A couple of weeks ago, before the Horror Syndicate actually launched, I watched both Invasion of the Body Snatchers films. Well, the more popular films, there are actually a bunch of them. Body Snatchers, which was released in 1993 and is pretty under-rated. Then there is the 2007, the Invasion and I tried to watch it, it was not great. So, when I talk about these stories, I am talking about the 1956 classic and of course the remake that is so good, it stands on its own. Have you seen these movies?
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers was adapted into a screenplay from Jack Finney’s science fiction novel The Body Snatchers (1954). The story depicts an extraterrestrial invasion that begins in the fictional California town of Santa Mira. Alien plant spores have fallen from space and grown into large seed pods, each one capable of reproducing a duplicate replacement copy of each human and exact copy. As each pod reaches full development, it assimilates the physical characteristics, memories, and personalities of each sleeping person placed near the pod. The pod person, does not have any human emotion at all, they are calm and calculating. Little by little, a local doctor uncovers this invasion and attempts to stop it while on the run from the pod people.
I will talk about this movie the same way as the Fly. It is ahead of its time. The story unfolded really well, from a quiet town in California, to the Doctor trying to escape and you can feel the panic. The movie starts off slow and really sets the tone of the film. You feel like Santa Mira is a sleepy town in America, where everyone knows one another. That is something modern films are missing, everything feels safe. But soon, things begin to happen and everyone acts strange. There is a child who claims something is wrong with his mother, later we see the kid is more in line. As the viewer, you can really feel the suspense rise. Kevin McCarthy is fantastic and brings you into the emotion of the film.
If I were living in middle America, 1956 and saw this movie, I would have been scared. Being 36 and seeing what I have seen, Invasion is less scary, more intriguing. It was a great find, one every single horror fan should watch. Recommended for sure, 100%
IMDB.com has Invasion of the Body Snatchers at 7.8
I rate it surprisingly lower, 7.0.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
The remake takes place in a larger setting, the plot involves a San Francisco health inspector and his colleague who discover humans are being replaced by aliens duplicates who appear to be perfect copies of the persons replaced and again devoid of any human emotion. It is very similar to the original in many ways. Mostly in plot and the story is on point.
The characters are a little more intriguing. It must the cast, Leonard Nimoy is probably at the time, the biggest star of the piece. But now legends, Donald Sutherland, who plays the lead and Jeff Goldblum are a part of the cast. The movie feels a lot like the first. You can feel the dread and panic rise throughout the film. You meet people and can feel friendships and it feels like everyday life. The movie does a fine job of building suspense. That is what grabs you, who can you trust. There are some great scenes in the film with Jeff Goldblum, he is kind of crazy, but fantastic.
The ending of the film is different and it only adds to the movie. Watching these back to back is great, you see how well they did in basically updating the original film, with a twist. The original is one to see for sure and a classic in many rights, as I said ahead of its time. The remake, it was an update the was perfect. A great movie on its own, I saw it without knowing it was a remake for many years. You can see the remake without the original, but I recommend having watching them both.
The 1978 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers gets a IMDB.com rating of 7.4
I give it a 8.0. Great flick and a must for all horror fans.
Earlier this week Scream Factory announced it would be releasing a Blu Ray Deluxe Edition in August, get the details here.
Either way, if you watch the original or remake, you are in for a good story and a great movie filled with suspense. I will call them fun movies, because that is what happened when I watched them, edge of my seat fun.
Enjoy!
