
Summary: They're coming! They're coming!
Review: "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" is one of the earliest science fiction films I remember seeing. A superior remake of the 1956 original, it's both chilling and funny.

In San Francisco, people are beginning to "change". They seem to lack feeling. This is because they are not human, they are replicas, grown from seeds that came to Earth from space. Donald Sutherland plays a health inspector. His friend and co-worker (Brooke Adams) tells him that her husband seems different. Over time more and more people are becoming unlike themselves. It feels like some sort of conspiracy is afoot. Sure enough, an alien invasion is slowly unfolding.

This film is about four people's fight to preserve their humanity. The basic message is, if you are not an individual, your own person, you are virtually dead. Love, hate, fear, and anger are what colour our lives.

There are certain things in the film that suggest dark humour. Whenever you see the rubbish truck, you know another person has been "replaced". If you listen carefully, you sometimes hear that alien shriek among the everyday noises of traffic and city crowds. Kevin McCarthy, who starred in the 1956 version, has a cameo, again trying to warn people what is happening (to no avail). The film's ending is completely unexpected.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent remake of creepy classic!
Review: Philip Kaufman shows off his directorial skill in this effective, stylish remake of the suspense classic set in contemporary (albeit 1978) San Francisco.

Sutherland, Goldblum and Cartwright deliver excellent performances as the last hold-outs against an alien invasion. Just enough action and special effects to compliment the well paced mounting suspense.

DVD offers commentary track which also proves interesting. The only glitch for me is how non-aliens can get away with blending in with the aliens, if they don't/can't speak the special alien "language."

Rating:
Summary: a great remake
Review: In general,I`m not a fan of remakes,but this one is very good.I have this and the 56 original,and often watch them back to back.Kevin McCarthy even makes a cameo appearance in this version.

Rating:
Summary: Heightened awareness of threat causes supreme suspense...
Review: The city of San Francisco is suddenly exposed to a threat from outer space that is related to complaint in regards to peculiar behavior of people's spouses and friends. Matthew Bennell (Donald Sutherland) works for the Department of Public Health in the city and he begins to hear these complaints from a co-worker, Elizabeth Driscoll (Brooke Adams), whose boyfriend has begun to behave strangely. However, Matthew waves off Elizabeth's insinuations in regards to her boyfriend until he witness some strange occurrences, which lead him to understanding the danger that everyone is in. Invasion of the Body Snatchers is an excellent science fiction story that brings chills to the bones and continues to cause shivers throughout the body from the beginning to the end. Kaufman knew what he was doing as he created the initial shots, which heightened threat awareness in the audience and he kept the audience on an elevated state of alarm throughout the film by introducing new threats.