Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

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  TheMovieDiorama

  8 / 10

  Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a rare example of how remakes equal their originals. Now, having never seen the 50s original and only seeing the modern remake 'The Invasion', I was sceptical about the acclaim this received. How many times can the same novel be adapted and still be enthralling as the source material? Turns out several times. This was incredibly eerie and edgy for its time. A health inspector and his colleague are in the midst of a gradual alien invasion where the rest of society start to act differently than before. The epitome of portraying totalitarianism (I've always wanted to use that word in a review!) and how easily manipulated society can be at conforming to new regimes. It's a timeless and always relevant story that seamlessly blends sci-fi with politics. Creating true order from falsified order. The inability of the freedom to act, the relinquishment of feeling...just the loyal obedience to the "bigger picture". That being a flourishing gelatinous alien race taking over planets by duplicating their hosts once they fall to sleep. It plays out like a classic sci-fi, but the horror elements crop up occasionally. The first five minutes were surreal and entrancing, it reeled me in immediately. The slow revelatory build up during the first two acts were extremely well paced. The survival instincts in the third act kicked in and then executed one of the best twist endings in the history of cinema. Sutherland performed very naturally, his character was very lifelike in terms of the actions he took. Adams was slightly over the top and sporadically annoyed me as she stated the obvious consistently. Nice small roles from Nimoy and Goldblum also. Kaufman's gritty and experimental camerawork really was the stand out. His technique has resulted in a film that has aged impeccably well. Oh, and the evocative sound effects that range from screams to synthesised sci-fi noises were deliciously haunting. The screenplay feels derivative in certain aspects, as it tries too hard to detail character development. All I know is, I now need to watch the original!

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