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The Good, the Slow, the Cheap

The Good are the effects. Really, this movie looks quite good for neary 30 years old. Often the effects border on what is being done now, which is an amazing feat. Sutherland gives a solid starring performance as does Brooke Adams (seen also in Shock Waves).

The Slow is the movie. This movie is longer than necessary and could have used a lot of editing. For instance: The silly conversation with Nimoy about who saw what body and when borders on an Abbott and Costello "whose on first" routine which doesn't bode well for a horror movie. Even when Sotherland shows up to destroy the "facilty" seemed like fluff. I mean the whole city has been taken over, what's the point? To show explosions? This sequence just seemed to further drag out the movie.

The Cheap is of course the price. Hard to imagine that movies would ever be this cheap with commentaries and the bells and whistles. I suppose I could assign "cheap" to the silly dog effect with the human face that looked terrible, not to mention... awful. It seemed forced also for the people (like Adams) to know "right away" that there loved ones seem different...

Still, this movie is worth your time but simply isn't a classic. In many ways this reminds me of John Carpenters "The Thing"; solid remake but eludes the greatness of true horror classics like the Exorcist or Halloween.

Eerie, Suspenseful & 'Classy' Horror/Sci-Fi Effort

This is a solid horror/sci-fi story with good production values. Those values include outstanding direction by Philip Kaufman, camera-work by Michael Chapman and acting. The cast of main characters was comprised of Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Leonard Nimoy, Jeff Goldblum and Veronica Cartwright. Of the group, Sutherland had the most lines and was the most impressive. All of it added up to a pretty classy film, a lot more than you'd except reading the movie title. There was some profanity and nudity so maybe it wasn't totally classy, but the profanity was light and the nudity was a few shots of Adams' breasts. The movie clicked because it built up the suspense beautifully, and proved you don't need a lot of violence and gore to scare the viewer. Too bad modern filmmakers of horror films can't seem to understand that. In fact the scariest thing of the movie - and it WAS scary - might have been the eerie noises emanating from the "re-born" humans.The photography is good and I loved the facial closeups and interesting camera angles. The film is a visual treat. The original film in 1956 is a good one but it's generally conceded this re-make is superior. The star of that first film, by the way - Kevin McCarthy, makes a cameo appearance in here. That was a nice touch.

Excellent remake of creepy classic!

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."

Great acting, but incomplete script

This movie had a collection of great actors, especially Donald Sutherland and Leonard Nimoy. Sutherland plays a health inspector, who very slowly finds out that these aliens have infected San Francisco through flowering plants that grow pods to replace humans when they fall asleep. At first, Sutherland doesn't believe his colleague (Brooke Adams) when she says her husband is now a complete different person. In fact, her husband is now an alien clone with no emotions. Slowly, but surely, the health inspector sees signs that San Francisco is slowing being taken over by these alien clones.However, the trouble I had was how many questions were unanswered. For example, was this invasion by these alien spores (that eventually created the pods that became alien clones). For example, Sutherland's character destroys his pod. How then is he replaced in the end? Doesn't destroying one's pod mean that you will fall asleep and not be replaced by your clone? Was this invasion just in San Francisco originally, or did the alien spores land all over the World? Why were there normal people still in the "red light" district, but aliens in other parts of the city? When, at the end, Sutherland's character destroys the pod producing plant, what is the significance? Was this the only pod producing plant in the World, or were there already numerous pod producing plants all over the World? I loved the ending of the movie and the acting, but I felt that the script left too many questions unanswered. It was as though Kaufman, the director, assumed that we had already read the book and seen the original 1956 version. I felt confused, and had all these questions. That interfered with my enjoyment of the movie, and made me give in just a slightly above average rating.

Warning - this movie sticks with your for awhile

Watching this movie I remember thinking, boy this is the least scary, horror movie I've every seen. Little did I know that I'd be sleeping with the lights on for the next few nights.

