No matter what kind of natural disaster could bring everything on earth to its knees, Zombie Invasion, A great Deluge, Plague, you name it. I would rather experience them all then be taken over by aliens. Especially aliens that come in germ form; disguise themselves as flowers and then take over our bodies. To make a long story short; ever since I read the short story “How to Serve Man” my fear of any kind of alien invasion and films about them have always scared the crap out of me.
One of the first films to instill that fear was back in high school when I first saw Invasion of the Body Snatchers, one of the first remakes that went under the radar before remakes became a fade. Based on the novel The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney as well as the original 1958 film of the same title; the film follows Matthew Bennell (Donald Sutherland) a San Francisco health inspector that discovers that people are being replaced by replicas grown from plantlike pods. As the people all over the world are replaced and showing no emotions. Matt soon learns that the replicas are banding together to hunt people while they sleep. While sleeping the pods takes over the body, duplicate it into their own species and then the real human body disintegrates. Matt and a small group of survivors catch on, however trust becomes an issue, and with the pods taking over, Matt finds himself trusting no one but himself.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a film that starts off slow, but within the contents of the film and it developments there is a lot of foreshadowing within the first half hour that ties into what’s about to happen. The story is intense and although the film does have a tendency to drag in certain scenes the film as a whole is very well made. There are some great make-up effects in the film that leave the viewer uneasy. Its one of those films where along with its lead character. You find yourself there with him, not knowing who to trust or what to do next. As a whole the film does deliver on many levels.
The Blu-ray/DVD combo pack includes many special features such as commentary with Director Philip Kaufman on the DVD and a ton of featurettes on The Blu-ray disc which include Re-Visitors from Outer Space or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Pod, Practical Magic: The special effects, The Man Behind the Scream: the sound effects, and The Invasion will be Televised: The Cinematography of the film. The Blu-ray also includes the films original theatrical trailer.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers was actually rated PG back in 1978 before the PG-13 label was created. It’s funny because I think the rating still stands based on what you see in the film. However toward the end of the film a character in the film is seen running around nude after becoming as victim to the pod. The MPAA wanted to give this film a rated R just for that brief nude scene, yet being that the film was trying to portray an organic natural feeling, the filmmakers got away with the PG rating. There really is that less is more thing going on in most of the film.. This is a film that scares from the get go, it invades the human emotion of something not of this world coming here and taking over. As a race we want to survive, we are constantly advancing our technologies and are trying hard though science and research to reach beyond the stars ourselves. However, Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a film that was created before its time. Back in the 1970’s we never thought of an alien bacteria as a threat, much less an intelligent one. However, the universe is big and sometimes the smallest of things can be our own worst enemy. If you have never seen Invasion of the Body Snatchers it’s a film well worth watching, the original film is worth the time to view also, and there is even a related, yet different remake that came out a few years back titled The Invasion starring Nichole Kidman. All three films are worthy, but many would say that the 1978 version is the most effective film when it comes to giving the audience that thrilling and uneasy feeling. This is one that is worth re-visiting if you have not seen it in a while.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
