One of the cool things they did with this movie is the guy who was hit and killed by the car was the Star of the 1950's original version of the movie so that scene was a junction point of both movie's where they sort of combine the 2
This is one of the few movies that are truly unnerving to me. This, Come and see, Letters from A dead man, and Martyrs all give me that feeling. Curious what you would think of the 90s adaptation, where they are on an army base. It's not as good imo, but still solid and has some moments worth seeing.
21:10 When I was in college, a girl I knew and I would greet each other by pointing and screaming the way Donald Sutherland did. We would do it at parties or if we just encountered each other on the street.
It's definitely in the conversation for top 3 remakes. I personally prefer The Fly and The Thing, but I think that comes down to my personal preference to body horror. Still a fantastic and terrifying movie.
@@johnblack3204I think this movie relied a little more on atmosphere, suspense and story than these other 2 "heavy effects" movies. That's probably why I like Invasion more.
Explanation of the human-faced dog: That was actually the homeless man with the dog. They were in the process of being taken over when their "pods" were smashed. As a result of cross-contamination their "copies" were mixed, resulting in a human/dog hybrid.
watching the movie multiple times is when you really see the creepiest things. like when Nimoy is talking and then stands next to a trash bin full of discarded bodies, something you can't identify the first time seeing it.
If you watched The Lost Boys then this (don’t know your upload sequence); did you realize you had watched father & son horror movies back to back? Donald Sutherland (Invasion) & Kiefer Sutherland (Lost Boys)
Veronica Cartwright (Nancy) was not only Lambert in Alien she was also the little girl in The Birds. She she spent her entire career as a horror queen.
If you look in the background, a few of the extras are staring directly at the main characters/staring right at the camera. As the film continues more and more extras are staring, letting the audience know that They outnumber Us in the end, and They know you know. Spooky as all get out.
Seeing the people on the bus staring out the windows was a very well-crafted creepy touch added to this film that I did not immediately pick up on until multiple viewings. Extremely well conceived.
I saw this in the theatre as a kid. Scared the crap out of me. Was also the first time I saw Leonard Nimoy not as Spock. Took a bit to wrap my head around that as I started to realize actors are in more than one thing.
The rare case where the 50's original version and the 70's update both rock while bringing different visions of executing the same premise and haunting vibe. I saw this as a kid in '78 with my parents who immediately knew they had a huge collapse in judgement bringing 8 year old me to this waking nightmare. My cousin came with us who was my age and who was a huge horror nut. We lived in the Bay Area so that just added to the immersion of my already compromised broken mind. After the movie, my cousin spent the night. He watched horror movies on tv all the time, a regional midnight show called Creature Features and read all the Marvel horror books like Creatures on the Loose and Werewolf By Night. He slept like a baby. Me, I psyched myself out and refused to fall asleep and kept checking under my cousin's bed for a pod that might be replicating him. My mom finally woke up, made me drink a glass of warm milk and I immediately passed the F out. Found out later, she crushed a Benadryl into it to shut my whiny, crying ass down. Lol.
Robert Duvall plays the priest on a swing in the very first scene. It's unsettling to think that he is the very first pod person in the film, mimicking the behavior of the nearby children without any concept of what is and isn't normal or appropriate adult (let alone clerical) behavior. I adore invasion movies, where the invasion is quietly already happening in the background, before we even know it.
Duval was friends with the Director Philip Kaufman and volunteered to swing by (pun intended) and do a cameo. No pay, just a straight favor, thought it would be fun AND keep in mind this was AFTER him being in The Godfather! Now thats a friend!
I miss films with bleak, twilight zone-like endings. Sometimes, you just want to leave the theatre unsettled, and replay the story over and over again in your head. This is the perfect movie for having the creeps.
The woman at the end that screams is the same actress that played Lambert in Alien- she's got the "Oh God..." line in the chestburster scene. She's definitely got the horror vibe down. The dog with the man's face was, IIRC, sleeping next to it's master when the pod got him. Big mistake there.
Philip Kaufman who directed this film went on to help write the first Indiana Jones with George Lucas as well as write and direct one of my all time favorite space movies, The Right Stuff. He's a really talented filmmaker.
"The Right Stuff" is so great. That's a movie that should have at least as many reactions as the inferior "Apollo 13"! No offense to Ron Howard, but "Right Stuff" is by far the superior film.
What I love about this remake is that it totally subverts the ideas and themes of the original. In the original, the main characters are the first ones to discover the alien invasion and the theme is that people you've known all your life can change overnight. In the remake, no one notices the changes in their neighbours because they don't know their neighbours. Also, the main characters in the remake aren't the first ones to notice the invasion, they're literally the last. The invasion is already over before the titles have finished playing.
The main character at the very end of this film that [surprisingly] turned out to have become one of them---pointing his finger and screaming at the lady----THAT actor is Kiefer Sutherland's father. Kiefer Sutherland is the actor that played David in The Lost Boys. The guy with the bleach blonde mullet and the cool long leather jacket? Yep. You watched him and now you've watched his father. Interesting connection, huh? 😏😎
Never thought of them side by side, I'm always putting The Thing next to Alien, r The Thing next to The Fly, or The Thing next to American Werewolf In London.....or even Poltergeist, since it opened the same day, lol. But you're absolutely correct! That's a great observation! That would be a good double feature!
