Invasion of the Body Snatchers | | Cast : | Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams | | Director : | Philip Kaufman | | Studio : | Mgm/Ua Studios | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | December 20, 1978 | | DVD Released Date : | July 17, 2001 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 08, 2005 | | Summary | "Matthew.....Matthew...Matthew" | Content
 | This briiliant film takes place in San Francisco, and it is one of the most unsettling films ever. It is one of those films that really has a perfect cast. Veronica Cartwright is so perfect as the intellectual health nut, as are Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams and Jeff Goldblum. Frightening and subtle in its creepiness, the whole film from beginning to end has the feeling of paranoia. This first remake is far better than the original and stands up as the best thus far, even though Abel Ferrara's version is visually and aurally stunning with Meg Tilly's great performance. As a whole this film is far superior and very powerful. It will be interesting to see if the next version with Nicole Kidman will be comparable, It is doubtful with the way films are being produced these days. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 16, 2005 | | Summary | GOOD MOVIE | Content
| I remember when I first saw the 1951 movie, that was spectacular and frightening - apart of the political ideology -, this movie it's very well directed and the acting it's superb. You feel you can't trust anybody while watching it and you feel the tension of the characters, you never know who is human and who's a copy. And the end of the movie it's so surprising you just can feel terror. I recommend this movie if you want to watch a good horror movie, you'll enjoy it. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 17, 2005 | | Summary | Truly Fun Sci Fi Thriller | Content
| Very rarely do remakes match the original, but "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," to my mind, tops the original. At the very least, it invests fresh ideas and high production values, including camera angles and music, to the story and achieves a wonderful end result. The story involves human beings who are being replaced by "pods" (without feeling and emotion) in San Francisco, certainly a great setting; ostensibly these pods are coming from outer space and first appear as innocuous red flowers that "get you while you sleep." The metaphor isn't hard to imagine.
Matthew Bennell (Donald Sutherland) and Elizabeth Driscoll (Brooke Adams) work at the Department of Health where Elizabeth draws Matthew's attention to a strange flower she found growing near her home (a Victorian house, by the way) that is unclassifiable and not found in any of her botany books. Elizabeth places the flower in a vase by her bedside, intending to take it to the Department for examination the next day, and in the morning when she wakes up, discovers that her boyfriend, Geoffrey (Art Hindle), a dentist, has inexplicably and undefinably changed. There's a lot of sly irony, humor, and mounting suspense in this tale, as San Francisco is indeed the target of an alien takeover spreading across California (pun intended; California is in the same position today). What makes it hang together so beautifully, besides wonderful skewed camera angles and observances of 70's "New Age" philosophies, is the terrific cast down to the extras. The chemistry between Brooke Adams and Donald Sutherland is truly wonderful and believable; they seem to glow in one another's company as people smitten with one another do, although they play mere friends at the start. Their friends, Jack and Nancy Belicec (Jeff Goldblum and Veronica Cartwright) are also well-suited, both quirky and offbeat characters, both physically and personalitywise. Leonard Nimoy is also the perfect choice for the "Dr. Phil"-type guru: popular psychiatrist David Kibner. Both Kevin McCarthy and Don Siegel from the 1956 original make cameos in this.
Also loved the interiors and exteriors of the Victorian house in which Elizabeth and Jeffrey live. *SPOILER* I did have to shake my head, however, with amusement that the shapely Brooke Adams unaccountably is the only pod who seems to be walking around without clothes midway into the film. The reason is pretty transparent, too. But it's all very well done and great fun. |
| Rating | | | Date | April 16, 2005 | | Summary | Like Peas In A Pod | Content
| By and large, when films are remade, they don't quite live of up to the standards set by the original. There are of course exceptions, and in the case of the 1978 version of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, it not only pays homage to its forebearer, but it finds a way to stand on its own and remain relevant.
In this remake of the 1956 cult classic and based on the book by Jack Finney, terror slowly and quietly strikes San Francisco. The city is mysteriously covered by alien spores that produce strangely beautiful flowers, unknowingly, the flowers are the bearers of alien pods that make a spiderlike webbing once they capture their human victims as they sleep and replicates their form. Although they still look like us, the "Pod People" are transformed into emotionless creatures by a strange alien culture out to consume and control humanity.
Soon there are only four people are left to stop them. Matthew Bennel (Donald Sutherland), a Department of Health inspector whose close friend and coworker Elizabeth Driscoll (Brooke Adams) is overwhelmed by fear and paranoia when she begins to suspect her boyfriend, Geoffrey (Art Hindle), of no longer being human. Together, with their friends Jack (Jeff Goldblum) and Nancy (Veronica Cartwright), they vow to stop the bizarre alien invasion before they fall victim to the pods. Dr. David Kibner (Leonard Nimoy) is a guru psychiatrist who might not be whom he seems.
Like the original, the film makes social commentary about the time in which it was made, but even if that subtext isn't why your watching, it's veiled quite well and doesn't hit you over the head. The screenplay by W.D. Richter and direction by Philip Kaufman makes sure that its job to provide chills is accomplished first. Sutherland gives a knockout performance as humankind's last hope. I had fogotten too, how good that a very young Goldblum, Cartwright (pre Alien) and Nimoy were in this film. But it's Sutherland who makes it work. Kevin McCarthy, who played Bennell in the '56 film pops up as well. Nice touch.
The DVD loses some points for a rather lackluster video transfer of the film. I know the film is decades old, but c'mon MGM usually does a better job than this. The disc includes a full-length screen-specific audio commentary from Kaufman. It's informative, as he shares some nice antedates about the making of the film. There is also the standard MGM 8-page booklet included inside the disc case, with some production notes, stills and a 'pod culture' retrospective, all about on the history and various incarnations of the body snatchers. Topping things off is a clever full-screen theatrical trailer.
The '78 version of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers is cool mix of 50's schlock and "modernization" that holds up. Recomended |
| Rating | | | Date | March 02, 2005 | | Summary | The Good, the Slow, the Cheap | Content
| 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. |
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