Review #244: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

This review was originally written in October 2022.

Gabe's 100 Bucket List Horror Films Review #98: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a film about a group of friends in San Francisco (Matthew, Elizabeth, Jack, and Nancy) when a rash of odd panic begins cropping up around town. Elizabeth notices her significant other acting unusually, meeting with strangers and conducting covert business, and Matthew tries to help her see through this irrational fear. But when Jack and Nancy discover a strange lifeless body has begun to materialize in their place of business that resembles Jack, it kicks off a sequence of events that make it clear that something supernatural and sinister is indeed manipulating the city of San Francisco- and possibly, the world.

I think this was a very fun film. At the start, before anything concrete is established, a lot of work is done to show that something is amiss, and also to lay the groundwork for what will eventually be the reason for it. And once the story gets going, it really gets going- the plot rises and falls, it's paced well enough that no scene overstays its welcome and I never found myself checking the clock. The characters all feel real and well-rounded (which makes the potential fear of them being replaced by alien doubles all the more terrifying), and the scope of the danger in this film is greater than most other films I've watched this month, but not only that, it feels greater too. (I won't say how the movie ends, but I definitely found myself assuming that there was simply no hope for the protagonists, as the alien threat just seemed too unbeatable to me.)

I always find that when I enjoy a movie it's harder to find things to talk about (I could just list things I liked but that's not really what I'm here for), so I think I'll leave this one right here. I didn't realize this was a remake, and I'll probably watch the original sometime soon to see how it compares.

Overall Rating: 9/10 Dogs With Human Faces

Remake Humor: There's a scene early on when an injured man frantically runs up to Matthew and Elizabeth while in their car, trying in vain to warn them of the alien threat. This "Running Man" is played by Kevin McCarthy, who played the protagonist of the 1956 original (leading some people to theorize that this is actually a sequel, not a remake). Apparently, while rehearsing this scene, a naked homeless man recognized McCarthy from his previous role, realized they were filming a remake, and told him, "The first one was better."