by Anthony O'Connor
Worth: Discs: 2, The Film: 4/5, The Extras: 4/5, Overall: 8/10
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum, Veronica Cartwright, Leonard Nimoy, Art Hindle
Intro:
… there’s a timelessness to Invasion of the Body Snatchers that will have you hooked from its enigmatic opening to its devastating, iconic conclusion.
The Film:
There are four movies based on Jack Finney’s classic 1955 novel, The Body Snatchers. We’ve had Don Siegel’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Philip Kaufman’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), Abel Ferrara’s Body Snatchers (1993) and Oliver Hirschbiegel’s The Invasion (2007). That’s not really the whole story, though, because The Body Snatchers novel was a pretty blatant crib from Robert A. Heinlein’s brilliant (if occasionally toey) 1951 novel, The Puppet Masters. Plus, there are oodles of films that owe their entire premise to either The Body Snatchers or The Puppet Masters, like The Puppet Masters (1994), The Faculty (1998), Assimilate (2019) and even great telly like Vince Gilligan’s brilliant Pluribus on Apple TV+, which has a whole lot of Body Snatchers in its DNA.
The point we’re making here is that this is a story that resonates with a lot of people over a lot of time. And when you watch Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ 1978 iteration, it’s easy to see why.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers is the story of dedicated health department worker Matthew Bennell (Donald Sutherland), who along with his best friend, Elizabeth (Brooke Adams) begins to notice bizarre changes in the people around them. Shiftless losers become dead-eyed automatons, emotion seems drained from them and just what are those dusty husks that fill the garbage trucks every morning? It soon becomes clear that San Francisco and, indeed, the entire planet is being invaded by strange pod people, all intent on replacing humanity. So, it’s up to Matthew, Elizabeth and their friends Jack (Jeff Goldblum), Nancy (Veronica Cartwright) and Dr. David Kibner (Leonard Nimoy) to fight back before humanity is completely assimilated by their deadpan overlords.
The thing to know about Invasion of the Body Snatchers is that, despite a frequently wry and amusing script from WD Richter, it’s actually a very dark film. Humanity is portrayed as messy, contradictory and destructive, but also individualistic and passionate. Watching that slowly get eroded by emotionless drones who screech like banshees when attacked or cornered, remains potent and chilling 47 years later, which isn’t something you can say about a lot of genre films of this vintage. It also culminates in one of the darkest, most iconic and shudderingly bleak endings of all time. An image so recognisable that many people only know it as a gif or meme, such is its power. The themes of a collective subsuming individual will and a slow, but inexorable invasion, are extremely well-realised here, making this arguably the best version of the material.
Donald Sutherland is a likable and slightly downtrodden protagonist and Brooke Adams really shines as his friend and potential romantic partner (if things had been different, that is). It’s also great to see Jeff Goldblum in an earlier role and Leonard Nimoy in a rare, non-Spock performance. Veronica Cartwright also deserves props for her work in this and then doing a grand job in Ridley Scott’s Alien the following year. Kaufman, not known for his genre work, does a superb job of balancing the film’s sci-fi elements with the more mundane concerns of humanity and their increasingly fraught and hopeless quest to stay awake and stay themselves.
The Extras:
A solid roster of extras here, including two audio commentaries, one with director Philip Kaufman and another with author and film historian Steve Haberman.
Featurettes include Star-Crossed in the Invasion – an interview with actress Brooke Adams, Re-Visitors from Outer Space, or How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Pod, Practical Magic: The Special Effects Pod – about the great practical effects on display in the flick, The Man Behind the Scream: The Sound Effects Pod, The Invasion Will Be Televised: The Cinematography Pod and a handful of others that dig into nearly every aspect of production, plus the usual trailers and TV spots.
The fancier edition comes in a flash hardbox with a lenticular cover and contains a full colour booklet and a bunch of photographs from the original press kit.
The Verdict:
Invasion of the Body Snatchers has aged stunningly well, and it’s not just the fancy 4K print (although that’s gorgeous). This is a film that explores universal themes, and a collective fear that one day all our individuality and character will be subsumed by a collective morass that lacks passion or emotion, a beige hell that carves away the very thing that makes humanity special, albeit deeply imperfect.
Yes, some of the trousers are flared and the haircuts ridiculous by modern standards, but there’s a timelessness to Invasion of the Body Snatchers that will have you hooked from its enigmatic opening to its devastating, iconic conclusion. Often imitated but never replaced, Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a classic that still brings the goods all these years later.
