6th October 2018 | 31 Days of “Alternative” Horror: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

There are few movies that truly pull you into an alternative existence in such a believable way. Invasion of the Body Snatchers is such a film, directed by Philip Kaufman; it tells the story of an alien species that arrives on earth. The alien species — or pod people — begins its metamorphosis as a plant that searches for a host to which they are then able to replicate and exist in the form of the human that they “inhabit”. Explaining such a process seems redundant. From the human standpoint, people are simply being replaced by aliens, one at a time. The people who know them the most appear to be the first to recognise a change or more so, an absence of emotion, mood, behaviour.

The film is classed as a B-movie due to its tiny budget. It took well enough at the box office, but more importantly, the film has gained the accolade as one of the “greatest film remakes ever made.” Critic Pauline Kael regarded it as “the best film of its kind ever made”, and I’m not far behind in such accolades. For my money, it’s up there with the best. Science fiction aside, the one thing that made the movie work so well was its ability to relate to the nuance of the characters actions in everyday life, and their relationships to one another and their reactions to the changing world around them. Every beat has you going along for the ride, and the character you get to know make you feel safe… at least for as long as they feel safe.

You would be forgiven in thinking that the title cheapens the experience. Recent remakes of this movie have opted for a title change: Body Snatchers and The Invasion. are weaker versions of the same story. Proud and broad, Invasion of the Body Snatchers was a movie that wanted to acknowledge its connection to the original source material, and honour it. To the uninitiated viewer, the main force of persuasion to see such a titled movie would be the presence of Donald Sutherland, Veronica Cartwright, Leonard Nimoy, Brook Adams and Jeff Goldblum. Two words: pure gold.

The film has a very familiar and yet perilous mood throughout. The sense of fear and paranoia is clearly seen and felt within the shadows and the sombre light. What we are shown is what the characters are experiencing and we stay with them, not just because they are safe, but because they are all you have left to trust. Out of all the extraordinary performances, it is the soothing presence of Leonard Nimoy that keeps everything together. Nimoy was at the time trying to find his way out of the rubber ears of Spock and shift his course away from typecasting, so his personality was erratic with purpose in order to stretch his range.

The music score was created by the ever eccentric and diverse jazz musician Denny Zeitlin who was at first completely baffled as to how his style of music would fit a movie such as this. He found a way, and thankfully, the foley, ambience underscore accompanies Denny’s beautiful score with an organic and truly genetic sense of synergy. The sound design overall is infectious.

So please, if you haven’t seen this movie, give it a chance, and then at the end, you better remember to close your mouth.

You’re probably catching flies…

or worse…

Written by: Stephen Radford
website: stephenradford.com

Next: 7th October: Darling