Highly recommend if you like thought provoking horror (minus the obligitory black humor).

A Clasic, doesn't always age Well

While I loved the original when it was originally released I was disappointed in this purchase. I don't think it ages perticularly well. It wasn't the best choice.

Some films age better than others. Of course the film still works on many levels, it's just not the class I recall from back when.

Fibrous Fiends From Outer Space

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.

Just another scary movie...

Remakes are inevitably compared with the original. Is that a condemnation for the practice of making remakes? Not necessarily, although I don't think any producer would dare try to remake Citizen Kane, Casablanca or The Third Man (I'm ignoring those atrocious TV productions of the second and third; they just don't count).This film, of course, is a remake of a great black and white sci-fi classic, that had Kevin McCarthy (in his heyday) and Don Siegel (of Dirty Harry fame) as the director. I liked that original, but I didn't particularly like this one when I finally got to see it this year (2006).Donald Sutherland is always good, of course, and he does acquit himself well as one of San Francisco's health inspectors; Brooke Adams has never impressed me with her acting skills, but in this she turns in a surprisingly good performance; Jeff Goldblum again brings arrogance (he does it so well) to the role of a psychiatrist; and Veronica Cartwright is one of the few female actors who can perform 'the terrified female' without bathos or camp (who can forget her performance in Alien?). Leonard Nimoy, I'm afraid, is always Spock for me, no matter what he does.So, why do I dislike this effort? To answer that, I must hark back to the original that, according to most sources, was a thinly disguised warning of what was viewed, by 1950s authorities, as the Communist menace. Perhaps it was, but it should also be recalled that, at that time, the UFO craze was well in place, project Blue Book was under way and Area 51 was just a vague rumor. So, was Don Siegel et al just cashing in on the then current crop of talking points? Who knows? But, after seeing that movie, I was certain that most would see it as just Another Scary Movie for the times (recall the 1951 version of The Thing From Another World).This 1978 remake, however, cannot fall back on any of that communist or UFO mumbo-jumbo as its underlying theme, or message, if you will. So, if there is a message in this one, what is it? The only thing that makes any sense as a message is: an indictment of All Pervasive Authority (aka Big Brother is watching you), which ironically begins with Sutherland as a health inspector who trolls through the city's restaurants, giving and receiving abuse. So, is this remake trying to take itself seriously? It would seem so, and it's probably that aspect that is jarring for me.That's not to say that the film is not done well: it is. I liked the cinematography, particularly the dark interiors and a nicely done sequence as Sutherland rescues Adams from the clutches of her boy friend. The special effects were great – and gory. The original score is effective but often unrelenting in its discordant sounds; hence, it tended to intrude on the narrative (I turned the sound down often to soften it). And the cameos by Kevin McCarthy, Don Siegel and Robert Duvall were a nice touch. But, the story is pure sci-fi and should be viewed as such: just Another Scary Movie.Now, if you want a movie about Big Brother, go see 1984.

You're next!

Superbly crafted remake of the 1956 classic. Director Phil Kaufman makes the tension tauter & tauter as the film progresses, and the subtle menace of the invaders is excellently portrayed, with them always being one step ahead of the heroes throughout the entire film. The ending still has the power to chill even after repeated viewing.The cast is uniformly excellent, and there are a number of very clever cameos, especially from Kevin McCarthy, star of the 1956 version, picking up from where he left off at the end of that film.The sequel/remake, Abel Ferrera's vastly under-rated 'Body Snatchers', is also excellent.Remember - "They get you when you sleep!"

aeeeuuuiiiiirrrrrr (my impression of the Snatchers 'scream')

This is one of the few remakes that is actually better than the original (imo) Helped a great deal by Donald Sutherland who is great (and i like his afro, very 70's) And kudos for a great commentary track by Mr Kaufman. Creepy and it can stay with you. I love it!

"They're coming, they're coming!"

