Horror movies tend to be the source of the most remakes, as is the case right now, with plans in the works in Hollywood for what must be every low-budget horror film to be "re-imagined." There are good reasons for this; the basic aim of horror is to create visceral reactions in the audience, so premises are usually simple and dramatic. Big stars rarely appear in horror movies, since it's really the content that's the star, and as what content is considered acceptable in movies changes opportunities for updates come up. Philip Kauffmann's Invasion of the Body Snatchers is one of the better remakes that I've seen. Actually, it could be taken as a sequel as much as a remake to the earlier movie, showing the invasion at a later stage. Here, instead of a small town the setting is San Francisco, though the story's structure is fairly close to the original. It's not surprising that this already grim scenario, a product of 1950s paranoia, would become even bleaker in the 70s. The original showed the aliens taking over a small town; here they take over an entire city. The cast is the first of the movie's pluses. It includes Donald Sutherland, as a food inspector, Brooke Adams, who also appeared in Days of Heaven but is given an actual role here, Veronica Cartwright, the other woman aboard the Nostromo, and Jeff Goldblum, playing his usual neurotic. The movie's major strength, though, is its atmosphere. Kaufmann's inventive direction builds a sense of paranoia and unease in each scene through off-kilter camera angles and ominous details. Since a remake by its nature is going to lack the original's element of surprise, Kauffman compensates in the first half by keeping the audience constantly on its toes with the feeling that something may be about to happen. The movie falters a bit when it comes to storytelling. The premise, at least as developed here, is a little too thin for the full running time, and once the characters have recognized the threat, the rest of the movie consists of them running away. In comparison to the lean Don Siegel original, this goes on for too long, particularly when it becomes clear that none of these people are going to get away. It's not too surprising that this already grim scenario, a product of 1950s paranoia, would become even bleaker in the 70s. The original showed the aliens taking over a small town; here they take over an entire city.
Review of Invasion of the Body Snatchers
