Veronica Cartwright
The 1956 movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers was intended to be a B-movie, but the somewhat cheesy sci-fi became a cult horror classic. The 1978 version, same title and now on a 2-disc Collector's Edition, is basically the same story and revolves around a small town that is soon taken over by pods that grow replicas of people, only without emotion, worry or feelings of love, anger or hate. Donald Sutherland and Jeff Goldblum up the interest in this second version but it didn't seem as compelling to me as the original.
While some people easily just "go to sleep" to allow the reproduction to take over, others fight it.
Dana Wynter &
Kevin McCarthy
1956 version
In the 1956 version it was Dr. Miles Bennett (Kevin McCarthy) and his girlfriend Becky (Dana Wynter) in a small California town. The film also starred Larry Gates, Sam Peckinpah and Jean Willes.
 In this 1978 version it's Elizabeth Driscoll (Brooke Adams), who has already lost her boyfriend to a pod, and her co-worker Matthew Bennell (Donald Sutherland -- who has a crush on her -- in San Francisco.
In the 2007 version The Invasion, about to hit theaters, the theme of Jack Finney's novel is altered a tad more. This time a Washington DC psychiatrist (Nicole Kidman) who must work with co-worker Ben Driscoll (Daniel Craig) to stop a disease, extraterrestrial in origin, from taking over the world. Ironically, Veronica Cartwright has a small role in the new movie. I did not see the 1993 version Body Snatchers so I can't comment on it.
The newer DVD release of Invasion of the Body Snatchers is directed by Philip Kaufman. I was a big fan of the original film. It was interesting, frightening and different. Perhaps maybe that's why I wasn't so taken with this newer version. I did like the opening of special effects that show translucent spores falling into lush secret hiding places on earth to begin their journey to reproduce humans.
Brooke Adams
The scenario of Elizabeth realizing that "Jeffrey is not Jeffrey," quickly sets up the plot. From there the story seems to drag, as Elizabeth takes her time, almost too much, before she realizes she must get away from Jeffrey. Meanwhile, as a city health inspector Matthew spends his time chasing down rat droppings in a restaurant.
The action picks up again when Matthew takes a now anxious Elizabeth to a book signing to meet his friend and psychiatrist Dr. David Kibner (Leonard Nimoy). Also showing up and played well by Jeff Goldblum is his eccentric friend Jack Bellicec. He and his wife Nancy (Veronica Cartwright) run a mud bath and massage room, and it's here when a body is discovered morphing into Jack that pandemonium sets in.
From here on out it's a chase against time and a "who can I trust?" journey for Elizabeth and Matthew. I know horror films are often dark, but I have a large screen, hi-def TV and several of the scenes were too dark to enjoy.
If you never saw the 1956 film, you'll probably be held captive by the intrigue of this version. If you did see the original, you can still enjoy the theme and a look back at the ongoing talent of Donald Sutherland.
Donald Sutherland & Leonard Nimoy
The DVD has some keen special features.
Disc One
€˘Audio Commentary by director Philip Kaufman - I enjoyed listening to part of the film with this on that explains a lot of the decisions Kaufman made about the progression of the movie.
Disc Two:
€˘ Re-Visitors From Outer Space or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Pod - this is a featurette with comments from Kaufman and screenwriter W. D. Richter that I found interesting. Some of the cast members also contribute comments.
€˘ Practical Magic: The Special Effect Pod - a short featurette that explains everything "pod."
€˘The Man Behind The Scream: The Sound Effects Pod - an even shorter featurette that explains how the sound effects for the pod were created.
The Invasion Will Be Televised: The Cinematography Pod - a short featurette from director of photography, Michael Chapman's POV.
€˘ Original Theatrical Trailer
DIRECTOR: Philip Kaufman
WRITER: W. D. Richter (based on the novel by Jack Finney)
CAST: Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Leonard Nimoy, Jeff Goldblum and Veronica Cartwright
RATING: PG (okay for 12 and above)
CLASSIC MOVIE GUIDE RATING: 2.5 out of 5 stars
DVD RELEASE DATE: 8/07/2007
RUN TIME: 117 minutes
STUDIO: MGM Home Entertainment
FORMAT: Color- widescreen
Photo credits: MGM Home Entertainment
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