WARNING: REVIEW CONTAINS MINOR SPOILERSWhat a surprisingly good update this is. The direction is tremendous, mixing elongated images, mirror shots, aerial takes, skewed angles and point of view but never so that it's audacious.Some of the plot elements are arguably contrived – a complete stranger telling Donald Sutherland "That not my wife" in the middle of a launderette, for one – though the unclaimed attraction between the two leads keeps the momentum going until the events of the film are allowed to take over.The use of music, combined with unusual technique – the camera focussing for too long on seemingly irrelevant bystanders, for example – creates a palpable sense of unease. Though often the characters in the film are more scared than we are, which isn't always logical. "Just don't fall asleep" Goldblum is told by his wife. How does she know that that falling asleep would cause the husk to take over his life? No one tells her this, unless she's just watched the original on cable. Maybe she's just a big girl's blouse and is too stared to be awake on her own. This "characters jumping at their own shadow" technique is very effective, but when you think about it often makes little sense to the people in the film itself.Perhaps not having an issue helps. The (still very fine) 50s original was the epitome of red menace propaganda. Here Invasion acts only as a late 70s take on social alienation. If there's a worry that the antiquated title was too old for the era then it's quickly forgotten with convincing performances and a sensitive treatment. "Don't be trapped by old concepts," says David (Leonard Nimoy) at one point, and to its credit the film never is.The picture is almost universally dark, lightbulbs illuminating only themselves and none of their surrounding environment. It's a crucial element, and one that adds magnificently to the work. European direction combined with a literate script makes this a superb achievement. When a couple are in a bedroom, the camera stays respectfully, and statically, just outside the door. And look out for the stationary shot of the massage parlour, going on for longer than should be necessary, with only a hissing sound to be heard, yet unseen. This is a horror film that knows that less is more. The only thing that holds it back from becoming a first-class SF thriller is that really stupid and unnecessary scene with the man's head on the dog's body – I mean, why?? (Maybe it wouldn't have seemed so silly at the time, released pre-Mars Attacks!) And did we really need that topless shot of Brooke Adams at the end? For an intelligent, adult suspenser that tastefully avoids schlock and gore it seems out of place. And maybe I would have found the whole thing more enjoyable if I hadn't accidentally seen the twist ending before the rest of the film. That said, this is still an excellent work, with Ben Burtt's special sound effects well worth a mention, as is allowing the end credits to play out without sound. 7/10.

Weak script, weak direction, weak movie

Any successful version of this material has to subtly, cleverly but CLEARLY play the alien pod-people trope for metaphor--metaphor for Cold War hysterical conformity, say, as in the original 1956 classic, or for...well...exactly what, here? I don't think the writers or director ever figured that out. The main baddie (*spoiler alert!*) is a smug pop-psychology guru, but the pop-psych herd followers/pod-people simile (if it's so intended) isn't fleshed out nearly enough to carry the film. Similarly, there's an out-of-nowhere, clumsily inserted passage where a character briefly spouts off about DNA damage from pesticides and chemicals in our food and water, but it's only a passing moment that links up with nothing else in the film.


So that leaves just creepy suspense, and while the movie has its moments, overall it's a mediocre thriller--again, because the plotting and writing are poor. The movie tips the audience early as to the badness of the bad guy and various other pod-recruits, but, a viewer soon recognizes, those same obvious clues ought to tip off the good guys, too, but they don't. Time after time we watch as one big, juicy clue after another gets dumped into the lead characters' laps, only for them to soldier on blindly past them. It's hard to get real involved with protagonists so implausibly clueless. You just know they're not getting what they should be getting only because then the movie would be over in 45 minutes.


Poorly conceived and weakly executed--and, BTW, the ending is just as howlingly senseless as the rest of it.

