Dave
It was a blast to see this classic film on the big screen. It's a perfect creepy movie for Halloween season. I would have given the review five stars but the theater I saw it in chose to turn on the lights during the last five minutes of the film which ruined the atmosphere completely.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
10/18/22
Full Review
Illya S
Prediction?
The first major success of Siegel — a 1956 film that some may find outdated or even naive. Yet, despite all modern views, this film is a true gem of American cinema.
The first thing I’d like to highlight is the outstanding performance by Kevin McCarthy. Throughout the film, you understand him, his actions, his motivation. The actor masterfully conveyed the emotions of his character.
Next, I’d like to point out the director, who, while using somewhat classical and outdated filming techniques, still managed to make it look interesting on screen. I also liked the musical accompaniment, which felt just right for a film of this type.
Now, moving directly to the plot. First of all, it’s a genuinely engaging, suspenseful, and at times even frightening story. A story about something unknown and unexplored, which establishes its own rules. It seeks to take away the most valuable thing people have — humanity. As clichéd as that might sound, it’s true. How will this struggle end? Will they succeed?
The director’s message can be interpreted in different ways; as with most good films, each viewer may find something unique. For me, I saw a reflection of what I see in life today. No, I wouldn’t say that people have become emotionless or have lost their capacity to love. But now it seems that humanity has faded a little — people have become more hardened, trying to be "normal." This word can be interpreted differently, but at its core, that’s what happened to the characters in the film. They were simply ordinary people, all alike...
Love, desire, ambition, faith - without them, life's so simple, believe me
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
10/26/24
Full Review
Jonathan O
One of the creepiest 50's sci-fi horror of cinema is scary and unbelievable set of paranoia of while you're a sleep and these pods would take over body and you won't feel a thing and that's frighting until Freddy Kruger takes over of your dreams and really amazing camera work to build up the scares and the chills and Don Siegel did really impressive directing.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
10/12/24
Full Review
Audience Member
Wonderful classic paranoia driven thriller. Builds wonderfully and keeps the pace throughout. I prefer this to the 1978 remake, which is also a great film.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
09/18/24
Full Review
Matthew B
The action of Invasion of the Body Snatchers does not take place in a dream, but it does raise fears about undergoing a transformation while asleep. It is during their sleep that the inhabitants of the town of Santa Mira are turned into pod people and lose their human identity. Suddenly sleep has become a threat and not a relief.
Even the romantic line that the movie's hero, Dr Miles Bennell (Kevin McCarthy) quotes to Becky Driscoll (Dana Wynter) is from A Midsummer Night's Dream, a Shakespeare play in which characters are transformed in their sleep ("I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows.").
The notion of a small town under threat was a popular notion in cinema for many decades. In Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the threat is an alien one. Sea pods floating in space have landed on earth, and they have the capacity to absorb the identity of humans.
Dr Bennell is the local practitioner in Santa Mira. The town is so small that he knows everybody, a point that later adds a tragic scale to events, as he is able to observe the activities from a hiding place and name every one of the people who have been replaced, and who are now working against the human race.
With Invasion of the Body Snatchers, director Don Siegel demonstrated that sci-fi could be visually compelling without the need for special-effects. Only $15,000 was spent on effects. Indeed only $416,911 was spent on the whole movie, although it took in a generous $3 million at the box office. This may explain the absence of star names. Kevin McCarthy was an actor given to exaggerated performances, though that made him well-suited to this role. Most of the other cast members are not really known for appearing in other movies.
Nonetheless Invasion of the Body Snatchers contains images that stay in the mind, even though no large sum of money was needed to film them. The scenes that stay with me are the duplicates emerging from the pods, the entire town chasing our heroes on foot, a field of agricultural workers harvesting pods and putting them onto trucks while gentle music plays, and a kiss that turns into one of most terrifying kisses in screen history.
Did the pod people ruin Invasion of the Body Snatchers? Last-minute changes were made to the movie before it was released to the wider audiences. The studio was not too happy when test audiences laughed too much at the film, and the film was edited as a result. In the process it lost much of its humour and humanity, according to the film's producer, Walter Wanger.
There is a certain irony in the thought that the studio removed the very qualities that might be seen as separating the human race from the pod people. It might seem as if some of the company executives were themselves ‘pod people', lacking appreciation of the warmer and funnier aspects of the film.
Nonetheless the film is tense, nightmarish and gripping, and it is one of the best science-fiction movies of its decade.
I wrote a longer appreciation of Invasion of the Body Snatchers on my blog page if you would like to read more: https://themoviescreenscene.wordpress.com/2018/10/28/invasion-of-the-body-snatchers-1956/
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
08/25/23
Full Review
David F
A solid Science Fiction B-Movie from the 50s with a story and plot that offers up many possible allegorical interpretations.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
08/23/23
Full Review
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