365+ movies in 365 Days: Day 171 - Invasion of The Body Snatchers (1978)

The Second Annual Mystery, Murder, mayhem and monsters festival continues with a look back at classic sci-fi remakes. We will be looking at some of the best 1980 versions of 1950's science fiction movies. First up on the program is Philip Kaufman's remake of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers.

If you have seen the original 1956 version (watched and reviewed here on September 13th:)
(At The Movie house: Invasion Of The Body Snatchers) you know that director Don Siegel added a prologue and epilogue to his film to give the movie a more upbeat ending after the studio insisted the film could not end with Kevin McCarthy screaming into the camera "They're here! They're here!"

In 1978 Philip Kaufman was not subject to studio interference and he was able to make one of the most iconic horror films of the 70's with an ending that can't be forgotten.

The remake follows the original film faithfully. Kaufman added an opening that shows us how the aliens arrive and uses some creepy special effects to show the pods beginning the attachment process.

The film is filled with paranoia. The opening shots show a teacher who is having her students gather these strange flowers carefully watching Brooke Adams as she walks through the park, then the camera cuts to a priest on a swing (a cameo by Robert Duvall) also watching and making eye contact with the teacher. The paranoia continues as the pod people begin taking over the city.

Kaufman replaced small town life with the urban bustle of San Francisco. This increases the isolation the victims feel since city life already begins to de-humanize us from one another. In a clever seen Leonard Nimoy plays a psychiatrist who uses 1970's era psycho-babble of the "me generation" to assure a woman that her husband is really her husband.

Donald Sutherland plays Matthew Bennell, instead of a doctor he is a public health official. Brooke Adams is Elizabeth Driscoll and she also works in the health department. The two have an obvious flirtation, but Elizabeth has a lover named Geoffrey (Art Hindle). Geoffrey goes to sleep with the small pod flower on his bedside table in a glass. In the morning he is sweeping up broken glass and acting very different. he takes a bag of trash out to a garbage truck that is filled with piles of gray dusty fibers. Soon garbage trucks are all over the city.

The tension builds slowly until we get to the key scene where the Bellicecs (Jeff Goldblum and Nancy Cartwright) find a body that isn't a body in their spa. Then the film kicks into high gear as the four main characters soon become the only humans left in town.

Great special effects and a moody, spot on score highlight the action and really make this remake a great film, many will argue that it is better than the original. I enjoy them both for different reasons. Without a doubt teh 1978 version of Invasion Of The Body Snatches is one of the best remakes of any Hollywood film.

Look for Kevin McCarthy in a great cameo repeating his dialogue from the 1956 film.

At The Movie House rating ***1/2 stars Original vs. Remake - Tie! They are both worth seeing.