Jeff Goldblum

Leonard Nimoy? Donald Sutherland? Jeff Goldblum? I did not know all three of these people had somehow in the late 70s were cast for the 1st remake of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". Well, when you watch it you realize that maybe you are glad it was them and not you. Unless you want to cast for a sub-par project.Plants, their spores, and other things are invading the U.S. Jeff Goldblum is here to help fend off the invasion. And Leonard Nimoy seems to be a nonbeliever throughout much of the movie. But despite the irregular chase scenes and odd instances were plants and destroying cars, nothing really exciting happens. Or, dumb enough to be funny. Its just dumb.Yes I know I could be missing the point. But I am glad to do it. "F"

That final scream will make the hairs on your neck stand up.

Suspenseful and as paranoid as its predecessor, the 1978 remake of Invasion was a worthy contributiuon to the horror genre. Donald Sutherland, fresh from his ass-shot in National Lampoon's Animal House, plays Dr. Binnell this time, who is now a health inspector for the FDA. Kevin McCarthy makes one of the cleverest cameos of all time, plus look for that priest on the swing - its Robert Duvall! Also of note, our favorite Vulcan shows up (Leonard Nimoy) and Jeff Goldblum sticks some kleenex up his beak. Don't fall asleep!

One of my all time favorite Horror flicks

To this day when I walk around the city, especially around the Civic Center, I always think of this movie and how well it made use of San Francisco and how creepy it made it seem.
Great cast and some good suspense make this one of the best and creepiesst films ever made and...it had no CGI to conjur up the scares.
One of the all time best endings ever!!
They sure don't make up like this anymore and I bet the new movie coming out this year won't hold a candle to this one.

Interesting

Not the greatest film, but I liked it. Better writen then most of todays horror movies, and a great concept. Problem with the length of this film, they could of cut 15 minitues off, with Donald relationship with the other lead. Good f/x Spok & Goldblum, where entertianing. A little less running around, and more tention would have helped this film, but the ending is great.

A very good remake; collector's edition is sweet

As other reviewers have noted, this is an excellent remake of the 1956 original, with superb casting, great performances, excellent direction and cinematography. Veronica Cartwright and Jeff Goldblum (and Spock - Leonard Nimoy!) are very good in supporting roles. Cartwright in particular is just excellent (see her also in "Alien"). And Sutherland and Adams give believable, sympathetic performances in the leads. The scene towards the end when "Amazing Grace" starts playing on bagpipes along the waterfront... well, suffice to say it's tremendously effective and emotional. This film speaks volumes about the evils of social pressure and conformity, while managing to scare the be-jeezus out of most viewers. Definitely worth having in your collection of sci/fi DVDs! I'll leave you with one final line from the film: "It eez a caper!" "No, it's a rat turd!" :-)

The Seed is Planted... Terror Grows.

Every so often a movie comes along where I think, "How the heck have I not seen this before?" Invasion of the Body Snatchers falls into that category. It is, of course, not to be confused with the original 1956 film of the same name.

This version stars Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum, and Leonard "Spock" Nimoy. I originally saw it when I was flipping around the channels on a Sunday afternoon, and ran across the very beginning of the movie on Showtime. I missed the first 15 minutes, but it was pretty easy to pick up what was going on. Normally, I would have kept changing the channels, but the sight of Sutherland and Nimoy talking to each other caused me to halt temporarily. Or so I thought. Instead, I ended up watching the entire movie (and have rewatched it several times since then).

Before I get into how interesting the characters were, the acting quality, how they modified the story, or how it compares to the original movie, I have to stress one major thing: The camera and environmental work in this movie is phenomenal. People don't make movies like this anymore. This was 1978, so there was no CGI. Instead, unique camera angles were used and the visuals just oozed paranoia and bleakness. Shadows, repeated themes, hand-held camera shots, and unsaturated colors set the tone throughout the film.

Allow me to elaborate, without spoiling the movie plot: There's one scene near the end when Donald Sutherland is walking down a long sidewalk. The camera is set low, so you only see him from the waist up. A huge gray edifice is set before him, the sky is gray, a few birds are flying overhead, he's wearing a rumpled trench coat, and as he walks, he is passing by an endless row of barren trees. This shot was composed completely of naturally-occurring elements and without the aid of modern computers. And you know what? It works. The feeling you get while watching it is much more powerful than anything that could be computer generated these days.