I would also think that Invasion of the body snatchers foreshadowed Nightmare on Elm Street specifically concerning the danger of falling asleep. Of course, the danger was different in each movie.
A friend of mine and I went and saw this film at the theater in 1978. We thought the film was so good that we stayed for a second viewing and afterwards we talked about the movie for all the way home. It still stands up 46 years later. I have it in my film library and I re-watch it from time to time and it never gets old.
I really love how the suspense keeps building as the movie goes on, and how as the characters (and us the viewers) learn more about what’s happening, we also become more paranoid, just like the characters. I also appreciate your reactions, because it’s very interesting to see/hear from someone who is a filmmaker, so you get a different perspective on things.
Of the several versions of Body Snatchers this is my favorite. Never looked at Donald Sutherland (RIP) the same after this. He also starred in a similar themed film, "The Puppet Masters (1994)," worth watching and not to be confused with films with more recent films with similar titles.
On the same lines. Early in his career (1958) Nimoy was in a flick called "The Brain Eaters", which was so similar to "The Puppet Masters" that Robert Heinlein was able to successfully sue the producers. Of course, Nimoy went on to play Spock who, in one episode actually had his brain stolen.
I'm so glad you watched this and liked it. I've been recommending this one for years now, and you're the first I've seen do it. Definitely a key film for cinema fans, especially for the period. Four years before "The Thing."
Of course you realize that the actor that jumped across the hood and chased by the mob to his death was the protagonist of the 1950s Invasion of the Body Snatchers. There were a lot of character actors here... Tom Skerrit (Captain Dallas from Alien) played a big role...Leonard Nimoy (Captain/Ambassador Spock) was a leading character. The Inimitable Veronica Cartwright also the best crier ever as Lt. Lambert also on Alien. Were all perfect for these roles. The two plants taking over the homeless man and his dog; one of the plants was damaged by Donald Sutherland so the other plant merged the dog and the homeless man. In the RU-vid version Donald Sutherland clocking the old lady was left out. A pivotal scene.
Man I haven't seen this since the early 80's, probably. This makes me want to watch it again, thanks for making this. The special effects were SO ahead of their time, a lot of them looking great to this day. I also love how they were willing to go with a bummer ending, that's rare and brave IMO (especially for back then). It's really a marvel of a movie.
Interesting watch and good reaction! That ending is one of the most horrific I ever saw, without any gore or real dialogue - just the raw, inhuman cry and the zoom on the facial expression - and even just seeing you watch it gave me chills again! As a remake of a 50s classic, it's much more graphic and doom-laden, and you were absolutely right to see from early on there would be no happy ending!
Me too. I felt like I was drowning the first time I saw that ending. Most horror I think sucks and are directed by hacks; THIS is what a great horror movie looks like as far as i'm concerned.
I got married in San Francisco city hall and the ending was filmed right outside of the building. Between this iconic shot and the interior of city hall being used in the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, my family members’ brains were blown away…
One of my all time favs. You don't get many movies that are simultaneously a conspiracy thriller, sci-fi and horror rolled into one. The original version from the 50s is great in its own way too! Much more a product of its era but really cool to see how this move develops on it as all great remakes should.
Back when remakes were rarer and actually brought something new to the original concept. Looking at society today, this movie is actually scarier and more effective than its ever been.
Some movies have top notch intros! Inglorious Basterds, No Country For Old Men! While others have top notch endings! Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers! Soylent Green is another if you can avoid spoilers. Yep! The guy who was banging on the car was the star from the original!
If I’m correct ‘the human face dog’ was from a failed pod person(a homeless person?) and their dog - I think the pod was damaged somehow and combined the two 😬
One of the most remade films of all time...for a reason. It's a warning, think deeper. You know. The year 2020 and all that, get it? GET IT?? Lol, great reaction as always, brother. Peace.
My favourite horror. I genuinely like it more than even Alien, The Thing etc. All those films have strong "what would **I** do in that situation?" suspense for the audience. But in this Bodysnatcher movie the characters all behave intelligently (with no saboteur androids or endless infighting) and there's STILL no way to galvanise a winning response to the alien life. At a subconscious level, the movie also hits us by probing how we mistakenly carry on as normal when people around us go bad. Even the garbage trucks probe similar weaknesses in our psyche. As one real-life garbage management chief said in an interview recently, "eventually we own everything you have". Plus our fear of exclusion, the way emotion is seen as a weakness etc. The man banging on their car window for help near the start was the star of the 1950s original movie version.
Still one of the best scary movies ever made. That final scene with the face Donald Sutherland pulls still gives shivers down the spine. In other words I complete agree with you James.
This could have been a fantastic TV show. Imagine being allowed to grow even more attached to the characters and then seeing the world around them change and them being taken one by one.
