#47-B: INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1978)

THRILL SCALE 1-10

9.5

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

Never

BEST SEQUENCE

The final scene of the movie

BEST LINE

Honestly nothing really stood out, so I'll just go with the very last thing that Donald Sutherland says

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

93%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"Employing gritty camerawork and evocative sound effects, Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a powerful remake that expands upon themes and ideas only lightly explored in the original."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"When strange seeds drift to earth from space, mysterious pods begin to grow and invade San Francisco, replicating the city's residents one body at a time."

DIRECTOR

Philip Kaufman

MAIN CAST

Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum, Veronica Cartwright, Leonard Nimoy

THOUGHTS

• Alas, this is another time when the scariest, most impactful part of the movie had its impact somewhat lessened because I was not just aware of it, but expecting it, despite this being my first viewing. Still gave me shivers, and great execution, but I can hardly imagine what the effect would have been if it caught me completely by surprise (and hence my somewhat vague descriptions above)
• I mentioned in my review of the '56 Body Snatchers that I expected more paranoia and uncertainty, and there was indeed a little more of what I expected in this movie, but still not quite at the level I anticipated. I guess John Carpenter's The Thing really is the place to go for the ultimate in sci-fi paranoid alien horror
• Loved the special effects. Packed a wallop in a somewhat cheap, no frills sort of way, and I mean that as a compliment. The simplicity of the special effects made them feel more real and more convincing, somewhat ironically. And it's impressive how much spookiness was added just through dim lighting and wonky camera angles
• There's even a moment when we see a dog with a human face that was clearly achieved by just putting a mask on a dog. Pretty silly looking, but utterly bizarre and filmed with a sincerity that still kind of sticks with you
• At times it struck me with more of a zombie movie vibe than sci-fi horror, especially in the crowd and chase scenes. Lots of overlap between the two genres here
• Finally, I thought all the performances were great, especially the leads. Sutherland has a kind of eerie, haunted vibe about him right from the get-go, with his pale blue eyes and long face, and Brooke Adams is winning and sympathetic. This was also one of Jeff Goldblum's first major roles, and he brings his classic Goldblum-ness to it - quirky and twitchy and wholly convincing as a man whose entire world is coming unravelled (and godDAMN was he attractive back then)

Up next: It's another big one, and the first appearance of Stephen King on the official AFI list (and the first time we've talked about Stephen King since Pet Sematary made an appearance on the readers' choice list almost exactly a year ago, last Dec. 28th). Up next is Carrie from 1976

BONUS REVIEW: FRIDAY THE 13TH PART III (1982)

THRILL SCALE 1-10

6.5

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

Yes, once, in October of 2017

BEST SEQUENCE

Jason vs. the final girl, Chris

BEST LINE

"OK. But there's only so many cold showers I can take"

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

11%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"Jason may solidify his iconic wardrobe in this entry, but Friday the 13th Part 3 lacks any other distinguishing features, relying on a tired formula of stab and repeat."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"Jason Voorhees stalks a group of friends who have just arrived to spend the weekend at a cabin near Crystal Lake."

DIRECTOR

Steve Miner

MAIN CAST

Richard Brooker as Jason, Dana Kimmell as Chris, and that's about all that matters. OK, I'll also give it up for Larry Zerner as Shelly Finkelstein

THOUGHTS

• Gotta be honest, I liked this a lot more than I expected to and a lot more than I remembered! I certainly wouldn't call it good, but I was entertained, and I think it's more memorable than Friday the 13th Part 2
• It's always a hoot to watch these old 3D movies and see how much they bent over backwards to get footage of things coming out of the screen directly at the audience. Best examples from this one are probably the yo-yo being yoed directly into someone's face, and another person's face being squashed by Jason to the point that an eye shoots out of its socket right at us
• Best remembered as the introduction of Jason's famous hockey mask, it's funny how insignificant it really is. There's no deeper meaning to the mask. It was just an item that Jason took after killing prankster Shelly Finkelstein, who is truly one of the most annoying movie characters ever created. Pretty creepy to see the hockey mask's straps on the back of Jason's bald, gross head, though
• Best kill: speargun spear through the eye (which is also the first hockey mask kill ever)
• I picked the final confrontation as the best sequence because I liked how fucked up Jason got. Knife to the knee, log to the head, shovel to the head, hanged, and also axe to the head. Took a lickin' and kept on tickin'. Well, maybe he didn't keep on tickin' if we just go by the final shot of Jason. But come on. We all know there are many more sequels
• And it's gonna be a while until our next Friday the 13th! See you in June, Crispin Glover and Corey Feldman (and also Jason)!

#47: INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956)

THRILL SCALE 1-10

7.5

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

Never

BEST SEQUENCE

It's a smaller moment, but there's a shot of all the townspeople converging at a central spot that I found effectively creepy

BEST LINE

"They're here already! You're next! You're next, you're next, you're next!

- delivered directly to camera

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

97%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"One of the best political allegories of the 1950s, Invasion of the Body Snatchers is an efficient, chilling blend of sci-fi and horror."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"A small-town doctor learns that the population of his community is being replaced by emotionless alien duplicates."

DIRECTOR

Don Siegel

MAIN CAST

Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, King Donovan, Carolyn Jones

THOUGHTS

• It wasn't quite the movie I expected. I thought there would be more uncertainty, more paranoia about who was safe and who had been turned. While there's a little bit of that early in the movie it soon becomes pretty straightforward - what the protagonists think is happening is definitely happening and there's not much uncertainty there. At this point, however, the movie does gain a manic, breathless quality that I appreciated and found quite entertaining
• There are some pretty memorable visuals throughout. The body on the pool table, the pods in the greenhouse, even just the appearance of the pods themselves, all very effective in a cheap sci-fi sort of way
• Towards the end there was a danger of falling asleep that I liked, in a way that reminded me of A Nightmare on Elm Street. What's scarier than the fear of falling asleep, something that everyone needs to do eventually, and something that gets harder and harder to resist the more time passes? This did call into question the actual m.o. of the aliens, though. So the pods are used to create exact duplicates of people, and the pod person replaces the real person at some point when they're asleep. But in the case of female lead Becky, she falls asleep for a second and instantly becomes a pod person - it's not like her body is replaced with the duplicate that has been created for her. So what's the point of the duplicates even existing?
• Fun fact: a director I've talked about before has a small acting role in this movie! Sam Peckinpah, director of The Wild Bunch, was a dialogue coach for Invasion of the Body Snatchers and made a brief appearance as Charlie the metre reader
• Finally, as a genre, science fiction has often been used to comment on the times in which the work was made. Invasion of the Body Snatchers is unique in this regard because it's been interpreted a few different ways, including two that are diametrically opposed - some saw it as anti-McCarthyism, while others saw it as anti-communism. Complicating the matter, the author of the source novel, Jack Finney, said that he intended no specific political commentary, and the filmmakers never stated their intention one way or the other, either. Interpret it as you will!

Up next: Not to go into it with too many pre-conceived notions, but I suspect that the 1978 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers might have the paranoia that I expected from this one