Invasion Of The Body Snatchers

Invasion Of The Body Snatchers

Synopsis

Second version of the classic horror sci-fi yarn about humans being replaced by emotionless vegetable dopplegangers. Lacks the political context of the original, but is chilling nevertheless

About

Kaufman's well-judged remake of Don Siegel's 1956 classic, based on the novel 'The Body Snatchers' by Jack Finney, works a treat.

The action has been transferred from small town California to San Francisco. Donald Sutherland is Matthew Bennell, a health inspector who notices that his friends are beginning to act rather oddly. No prizes for guessing they have been turned into pod people, but soon the lines between who is who become more ambiguous.

This update may lack the profound Cold War subtext of the original, but this Invasion Of The Body Snatchers manages to instil just as much paranoia, as well as commenting on the appeals of conformism.

Cast & Connections

Actor: Jeff Goldblum, Art Hindle, Don Siegel, Leonard Nimoy, Donald Sutherland, Veronica Cartwright, Lelia Goldoni, Brooke Adams, Kevin McCarthy
Director: Philip Kaufman
Screen Writer: WD Richter
Writer (Book): Jack Finney
Producer: Robert H Solo
Photographer: Michael Chapman
Composer: Denny Zeitlin

In a nutshell

Very entertaining, and despite the by now over familiar-plot, pleasantly suspenseful.

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