Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
Directed by Philip Kaufman
Screenplay by W.D. Richter.
Based on the novel “The Body Snatchers” by Jack Finney
Rated PG
I love how science fiction is a breeding ground for ideas of all kinds. You can have exciting and adventurous on one end and have terrifying and repulsive on the other. Combining these two extremes to make a good horror film is a delicate balancing act; keeping the audience in suspense while not doing anything to gross them out or alienate them too much. Also, in order for this to work one has to believe the setting, the characters and circumstances in order to buy the often ridiculous premises that science fiction contains. Films such as Alien (1979) or John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982) have been successful in scaring the audience with ideas as opposed to relying on just gory shock value. Invasion of the Body Snatchers is also one of those films. I understand that this is a remake of the Don Siegel’s 1956 film and although I haven’t seen that one yet, this 1978 version stands on its own two feet.
Donald Sutherland plays Matthew Bennell, a health inspector working in San Francisco along with his colleague Elizabeth (Brooke Adams). Elizabeth starts to confide in him that her boyfriend is not himself. At least he is still physically her boyfriend but he behaves like a different person altogether with no emotions at all. To further compound this problem, even Matthew starts hearing other people complaining that their friends or loved ones are not who they seem. Matthew and Elizabeth soon discover that due to some mysterious new flowers that suddenly showed up one day, people all around the city are being replaced with emotionless duplicates and they could be next. But it is not just them in danger. First San Francisco and then the world! So Matthew and Elizabeth, along with Jack and Nancy Bellicec (Jeff Goldblum and Veronica Cartwright respectively) and the skeptical Dr. Kibner (Leonard Nimoy) work to stay themselves and stay alive.
The atmosphere of paranoia is potent right from the start of this film, as if something is not right and is only going to get worse. How fast the duplicates replace people and get into every facet of this city and thus making our heroes helpless is frightening. And it really wasn’t long until I as an audience member started to get anxious. It manages to keep me entranced and scared all the way until it's dark (but logical and fitting) conclusion. But in a strange way, it’s also fun. It is a genuinely suspenseful picture and there didn’t feel as if there was a wasted moment. The special effects (all practical), the sound, the music etc. all hit the right spots in creating the disconcerting atmosphere. The performances from every actor are excellent and their characters are compelling. It’s interesting to see Leonard Nimoy in a role during the 70’s that wasn’t Star Trek related. Playing a character that isn’t pure logic all the time and showing a wider range of emotion beyond what Spock is capable of is a welcome change. I even enjoyed the growing relationship between Matthew and Elizabeth and I grew anxious with them as they were in constant danger. Oh and Kevin McCarthy (you know…R.J. Fletcher from UHF [1989]) was in the Don Siegel version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and here he makes a cameo in this version trying to warn Matthew and Elizabeth that they are coming.
I understand that in the original film, it was kind of meant to be a metaphor of a possible Soviet take over or an allegory of some kind relating to McCarthyism. Whatever it was, there may be some of that kind of thinking behind this 1978 version but I felt it also plays upon a different fear. The fear of you yourself being erased. In order to fit in the world, you would have to leave you sense of self at the door. Your passions and personal traits being stripped away in order to serve what is essentially a hive mind. I say this because there really isn’t a lot of talk in the 1978 film about conspiracies or other related things. The way I see it the film is basically about a group of relatively ordinary people who try to maintain their identity for as long as they can. It seems to kind of forgo any deep hard hitting social commentary in favor of giving the audience a thrilling and at times frightening film and I’m ok with that.
Any Tom, Dick and Harry can write a science fiction story or even a science fiction horror story but doing it right is another matter altogether. Everyone involved in this production gave it their all and it shows on the screen. Now even I on occasion love dumb B or even C grade science fiction movies with the dumb exploitable elements in all their glory, but seeing a film that delivers dread, suspense and genuine scares without a lot of gore is to be commended. I have heard people warn others to not fall asleep while watching this film or others like it (when you watch it you will understand).
All I can say is, I woke up early one morning with this film in my head and it creeped me out. That’s cool.
Speaking of things that creep one out, have you seen our review for Dawn of the Dead? We are spending this glorious month of October focusing on the scary (and "scary") movies you might watch at Halloween and Dawn of the Dead falls under the creepy for Halloween viewing.
