Invasion Of The Body Snatchers

Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1956)

What an absolutely terrifying concept. You fall asleep and wake up replaced by emotionless alien replica of yourself. Your only chance to survive is what exactly… to stay awake forever? To destroy every pod within a hundred meters of you? Impossible! As protagonist Dr. Bennell makes clear, we’re doomed.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers is the perfect mix of sci-fi and horror. A disturbing sci-fi concept of an alien life-form taking control of us, mixed with the horrors of seeing a small town slowly lose its identity and become something it’s not. Also… those pods are disgusting.

There’s just a building dread from the moment the good doctor begins to tell his cautionary tale to his skeptical listeners. I love his return to town where there’s been a massive uptake in appointments only for everyone to cancel claiming they’re no longer ill. That idea that they could all feel something was wrong and then not be able to do anything about it is just horrific. Add to the fact that the film came out during the Cold War and the back end of Mccarthyism paranoia, what a perfect platform for horror.

As someone who always writes about identity, to see it taken away in such a cruel manner is truly scary. The stuff with the uncle, the kid, then the whole town. Seeing people you knew, and were friends with, become emotionless blanks and not know why. It just gets nastier and nastier.

I loved the relationship between the doctor and Becky. Trying to rekindle what was lost while an alien invasion happens. Trying to protect each other and those around them during such insane circumstances. Them turning up at the empty restaurant is such a clever scene. You’re begging for them to get away… or at least not fall asleep. The stuff in the cave when they’re on the run is pure drama. I wanted them to be ok… but the odds were not in their favour.

10 years before Romero’s masterpiece Night of The Living Dead, Invasion of the Body Snatchers hits a lot of the same notes of paranoia, small town invasion, and bubbling tension mixed with inevitable doom. It’s classic science fiction, and one of the best of its era in my mind. A brilliant effort from a great director, and a film that’s had more than its fair share of remakes, however, the original stands tall in my eyes.