Customer Reviews

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Collector's Edition)

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In San Francisco, mysterious seeds are dropping and planting themselves on Earth. They sprout and bloom, looking deceptively like pink flowers. Once these flowers bloom, they take on the shape of a human shell and if you happen to fall asleep beside one, watch out! Once their tentacles get a hold on you, the cloning process begins! Your only defence against attack: stay awake!

The invasion's already begun when Elizabeth Driscoll (Brooke Adams) comes home one night to find out her husband, Dr. Geoffrey Howell (Art Hindle) has to go to an important meeting -- one which falls on the same night as the hockey playoffs he was so excited about attending the night before. Suspicious, she tracks his movements and discovers he's meeting with people she doesn't know and exchanging strange packages with them. The next day, she tells a colleague, Matthew Bennell (Donald Sutherland) and he convinces her to talk to Dr. David Kibner (Leonard Nimoy). When she does, he tries to convince her it's all in her head! Matthew then becomes convinced, due to a series of strange events, that the only people he can trust his closest friends: Elizabeth, Jack (Jeff Goldblum), and his wife Nancy (Veronica Cartwright).

The picture and audio quality on this DVD are excellent. There's no grain to be found and the Dolby Digital soundtrack sounds rich and full. Closed captioning is offered for the hearing impaired, but you need a TV that offers it. Both Widescreen and Fullscreen versions are offered on a double-sided disc (for those not fully converted to Widescreen). The menus are easy to navigate, allowing access to scene selection and two special features: the original theatrical trailer and the audio commentary by director Phillip Kaufman.

A great remake of the 1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Kevin McCarthy (from the original) has a cameo as a frantic man who warns Matthew and Elizabeth of the coming invasion. This movie has excellent SFX, especially the clone transformation scenes, which are horrifying!. There are also some terrific performances by the leads of the cast, including Donald Sutherland and Brooke Adams. The film itself has a truly creepy atmosphere, along with a prevailing sense of paranoia that never lets up! The movie "grabs" you by the hand and keeps you glued to your seat until the unforgettable ending!

Most remakes are a joke but this one was pretty good! I gave it minus half because it's not the original but captures the eerieness of the story very well. The cast here is good and the creepy atmosphere is updated and good. If a completist as I am get this along with the original.

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."

I first saw INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1978) in a movie theater back in mid-'79. I was not quite 12 years old then and this film freaked me out. I had nightmares for days. This gives you an idea of how effective this chilling update of the 1956 story was! Now that I have owned it on VHS for several years and have seen it a few more times, I can still appreciate this movie for the masterful way it was constructed by director Philip Kaufman, and for its intelligently written screenplay by W.D. Richter. (I know, W.D. Who?)

You know, I have still never seen the 1956 original (or the 1995 re-update), but this version is so good (and, indeed, considered by many to be the best of the three) that I don't feel like I've missed out on much. Of course, I have read about the first version and its allegories to McCarthyism, which was such a big part of American life in the 1950's. If this version can be considered allegorical to anything, it would have to be to the national decline of individualism in the post-Vietnam era. In fact, on that level it can also be considered to be a prophetical foreshadowing of the Yuppie Era of the 1980's! Think about that chilling final scene: Hundreds of men and women, who all act alike and dress alike (in suits & ties, no less), going about their daily office jobs like the mindless drones they are. Pretty much what we've all seen in our big cities in the past 20 years or so, isn't it? Now, that's REALLY scary!

INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS has it all: Wonderful actors--Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum (in the first really significant role of his career), Veronica Cartwright and Leonard Nimoy, suspenseful directing, taut editing, realistically scary makeup effects, spooky score and one of the five greatest endings in Horror movie history. A bit hit when it was released over 25 years ago, this film had become practically forgotten over the years. Now that it's been finally released on DVD, many fans have been revisiting it. I will be purchasing the DVD soon--and so should you, especially if you love great, scary Horror/Sci-Fi films.

One final note: Although relatively tame by today's standards, I was surprised at the PG-rating when I first saw INVASION back in 1979. It still has the PG-rating; however, if it had been released today, it would have definitely been PG-13 all the way. This film has a fairly significant quotient of blood and gore, as well as copious nudity (both male and female), so if you're wondering about showing it to your kids, I'd say that 11 & up would be appropriate. Just be forewarned: as I mentioned earlier, I saw INVASION when I was 11 1/2 and it gave me nightmares for several days afterwards! Not bad for an old Horror film from the '70's. :)

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
MOST RECOMMENDED FOR HORROR/SCI-FI FANS

In general,I`m not a fan of remakes,but this one is very good.I have this and the 56 original,and often watch them back to back.Kevin McCarthy even makes a cameo appearance in this version.

