Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)Suppose you woke up one morning to find your partner inexplicably behaving in a completely uncharacteristic way; you discover that this was not an isolated incident, but one that many others were experiencing. And then suppose that little by little, the people you thought you knew started to behave differently too, and try to convince you to see a way of thinking that they would have previously thought abominable. Would you believe that this was the result of some conspiracy to destroy the world--if not by force, then by subversive insinuation and indoctrination?
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Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) is a science fiction horror film about a race of aliens who secretly replace people in the San Francisco Bay Area with simulacra that are close to their original counterparts, but different enough to set those who truly know them on edge and clue them in to their subtle encroachment. The film is a remake with virtually the same premise as the original released in 1956, with a couple of self-aware nods to its predecessor, including a cameo by lead actor, Kevin McCarthy, and director, Don Siegel. Both films tell the story of a few citizens of San Francisco who become aware of the eponymous invasion, and struggle to stay alive while the aliens--posing as their friends and lovers--secretly coordinate their body swapping through parasitic pods that leech out all of the nutrients and memories from their originals. Elizabeth Driscoll (Brooke Adams) works alongside Dr. Matthew Bennell (Donald Sutherland) at the city's Department of Public Health--ironic since their enemy represents the worst kind of health risk imaginable. She enjoys studying rare and exotic flowers, and the particular breed which descended from space and spawned on leaves and various horticulture is unlike anything she's ever seen. She leaves her cutting in a drinking glass on the nightstand near her sleeping boyfriend, Geoffrey (Art Hindle); when she sees him the next morning dressed in a three-piece suit, it's clear that he's been "snatched". He is a far cry from the carefree man who was enthusiastically watching basketball the night before, and Elizabeth is instinctively aware that something is wrong--more than just an aloof attitude or mood swings. Elizabeth shares her concerns with Matthew, who not-so-secretly carries a torch for Elizabeth, and he suggests that she share her concerns with his friend and local celebrity author/psychologist, Dr. David Kibner (Leonard Nimoy), while accompanying him to a book signing. Despite another friend of Matthew's--a poet named Jack Bellicec (Jeff Goldblum)--expressing derision toward Kibner's brand of pop psychology, she gets an audience with the acclaimed shrink; but Matthew chides him for not listening to Elizabeth's concerns about Geoffrey's clandestine meetings with strangers or his alien behavior. Kibner broadly replies that his behavior is typical of a society that has become too quick to enter committed relationships, where people feel betrayed because they only just realized the true natures of their partners. It is a pat response that would seem only slightly less misguided if not for the dramatic irony of the film's prologue. Invasion of the Body Snatchers opens with the invasion of these gelatinous lifeforms wafting into Earth's atmosphere on the solar winds, landing on the foliage of San Francisco one rainy afternoon, and leaving their mucus-like resin behind--the virulent symptoms of the end of our civilization.
The preceding film was released at the end of the "Red Scare", and has been cited as being a metaphor for fears of Soviet indoctrination and subversion. Yet this film feels like less of a commentary about communism than a cautionary tale about the ease with which intellectualism and trust can be perverted to bring a society to heel through propaganda and misinformation. Elizabeth becomes suspicious that there is some force at work which has affected her boyfriend, turning him cold and distant to her, and she tells Matthew that she feels like a "stranger" in the city where she's lived for all of her life. There is a widening gulf between the "natives" of her community and the newcomers who have an agenda to destroy her way of life and everything it stands for. Were it not for the very real invasion plaguing the city, her thoughts could be interpreted as everything from paranoid to xenophobic. This film features a predominance of characters that are doctors and/or intellectuals; yet despite their capacity for abstract thought, it takes them far too long to comprehend the reality of what is happening around them. Their transformations represent a direct attack on higher thinking in their community--and yet the film subtly suggests that the aliens actually began their work on people working in the city's infrastructure, with special attention to those who would go unnoticed, like waste disposal specialists. There are several scenes showing ubiquitous garbage trucks carting off dusty, gray husks, implied to be the remains of those who were replaced by these creatures from beyond the stars. Kibner is the most enigmatic character in the film; he seems both blissfully unaware of the alien invasion, and yet claims that he wants to help people like Elizabeth cope with their emotional trauma. He presents himself as a pure empiricist and skeptic, abjectly unwilling to accept that the strange phenomena people describe is anything but the delusions of people suffering from a pervading mass hysteria. When Jack's wife, Nancy (Veronica Cartwright), confirms that she saw the same fetus-like creature that Jack and Matthew did in one of the rooms of their therapeutic mud spa, Kibner tries to rationalize their experience as a hallucination. Kibner's almost obstinate refusal to accept the possibility of a sinister conspiracy might be understandable were it not for the film's prologue. The film is a metaphor for indoctrination and the destruction of independent thought through subversive propaganda posing as intellectualism. The aliens eliminate their originals and replace them while they sleep; equating sleep with death comes from the fear that to lower one's guard against brainwashing and mind control is to have one's free will drained by this metaphorical Moloch. Matthew is given an injection by one of the aliens that has replaced his friends, and he cries out, "you're killing me", despite the snatcher's claims that he will keep his memories after his "rebirth", and will only be purged of trivial emotions like "love" and "hate". This is Matthew's existential cry in the face of blind complacency and conformity; even though these aliens proclaim their process to be a kind of revolution, it couldn't be farther from it--it is anathema to American ideals of individuality and freedom.
