Invasion of the Mind Snatchers

Well, I did it. I finally finished my marathon viewing of all movie iterations of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers."

Actually, I did most of this a couple of years ago. I put them on my Netflix queue when The Invasion first came out. I thought I'd be through them just in time for its DVD release. Then I heard how bad the most recent version was, so I just stopped after the first three. Well, my friend Dale said that didn't count. I had to watch them all. Ugh. So I reluctantly queued it up again and sat myself down for some pain. At first, it wasn't that bad, but then... well, I'll save that for the end of this post. Even though it is definitely the freshest in my mind, I think it's probably important to go through these chronologically.

By the way, if you've never seen any of these movies (or haven't figured out the plots just from their titles), here is my obligatory spoiler warning.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
The original. The classic? I'm not sure. I definitely liked it, but it's still a cheesy B-movie. The whole story is told in flashback (which is easy to forget during the movie). Our narrator first appears to be a crazed maniac, but we quickly see that he wasn't always that way. Alien plants landed in his small home town and slowly started replacing people with mindless duplicates. Although mindless isn't exactly the right word. They still talk and act, but they've been completely brainwashed and act like they've just taken a big dose of Valium.

The beauty of this film is almost all tied into the setting into which is was released. Fear and paranoia were starting to erode the post-WWII elation. Fear of communism, McCarthyism, and witch hunts; fear of atomic weapons, bomb shelters, and "Duck and Cover." This film plays right into all of that. Could you tell if your neighbor was a pod person? Could you tell if he were a Commie? Fear of the unknown-- is it safe to explore space? Fear of the outsider-- why isn't Bob acting like all the rest of us?

The key, of course, is not to fall asleep. They can only duplicate you when you sleep, so just stay awake. What a fantastic device! Not only is a great metaphor for complacency vs. vigilance, it also leads to the natural mind games brought on by sleep deprivation. Did that really happen, or does he just thinks it happened because he hasn't slept in five days?

I'll give this one five stars. Probably it only deserves three, but I'll bump it up a couple for its period, campiness, and originality.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
This is the first remake with Donald Sutherland. It actually manages to have a fairly nice surprise at the end, which has since been ruined by an internet meme. The plot is still the same: alien plants, mindless duplicates, don't fall asleep. But this time they spend a little more time focusing on the how of it.

I really love how this movie is also a reflection of the times in which is was released. Not only did it have more special effects (which was all the rage in Hollywood after Star Wars), but it also had an interesting view of science. Leonard Nimoy plays a hipster, book-promoting psychologist (I think?), and it's hard to tell if we're supposed to "grok" him or distrust him.

And that leads me to the weird part-- what's the fear? In the original, most see it as an allegory about communism, but couldn't it also be supporting individualism? Here, we're in the '70's, the Me Generation. They already threw down "the man" in the '60's, man, now it's time to boogie. One of the things I like about this one is that the characters all seem so arrogant, even in the face of an alien plague. Maybe the movie was trying to say that we're all just as doomed if we only look out for ourselves. Not a condemnation of individuality, necessarily, but of selfishness.

I give this one three stars. I'd recommend it, and it's definitely entertaining, but the dated-ness of the '70's isn't nearly as charming as the dated-ness of the '50's.

Body Snatchers (1993)
The lesser known remake. I'm having a bit of trouble remembering the details about this one, but I do remember I liked it. They took the original story and made many tweaks to it, making it feel completely new. Sure, there's still alien pods and duplicates, but the trappings are different.

First of all, instead of a middle aged man as a protagonist, we get a teenage girl. And rather than a small town or large city, she's stuck on a military base. This is especially interesting because the whole point of the military is to break down individuals and remake them into cohesive units. But also, being on a military base introduces something that was pretty absent in the previous two: weapons. This film has much more action and 'splosions than the other two.

But what was there to fear in the '90's? The obvious theme is increased militarism from the Reagan era, but I think that's secondary. Despite the more dramatic setting, I think this one is actually more personal. I think it deals best with the conflicting ideas of being an individual versus being an outsider. In the first film, they don't believe the narrator because he's acting like a loon. Here, they don't believe her because she's just a kid, something we can all partly identify with.

I'll give this one four stars. It's a good action movie, a good horror movie, and an overlooked film.

The Invasion (2007)
Ugh. Again, same plot. Like the first sequel, more time spent "explaining" the problem, more pointless special effects. Protagonist is a female looking out for her child. The film starts in medias res, just so we can flashback a few days and watch it lead to those same scenes (which are played again). I really, really hate this trope. I am so sick of movies and/or TV shows that show something, then have a title card with "Three days earlier" or whatever. It is a complete waste, and very poor storytelling. Okay, off soapbox, back to movie.

The interesting thing about this movie, and what made me think I was enjoying it part way through it, was the perceived target of the fear. Communism, then individualism, then militarism; in this one, I think they're attacking indifference. At the beginning of the movie, there are many shots of hundreds of people walking the streets of DC, completely oblivious to everyone around them. After the pods get a hold of them, they are much more quiet. They stand still. They pay attention. As in the other films, the heroes try to "pass" as converted. It's interesting what advice she is given here: "Don't show emotion," "Make direct eye contact." As the pods take over, the ones who can't fake it scream and plead for help, while everyone around them ignores them (whether they're pod-people or not). That's pretty scary, and pretty normal in our modern world.

But instead of being intellectually stimulating or offering more social commentary, this movie devolves into an action movie. You see, it's just a disease. Science can cure it. Her son is immune, so he can be used to save the world! We're finally treated to a high speed chase, in which Nicole Kidman's goal is literally to "GET HIM TO ZEE CHOPPAH!!!" So sad. I think this one really had some possibilities, and it just totally blew it.

One star. It's terrible. Don't be suckered into having your own marathon, this one really isn't worth it.

Well, I suppose if I were a professional blog writer, I would have done a lot more research, thorough analysis, and structured organization of my thoughts. Unfortunately for you, I didn't. I just kind of scrambled together my thoughts and put them out there. Maybe as I get more regular at this, I'll do a better a job at putting up more polished posts.