The city of San Francisco is suddenly exposed to a threat from outer space that is related to complaint in regards to peculiar behavior of people's spouses and friends. Matthew Bennell (Donald Sutherland) works for the Department of Public Health in the city and he begins to hear these complaints from a co-worker, Elizabeth Driscoll (Brooke Adams), whose boyfriend has begun to behave strangely. However, Matthew waves off Elizabeth's insinuations in regards to her boyfriend until he witness some strange occurrences, which lead him to understanding the danger that everyone is in. Invasion of the Body Snatchers is an excellent science fiction story that brings chills to the bones and continues to cause shivers throughout the body from the beginning to the end. Kaufman knew what he was doing as he created the initial shots, which heightened threat awareness in the audience and he kept the audience on an elevated state of alarm throughout the film by introducing new threats.

Philip Kaufman's 1978 remake of Don Siegel's 1956 Sci-Fi masterpiece is more action-packed than the original, and there are more high-tech special FX and certainly much more graphic gore. The film's stellar cast includes Donald Sutherland, Jeff Goldblum, Leonard Nimoy, and beautiful and able actresses Brooke Adams and Veronica Cartwright. Kaufman's creative yet tight direction and cinematographer Michael Chapman's interesting use of the camera combine into an outstanding cinematic aesthetic that is somewhat nourish and which serves the tone of W.D. Richter's script very well. Even with all this going for it, however, this incarnation of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS doesn't quite reach that same lofty summit occupied by its predecessor. Nonetheless, it is still a very well-made SF thriller in its own right, and genre fans won't be disappointed.

The setting has changed from small-town rural California to urban San Francisco, and the McCarthyist subtext has been updated to reflect the new paranoia percolating in the late 1970s--to wit, the less-cogent, anarchist, conspiracy-theory ignes fatui that would eventually coalesce into the deplorable and frightening actions of all-too-real monsters like Timothy McVeigh.

In this version, the audience gets a clearer idea about the origin of the film's nefarious doppelgängers, as it opens with a visually stunning FX sequence that shows the alien spores leaving their dying planet and arriving on earth, where they soon grow into the infamous body-snatching pods. In addition, a delightful cameo by Kevin McCarthy, star of the original film, implies that this flick is not so much a remake as a continuation of the first. (Also watch for a cameo from the original's director Don Siegel, who here appears as a cab driver.)

The reasonably priced DVD from MGM offers an acceptable digital transfer of the film--there are a few noticeable compression artifacts, and a little bit of noticeable wear on the print used--in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio and with its original Dolby 2.0 Surround-sound soundtrack. Also included is an optional feature commentary with the film's director, Philip Kaufman, in which he provides interesting and often insightful information about the making of the movie.

In short, 1978's INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS is a very worthy remake that is also a very strong film in its own right. The MGM DVD, while not of the highest calibre, is still well worth the price and will make a nice addition to the film collections of genre fans.

Best:

1) The production values are higher and the acting (with the possible exception of Kevin McCarthy) is better than the 1956 original.
2) We get more information, this time, as to where the aliens came from and how they function.
3) The beginning realization scenes are fairly suspenseful and the later chase scenes are pretty exciting.
4) The alien's growth stages and high-pitched voices are scary.
5) There's a trivia booklet in the case and a commentary track on the disk.

Worst:

1) The movie is SO quiet much of the time (no soundtrack) that it might put you to sleep if you aren't really engrossed.
2) The first half of the story is slow as the suspense builds up almost too gradually.
3) Donald Sutherland's afro hairstyle was just plain bad (ha).
4) Leonard Nimoy's leisure suits were even worse (double ha).

Recommendation:

This one is every bit a classic as the original and it will appeal much more to younger people. It's also a must-have for any serious sci-fi/horror movie collector.