Recommended for: Fans of a paranoia-driven science fiction horror film that feels topical in an era where "fake news" and social media subvert intellectualism and cultivate mob mentality--a cheap (and dangerous) imitation of democracy. Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a rare remake that not only explores new facets of the source material, but adds a contemporary perspective that enhances the lasting appeal of its story and themes.
The preceding film was released at the end of the "Red Scare", and has been cited as being a metaphor for fears of Soviet indoctrination and subversion. Yet this film feels like less of a commentary about communism than a cautionary tale about the ease with which intellectualism and trust can be perverted to bring a society to heel through propaganda and misinformation. Elizabeth becomes suspicious that there is some force at work which has affected her boyfriend, turning him cold and distant to her, and she tells Matthew that she feels like a "stranger" in the city where she's lived for all of her life. There is a widening gulf between the "natives" of her community and the newcomers who have an agenda to destroy her way of life and everything it stands for. Were it not for the very real invasion plaguing the city, her thoughts could be interpreted as everything from paranoid to xenophobic. This film features a predominance of characters that are doctors and/or intellectuals; yet despite their capacity for abstract thought, it takes them far too long to comprehend the reality of what is happening around them. Their transformations represent a direct attack on higher thinking in their community--and yet the film subtly suggests that the aliens actually began their work on people working in the city's infrastructure, with special attention to those who would go unnoticed, like waste disposal specialists. There are several scenes showing ubiquitous garbage trucks carting off dusty, gray husks, implied to be the remains of those who were replaced by these creatures from beyond the stars. Kibner is the most enigmatic character in the film; he seems both blissfully unaware of the alien invasion, and yet claims that he wants to help people like Elizabeth cope with their emotional trauma. He presents himself as a pure empiricist and skeptic, abjectly unwilling to accept that the strange phenomena people describe is anything but the delusions of people suffering from a pervading mass hysteria. When Jack's wife, Nancy (Veronica Cartwright), confirms that she saw the same fetus-like creature that Jack and Matthew did in one of the rooms of their therapeutic mud spa, Kibner tries to rationalize their experience as a hallucination. Kibner's almost obstinate refusal to accept the possibility of a sinister conspiracy might be understandable were it not for the film's prologue. The film is a metaphor for indoctrination and the destruction of independent thought through subversive propaganda posing as intellectualism. The aliens eliminate their originals and replace them while they sleep; equating sleep with death comes from the fear that to lower one's guard against brainwashing and mind control is to have one's free will drained by this metaphorical Moloch. Matthew is given an injection by one of the aliens that has replaced his friends, and he cries out, "you're killing me", despite the snatcher's claims that he will keep his memories after his "rebirth", and will only be purged of trivial emotions like "love" and "hate". This is Matthew's existential cry in the face of blind complacency and conformity; even though these aliens proclaim their process to be a kind of revolution, it couldn't be farther from it--it is anathema to American ideals of individuality and freedom.
Recommended for: Fans of a paranoia-driven science fiction horror film that feels topical in an era where "fake news" and social media subvert intellectualism and cultivate mob mentality--a cheap (and dangerous) imitation of democracy. Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a rare remake that not only explores new facets of the source material, but adds a contemporary perspective that enhances the lasting appeal of its story and themes.