Invasion Of The Body Snatchers 1978 remake

[mego73]

Being a Star Trek fan I saw this when it came out because it had Leonard Nimoy in it. It was scary and freaky (and exciting with a little surprise nudity that was snuck into this PG movie) at the time.

And I got the movie when it was available on video. But for the first time in a while I just sat down in watched it. Darn, that's a great movie.

It's great how Phillip Kaufman snuck in all these little things in the background to tell you things weren't entirely right with the city.

And the pod and pod people effects look pretty organic even today (I can't see CGI doing much better). And the sound design is by the great Ben Burtt (and I remember hearing a lot of the pod sound effects in other movies later on).

It's great how the movie is populated with quirky people that little by little get absorbed into the pod collective.

And great actors:

Donald Sutherland (many people know him from M*A*S*H or Animal House but this movie was my first awareness of him)
Leonard Nimoy
Jeff Goldblum
Veronica Cartwright (who got good practice for ALIEN in this movie)
Robert Duvall (okay, he's only a cameo with no lines at the beginning of the movie as a favor to the director)

[MicromanZone]

It’s a really mind-blowing film. And it falls in nicely into tons of other great 1970s “non-happy” ending films. And Donald Sutherland at the end… Special effects could never create the horror of that one final moment… @%$@! pure terror.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nFXIPdseQA

[johnmiic]

And a cameo by Kevin McCarthy, from the original film. Greatest line in the film, "Why do we always expect metal spaceships?"

[megoapesnut]

One of my all time favorites. And it looks really good on Blu-ray.

[HardyGirl]

I've never even seen the original.

[mego73]

One of my all time favorites. And it looks really good on Blu-ray.

I'm sure it does. I just watched it on an HD HBO channel and it looked great and I'm sure it's the same transfer. I intend to get the blu ray soon. I have the last DVD. The Phillip Kaufman commentary is great too. And it let me know that one of the reasons that Nimoy wound up in the film was because of Kaufman was one of the people that had a turn at the Star Trek movie/TV show (it kept going back and forth before Star Wars cemented it into a big movie project).

[fallensaviour]

I love the film!!!
Nimoy was great as was sutherland.Two of my favorite actors.

[jds1911a1]

I've never even seen the original.

The remake is good the original is a classic. the pods are a thinly veiled red menace comunism analog. I love the last line
"They're coming for you You're Next"

[ctc]

Hmmmm....

I liked the remake. ONe thing I thought was nifty was that it didn't fight with the original continuity-wise. The remake could have been taking place DURING the original, but in another location. (Surely more than ONE person noticed something weird....)

Don C.

[LonnieFisher]

The original is one of my favorite movies so I pretty much hated the remake. I really don't like remake movies. I'd rather have them make sequels. I'd love to see a sequel...

[bobws]

I remember it, it was a real good film and i love the mcCarthy cameo.

[MEMEGO]

At first, I did not really like this movie. But upon later viewings years later, my opinion changed, it is a very good movie, and not just because of Mr. Nimoy.

[Gorn Captain]

I dislike remakes, but this one made the film stand on its own two feet quite well. They made it different enough, so it didn't feel like a rehash.
And that era in SciFi films was really harsh and uncompromising. You could always expect a downbeat ending.
A well-made film, not a classic, but respectful and a fresh new view.

[MIB41]

I love the original. Plus it has the last of appearance of Karloff and Legosi together. That makes it noteworthy right there. I never actually saw the remake so I can't comment on that.

[Dark Shadow]

I saw the remake just weeks prior to seeing the original, and I liked them both. I haven't seen either since the late seventies, but one of the funny scenes from the remake that is permanently seared in my brain is the exchange between Sutherland & a chef regarding a suspect ingredient:

S: It's a rat turd.

C: A what?
S: A rat turd.

C: A caper!
S: A rat turd.

C: A caper!
S: If it's a caper, eat it.