Review of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) by Craig T — 31 Jan 2011

Philip Kaufman brings to light a well developed companion to the classic original. The film does not embarrass itself or show up the predecessor (rare) like some redesigns are guilty of. He brings Donald Sutherland on board with Leonard Nimoy and Jeff Goldblum to give the cast some good vivacity which adds to our approval.

When people begin acting suspiciously out of character all over the city, a few do-gooders get the notion that something is taking over. Proving this seems to be tricky though and the more people are warned it seems the more out of control the situation really is.

It's an eerie and psychological sci-fi thriller with a brain. It doesn't use towering robots or ray guns to tempt us with explosions or special effects. The smarter, formidable species that land on earth take a different plan of action in their take over and that is what gets us.

The takeover is calmly proceeding next door and the people we love and trust are not themselves anymore, they're the new enemy. The pods and the method of attack to transform the victims is quite an achievement that outdoes any type of body snatching we've seen before.

A classic is re-created here with talented and familiar faces along with up to date visual effects. Well done. (B).