When I saw this at the movie theatre back in 1978, I remember how great the sound effects were at certain points in the film, especially that final shot. You don't get the same jolts watching it from home. The taxi driver toward the end was the director of the original film, Don Siegel
I saw this in the theater as a kid in the 70s Many of the scenes have stayed with me since then The dog/human, the shovel scene, "that not my wife"..... The ending was literally so shocking that I was certain that the theater had electrified the chairs😎
The director, Philip Kaufman, was one of the greats before falling out of favor in Hollywood. His THE RIGHT STUFF is one of the finest movies ever made. Also, THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING.
The gradually building sense of unease and paranoia right from the start is pretty amazingly done, I feel like the first act of Shaun of the Dead took some cues from this movie. I actually just watched this for the first time on a big screen in Alamo Square Park in SF, right across the street from Elizabeth's home in the movie! It was a pretty awesome experience, especially winning a game of sci-fi movie trivia before the screening began
That’s crazy, I just watched this film for the first time a few weeks ago. I’d seen the original, but I was genuinely impressed with how suspenseful and well-made this movie is.
Fitting for Horror Season, 1999 Japanese film "Audition" - "A widower takes an offer to screen girls at a special audition, arranged for him by a friend to find him a new wife. The one he fancies is not who she appears to be after all."
Great movie. Philip Kaufman is a fantastic director. I liken him to Peter Weir. Both are so versatile with their subject matter. Can handle any genre with aplomb and don't always get their dues for that skill.
Possibly one of my favorite movie endings. It can work in a couple of different ways. Either Suthetland's character has been taken over and the changes were so subtle we didn't notice so we are caught unaware, orrr, and the ending I like better because it's more human and chilling and thus real horror, is that he is faking and deflecting suspicion to stay alive for his own self-preservation. But in doing so, does he lose his humanity and thus make moot the thing he was is holding onto? Makes you wonder what you would do in the same situation and you empathize and are disgusted because some of us would probably do that. Chilling.
At 5:52, the guy who is pounding on the windshield is Kevin McCarthy, the leading man in the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers. He also did the very same thing in the 1956 version.
YES!!!! One of my absolute all-time favorite horror movies, and what a reaction this was! You said at the very end: "Now I wanna watch this 20 more times!" That's exactly how felt when I first saw it! I would see it every chance I got for years. The creepy paranoid atmosphere of this movie, especially in the first half, is rivaled only by "The Shining" as far as I'm concerned. The feeling of dread is palpable. And it TOTALLY delivers on the practical effects, we get the opening stuff in the rain, we get the mindblowing transformations, the shovel in the face, the man-dog.....and then her crumbling. Plus a TERRIFYING screech and musical score. Love how you loved how smart these characters were! Totally agreed! One more high-five for the 70s, man! They did not dumb stuff down! These are real multi-dimensional characters played by top-notch actors. All my fave horror movies are by directors who only did one or two horror movies, and this is a perfect example. Philip Kaufman. A few years later he did "The Right Stuff", an INCREDIBLE movie about the birth of NASA, highly, highly recommend that one. THANKS JAMES!!!!!!!!! This was FANTASTIC!
Fun facts: The man who runs through the streets, shouting "it's too late, their already here" is the lead actor from the original film. -The final reveal was parodied in Despicable ME 2. -By the end of the film... Even the birds were taken over. -the camera movement represent the actors mindset.
Fun fact Donald Sutherlamd played a character called Homer Simpson in the movie called Day of The Locust.Another great Sutherland movie is Din't Look Now.
I'm happy that you have seen this masterpiece, I've watched it probably ten times in my life, every time I've seen it I do not consider it a waste of time. The central theme is how important human connections are, ultimately, and how love is of vital importance as well as how little time we have with each other, we all crumble into dust eventually, the acting is top-notch as well. The last scene is considered one of the most horrifying moments in movie history, the 70's is no joke when it comes to film quality, as Quentin Tarantino mentioned, and for good reason.
Saw it at the drive-in (along with Rocky II) when I was six and it’s been etched into my brain for 44 years, especially when he crushed that head. And it’s PG! Even the ads on the back of comic books were scary.
I watched this when it were playing in theaters in 78 and I loved it. When it was on HBO I seen it several times. My husband didn't get the subplot and didn't liked it. It is a great Sci fi horror film and was a well made remake from the original. Thank you for reacting to the movie.
You should really check out the 1956 version, for comparison purposes. Same story, but different execution, and still completely freaky. Worth a look. I really like both versions.
The guy that slamming the windscreen is actually the actor that played the main character in the original movie. Near the end he is stood in traffic shouting the exact same thing
I'm glad you enjoyed this film, it's one of my all-time favs! Now, you need to watch 'The World's End' with Simon Pegg and directed by Edgar Wright, the completion of the trilogy they started with 'Shaun of the Dead' and 'Hot Fuzz'. It's totally appropriate for Halloween and you'll appreciate it so much more having now seen Body Snatchers!!!
