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54 of 59 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
DON'T FALL ASLEEP WATCHING THIS MOVIE!!!, August 12, 2007
The 1978 remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a perennial classic that absolutely terrified me as a child and still holds up after nearly 30 years and is one of the best and rare examples where a remake actually surpasses the original ala John Carpenter's The Thing. Director Philip Kaufman crafts a suspenseful science-fiction masterpiece about the dehumanization of humanity by investing in the personalities of very emotional human characters that break the mold of two-dimensional cookie-cutter stereotypes. Donald Sutherland and Brooke Adams have a genuine chemistry with great supporting roles by Jeff Goldblum and Veronica Cartwright. Adding to the eerie atmosphere we also get a very creepy and surreal performance by Leonard Nimoy as a pseudo-intellectual psychologist that will completely alter your perception of Mr. Spock forever.
I had the pleasure of watching this film again late at night after an exhausting day of work which is the perfect state of mind to be in. Struggling to keep myself from nodding off I could relate even better to the characters and their conflict by forcing myself to stay awake, not because the film is dull or boring, heavens no, but because as a child I believed, however irrational it may seem, that if I fell asleep watching this film that I too would be transformed and replaced by a pod. Funny how the innocent superstitions of childhood can resonate in our subconscious after so many years.
The new 2-disc collectors edition DVD is definitely worth replacing the old one if you own it, which seems almost like an analogy of the film itself which is finally presented in anamorphic widescreen with Dolby digital sound and director commentary by Philip Kaufman if you really want to test your insomnia. The second disc contains some nice featurettes like "Re-visitors From Outer Space, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Pod" featuring new interviews with Donald Sutherland, Veronica Cartwright, Phillip Kaufman and screenwriter W.D. Richter who reflect on the lasting appeal of the film and provide some interesting anecdotes about making the film. "Practical Magic: The Special Effects Pod" goes into the the organic photography of the alien spores and "The Man Behind the Scream: The Sound Effects of the Pod" features Lucasfilm's sound guru Ben Burtt who designed and mixed the sound effects after completing Star Wars to create the film's unforgettable and disturbing sound design. "The Invasion Will Be Televised: The Cinematography of the Pod" also goes into the production design and chiaroscuro lighting used to compose the forboding look and mood through light and shadow to invoke dramatic Hitchcockian suspense, and lastly the original theatrical trailer is included as well. There's more than enough material here to keep you awake for hours but should you find yourself feeling a bit tired just remember one thing; no matter what happens... DON'T FALL ASLEEP!
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24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fibrous Fiends From Outer Space, May 5, 2002
The best of three very good big screen adaptations of Jack Finney's classic sci-fi novel is the closest thing to a filmed nightmare you're likely ever to see. This entire picture is a horror masterpiece. Director Philip Kaufman puts together a hell of a movie, colorful, claustrophobic and atmospheric. Donald Sutherland and Brooke Adams head-up a stellar cast, including Jeff Goldblum, Veronica Cartwright, Leonard Nimoy, and even Robert Duvall in an early blink-and-you've-missed-him cameo. Kevin McCarthy reprises, more or less, his role from the original 1956 film, initiating Sutherland and Adams on a nightmare ride of alien invasion that escalates to apocalyptic proportion. There's not a thing wrong with this movie. Denny Zeitlin's eerie, atonal electronic score highlights the often very unsettling visuals, which include disintegrating people, fibrously materializing doppelgangers, and a dog with a human face. The script is flawless, succeeding - like Finney's novel and the original movie - by presenting us with recognizable people facing an impossible reality, updated for modern times. The actors underplay the tense melodrama, making it all the more dramatic when they're ultimately driven to screaming madness. I can't recommend this movie highly enough. If you're a horror or science-fiction fan, or simply love a wonderfully performed, tensely scripted melodrama, this movie is for you. Warning: this film is very, very disturbing, at times. You might want to keep it on the upper shelf.
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
They're coming! They're coming!, January 2, 2000
"Invasion of the Body Snatchers" is one of the earliest science fiction films I remember seeing. A superior remake of the 1956 original, it's both chilling and funny. In San Francisco, people are beginning to "change". They seem to lack feeling. This is because they are not human, they are replicas, grown from seeds that came to Earth from space. Donald Sutherland plays a health inspector. His friend and co-worker (Brooke Adams) tells him that her husband seems different. Over time more and more people are becoming unlike themselves. It feels like some sort of conspiracy is afoot. Sure enough, an alien invasion is slowly unfolding. This film is about four people's fight to preserve their humanity. The basic message is, if you are not an individual, your own person, you are virtually dead. Love, hate, fear, and anger are what colour our lives. There are certain things in the film that suggest dark humour. Whenever you see the rubbish truck, you know another person has been "replaced". If you listen carefully, you sometimes hear that alien shriek among the everyday noises of traffic and city crowds. Kevin McCarthy, who starred in the 1956 version, has a cameo, again trying to warn people what is happening (to no avail). The film's ending is completely unexpected.
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