Of course, this scene wouldn't seem genuine with anyone other than Donald Sutherland. He is a very versatile actor and I get the feeling that his character was custom-tailored for him. He speaks naturally, his mannerisms are perfect, and there are a couple of times where he really nails the emotion of a shot. Whether it's a look of fear, suspicion, or anger, he's 100% there. The other major actors in the film, Nimoy and Goldblum, are equally as good. Leonard Nimoy plays a glove-wearing psychologist (I keep expecting him to say something like, "My calculations show that there cannot possibly be life on Ceti Alpha Six."), while Jeff Goldblum is his usual wacky self. As expected, he fits quite nicely in paranoid Sci-Fi movies. The leading lady, Brooke Adams, was excellent as well. She provided a nice counter-balance to Sutherland's character, while she added her own brand of terrified confusion to the mix.

In my opinion, the 70s version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers is far better than the original 50s version. While I've always been a fan of the mood-setting that black & white films can provide, I think the color 70's version has it beat, which is extremely rare for me. I almost always prefer B&W over color when it comes to moody stuff like this. Plus, the acting is on a whole other level than the original. After all, the 70s version contains multiple powerhouse actors/actresses during the prime of their careers. How can it possibly go wrong?

Finally, I should note that this version of the movie is not so much of a remake, but a reimagining. Very few aspects of the original are reused here, other than the pod people, and the tone is much more intense. While the original film is often viewed as a commentary on the dangers of communism, this one is more geared more as a warning of rampant consumerism. I think this works better today because of this difference.

If you get a chance to see this movie on TV, or rent it, you should seize the opportunity. Especially if you're a thriller or horror genre fan. You will not be disappointed.

They're back

In the fifties we were all slightly paranoid. I can remember a period when I was watching the skies, expecting them to come. So The Body Snatchers, The Thing, and other fifties sci fi films used to scare me rotten. I remembered having seen this seventies version many years ago, and the fact that I couldn't remember much about it, made me think it can't have been very good. However I have just watched it again, and have to admit it was a well made sequel. I call it a sequel because It didn't seem to be a remake, but a continuation of the fifties cult film. Even though the plot was the same, there was enough going on to keep me entertained. Another good performance by Sutherland, and all the extras were quite good. The big difference in the two, was that I wasn't afraid to go to sleep after watching this one. Perhaps it's just a sign of the times. Maybe we are not so paranoid nowadays. Jeff Goldblum didn't look so Tall in this one.

They Get You When You Sleep

The employee of the Department of Public Health Elizabeth Driscoll (Brooke Adams) tells his friend and coworker, the field investigator Matthew Bennell (Donald Sutherland), that her boyfriend Dr. Geoffrey Howell (Art Hindle) is not the same person, having a different behavior. Matthew suggests Elizabeth to pay a visit to his friend, the renowned Dr. David Kibner (Leonard Nimoy). They meet him in a lecture and he tries to convince her that she has some emotional problem with Geoffrey, while Elizabeth notes that other people are having the same complaint. When Matthew's friends Nancy (Veronica Cartwright) and Jack Bellicec (Jeff Goldblum) find a clone of Jack in their medical mud business, they call Matthew and he immediately seeks out Elizabeth. He breaks in her house and finds a clone of her. The quartet discovers that people are being replaced by exact emotionless replicas using plants that get them when they sleep.Don Siegel's" Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956) is one of the best and most scary sci-fi ever. This remake is also great, with an update of the original story with stunning special effects for a 1978 movie. Further, it is a tribute to Don Siegel and Kevin McCarthy, with their cameo. My vote is eight."Title (Brazil): "Os Invasores de Corpos" ("The Bodies Invaders")