Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1978) You might wonder why we'd do a post on this remake, as excellent as it is, without first covering the incredible, iconic 1956 original......
Good question and simple answer: on Tuesday night, October 27th, from 6:30 to 7:30 pm, EST, we'll be live streaming another lively and (we hope) fun conversation about the '78 remake on behalf of Delaware's Laurel Public Library........"Tuesday Night At The Popcorn Palace".
We had to pick this one over the original since it's the only version currently available on Hoopla Digital, the free-movie-and-book service you can easily make use of with your library card......and of course, we'd like everyone to enjoy a free viewing of the film before dropping in on our Popcorn Palace get together.......
Don't worry, we will absolutely post on the classic '54 'Invasion' ASAP, as well as all the later remakes, including the strange but entertaining 1993 'Body Snatchers' and even that calamitous, misbegotten 2007 disaster, 'The Invasion' with Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman.
But now let's get down to body snatchin' business.......
Jack Finney's 1955 novel, at first presented in serialized magazine chapters, no doubt tapped into a simple primal theme that filmmakers found timeless.........the horrific loss of self, of your own identity, and the ominous evil of a single mind conformity that wipes out individualism and recognizable human emotions.
Each film version and its director crafted their own particular agenda around this premise. Don Siegal's 1957 film had the alien seed pods drifting into a small town where their duplication of the residents was easily spotted by real humans......along with the pods' soulless corruption of rock-solid Eisenhower Americana family values......
Philip Kaufman's '78 remake amps up the chills by letting the pods infect the teeming populace of San Francisco........where they're less likely to be noticed in an era where human connection has become transient and unstable and everyone's embraced the insular self absorption of what came to be known as the "Me" decade.....
In Kaufman's film, the pods envelop the city faster than Covid-19.........and in a brilliant new touch, they emit a literally unearthly shriek when they're gathered in numbers large enough to identify and overpower their human victims.
And unlike the first film, which could only imply what happens to people after they've been copied and replaced by pods, the remake displays the collapse of human flesh in grisly detail....
For those of you who've yet to experience the film, we'll not go on and detail all the many high points (even as we're dying to discuss the wonderful surprise cameo appearances and superbly orchestrated sequences....)
See it first......(free, if your library card hooks up with Hoopla)......and by all means join BQ on the 27th of this month so you can chime in on our discussion. A 4 star movie (****) like this is surely worth a Tuesday Night At The Popcorn Palace.
Watch this space for details on how to sign in (no charge, of course). Lookin' forward to seeing you all and talking up a great movie!
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