With Leonard NIMOY Jeff GOLDBLUM and Donald SUTHERLAND these three exceptionals actors, this movie can give some bugbears just after you have seen it, some spores arrives from an other planet, they cross over space and they are alives ! they are growing for the disaster of humanity, they are the body snatchers who are ables to contaminate entirely the planet these tricks are almost same as the human gender but they are not ! They forms an unique entity ! AN E-T ENTITY !!! SPLENDID MOVIE !!! One of the bests S-F HORROR FILM NEVER SURPASSED !!!

Made at the height of communist fears and McCarthyism, the original version of Invasion was a film dictated by its time. Many critics see it as a metaphor for A)the effect of communism or B)a metaphor for McCarthyism. Both the original author Jack Finney and director of the first film Don Siegel denied this. For Finney it was an entertainment an example of the paranoid world we live in. For Siegel it was much more complex. It was a metaphor for the urbanization and denial of our humanity in an age of reason and logic. Both are rich interpretations and luckily neither one effects the marvelous entertainment value of the original film.

Phil Kaufman's update (it's not really a remake as little remains of Finney's novel beyond the concept and only the bare bones outline of Siegel's film)deals with the same theme of Siegel's film; it's about the dehumanizing aspect of the urban world we live in. Kaufman, though, daringly set in in the heart of the urban myth on the West Coast--San Francisco.

Donald Sutherland plays Matthew Bennel a public health inspector. He's got varied and interesting friends including one of his co-workers Elizabeth Driscoll (Brooke Adams). She comes to Bennel complaining that her husband isn't himself. He's uncommunicative, emotionless and won't really talk to her. She suspects her husband is having an affair and follows him. She discovers he's exchanging these odd looking packages with people they don't know. Bennel suggests that she speak with a pop psychologist he's friends with and that he might have a rational explaination. Dr. David Kibner's (Leonard Nimoy)suggestion is more down to earth. He's seen this a lot lately and compares it to a virus--but a psychological one. He suggests that she's just lost touch with him and that she needs to reach out to get him more involved.

Bennel's writer/poet friend Jack Belicec (a very young Jeff Goldblum)believes Kibner's explaination and his book are garbage. His supportive (quite literally as she earns the money with her mudbath salon)wife Nancy (Veronica Cartwright)believes Jack's a little jealous and that Kibner might be on to something. Until Nancy discovers a body in her salon. It resembles--vaguely--Jack who had fallen asleep in the salon. They call Bennel as they're afraid it might be the body of a customer with some sort of communicable disease (the metaphor at the cusp of the AIDS epidemic captures the pulse of San Francisco during this time). From there, stranger things begin to happen particularly when another friend appears to be in the process of being "duplicated".

Kaufman's film holds up very well. While not as important as Siegel's ground breaking film (Siegel has a cameo with original star Kevin McCarthy and Robert Duvall as a priest at the beginning), it is a valid and very good reinterpretation of the original classic film. Kaufman makes San Francisco claustrophobic and threatening. The brooding cinematography adds to the sense of menace as does the interesting at times atonal score. W. D. Richter's (Buckaroo Banzai, Big Trouble in Little China) screenplay plays with many of the elements of the original film and has a number of set pieces every bit the equal of the original film.

All the actors give strong performances. Nimoy in particularly plays off his well known character of Mr. Spock in the early scenes with his touchy-feely pop psychology. Sutherland and Adams have considerable chemistry. Interesting note is that Sutherland did many of his less physical stunts. Kaufman was game but Sutherland's assistant told Kaufman he had the "clumsiest man alive" running around twenty feet off the ground and implied he was inviting disaster.

The DVD transfer is good. It's a bit dark but the colors are fairly true to the original prints I've seen. The print is also quite good although there are quite a few analog artifacts that crop up throughout the film. Still, it isn't distracting. The stereo soundtrack sounds surprisingly good given the age of the film. It is a tad bit compressed.

The extras include a running commentary by Phil Kaufman and trailers. There's also a nice booklet with inside information and trivia included. The film is included in both pan & scan format and widescreen on a dual sided disc (not surprising given the year it was first manufactured --1998). It's a nice package altogether.

While Invasion lacks the surprise of the first film, Kaufman knows enough to play with audience expectations and familarity with the original film from the beginning. This is to his advantage. He also manages to include a considerable amount of social satire (something common in many of his films). While his direction isn't quite as self assured as it would be when he made The Right Stuff, he manages to keep the action moving and inspire intelligent performances from his ensemble cast.