Directed by Philip Kaufman
Written by W.D. Richter, based on the novel “The Body Snatchers” by Jack Finney
Starring Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Leonard Nimoy, Jeff Goldblum, Veronica Cartwright
Runtime: 1 hour 55 minutes
Rated PG (but would be a modern-day R-rating)
Coming out on Blu-Ray from Kino Lorber on February 1st

by Audrey Callerstrom, Staff Writer

It’s unfortunate that film adaptations of Jack Finney’s Invasion of The Body Snatchers have dropped significantly in quality as time goes on. Abel Ferrara’s stylish Body Snatchers (1993) was followed by the flop The Invasion in 2007. It seems like it would be an easy formula to coast on, updating slightly for the times. I mean, we’ve seen more than enough iterations of the same zombie film, and most of us have already lived through three Spider-Men. The ‘70s version, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, follows Matthew (Donald Sutherland in his curly-haired glory), as a health inspector whose colleague Elizabeth (Brooke Adams) begins to notice that her husband has been acting slightly off. At first we see him hooting and hollering at football on the TV. In the next moment, he’s robotic, emotionless, always needing to leave to attending vague meetings, even though he’s a dentist.

Invasion of the Body Snatches gets bogged down during its first 90 minutes by going in circles as a frustrated group of people slowly find out what’s happening, even though we already know. We see from the opening credits that ethereal shapes, which look like out-of-water jelly fish, float on an unnamed planet. The shapes and mist buzz through the atmosphere until reaching Earth and, mixed with rain, turn into a clear goo which inhabits and morphs the DNA of the plants. We see a bud in the center of leaf grow rapidly, with veiny legs like a spider. After strange occurrences, Elizabeth, Matthew, and couple Nancy (Veronica Cartwright) and Jack (Jeff Goldbum) band together to figure out what’s going wrong with the people in San Francisco. More than a couple scenes involve these characters trying to figure it out what exactly is happening with everyone and their drastic personality shifts. Although his presence is welcomed and adds a certain style to the film (not to mention these wacky gloves), it’s not really clear why this film added Leonard Nimoy as a popular psychiatrist. Through some clunky exposition, we find out that he’s, I guess, changed the trajectory of the tour for his self-help book to try and convince people that no one is changing, that a “hallucinatory flu” is going around. It feels more like stunt casting than giving Nimoy anything meaningful to do. That character, as well as Brooke Adams’ unconvincing acting, drag some of the scenes

But when things get creepy, look out. There are at least three or four genuinely scary scenes buried in this film, if not more. All special effects were created live for the camera, including an eerie dog with the face of a man. The group of friends, trying their best to avoid falling asleep, are inevitably cloned overnight, and the creation of these pod people is visceral. The lips of a pod crack like dried leaves as a being squelches out. We essentially watch a baby crowning as a pod pushes out an adult fetus. It groans and writhes. It’s an upsetting and disturbing visual, this garden of naked pod people, groaning and covered in a spiderweb-like substance. I had seen this film before, some twenty or so years ago, and this was scene that I remember the most. Invasion of the Body Snatchers also boasts an effective score, relying on the sound of a distorted heartbeat to create eerie tension.

Sutherland, thankfully and expectedly, makes up for the lack of effort on the part of his costar. The fact that there is supposed to be a kindling romance between them is something the film could have easily scrapped. It would have been more interesting, too, to see the changes in multiple people as the pods take over. We’re limited to this small group of friends with vague characteristics (I guess Goldblum plays a poet, although it’s not clear why that’s ever mentioned). Night shots are particularly eerie, too, as only the light from street lamps and businesses illuminates the pod people, who shriek and point when they’ve identified a human in their midst. One night shot shows the group of friends trying to hide in the night undetected, their shadows cascading on the side of a building. Invasion of the Body Snatchers may not be among Sutherland’s top performances, but only because his underwritten character is overshadowed by such effective, disturbing special effects.