Day 7: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

"People are being duplicated. And once it happens to you, you're part of this... thing. It almost happened to me!"
- Elizabeth Driscoll

Starring: Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Leonard Nimoy, Jeff Goldblum, Veronica Cartwright, Nancy Bellicec

Directed By: Philip Kaufman

Trailer: "SLEEP...SLEEP...SLEEP"

Premise: A health inspector and his colleague discover that humanity is being replaced by alien duplicates, devoid of emotion.

My familiarity with this movie: I've heard of it, and I've seen images of the movie's final shot, but never decided to watch it until my friend Aaron Long suggested it.

Notes, opinions, general thoughts (beware of spoilers):

• I should watch the original movie next year. See how it compares to this one.
• Even before being replaced by an alien double, Geoffrey seems like kind of a jerk.
• I really like the character of Dr. Matthew Bennell, just going from this opening scene in the kitchen with the "caper".
• As Elizabeth and Matthew walk down the hallway, you can see someone pressed up against a door's window, watching them. It's a pretty creepy bit of foreshadowing.
• The full text of the joke that Matthew starts telling Elizabeth is "The British are trapped in the Sahara and are surrounded by the Germans. One day, an officer makes an announcement: 'I have good news and bad news. The bad news is, we have no food but camel poop. The good news is, there is plenty of it'."
• The man hit by the car is played by Kevin McCarthy, who played Dr. Bennell in the 1956 movie.
• Considering how he'd become so associated with the role (for better or worse), it's always fun to see Leonard Nimoy as a character that's not Spock. I like him in Mission: Impossible as well.
• I didn't know Jeff Goldblum was in this. Cool!
• "What seems to be the trouble, officer?" Ha!
• The duplicate of Jack is creepy enough, but when it opens its eyes? Yikes!
• The shot of Matthew peering out of the closet, face cloaked in shadow, is very nicely done.
• Matthew trying to get Elizabeth out of her house had me on the edge of my seat. Not gonna lie.
• Kibner doesn't believe them, does he? Ugh. I hate the "Cassandra Truth" trope.
• They jump to the "alien flowers" conclusion pretty quick, don't you think?
• WAKE UP, MATTHEW
• Godspeed, Jack and Nancy. Your sacrifice won't be forgotten.
• Do drugs, kids. Especially amphetamines. It can save your life!
• The "yellow zone is for loading and unloading only" bit reminds me of Airplane!.
• Good lord, that mutant man-dog thing! No wonder Elizabeth screamed.
• ...though the banjo music (by Jerry Garcia!) kinda downplays the horror there.
• I'm gonna be honest here, I was kinda hoping that there wasn't a romantic thing between Elizabeth and Matthew. I really liked them as friends. Though I suppose that could be because they're all they have now.
• Interesting use of "Amazing Grace", a song about salvation...to instill false hope into Matthew and Elizabeth.
• Way to make a naked Brooke Adams completely unsexy, movie.
• So, THAT'S the context of that meme of Matthew pointing. He's actually a duplicate, pointing and shrieking at Nancy. It's terrifying in context. Burned into my mind like the end of "Sleepaway Camp".
• Veronica Cartwright was not told about the movie's ending. Her fear is genuine.

The Tally of Terror:

• millions of dead bodies
• 1 alien invasion
• CUTIE ALERT: Elizabeth
• 1 pop psychologist
• several instances of Goldblum
• CUTIE ALERT: Nancy
• at least 2 naked old guys
• impolite pointing
• 4 copies of Matthew
• 1 rat turd
• 0 capers
• 2 injections
• 1 magnificent mustache
• mutant man-dog
• Leonard Nimoy as an emotionless alien

Best scare: Either Matthew being duplicated as he sleeps, or the final shot of the film with the pointing and shrieking.

The Good:

• Fast-paced plot that doesn't stop once it gets going.
• Creepy, hopeless, but tense atmosphere that keeps you on edge, holding out hope that our dwindling heroes can make it out.
• I'm a sucker for horror movies that deal in paranoia. And this one delivers.
• Great performances from the whole cast.
• Artsy, beautiful, and creepy direction, with an attention to detail, like the garbagemen gradually showing up in the background, the soundtrack going from naturalistic sounds to mechanical ones, the subtle foreshadowing like the teacher encouraging her students to take a flower...

The Bad:

• Like I mentioned before, I'm not a big fan of the "characters try to convince a sketpic that the creepy stuff is real" trope, necessary though it may be to this genre.
• And the characters figure out that the flower is responsible and that it's alien a little too quickly for my liking, but it's a minor nitpick.

Conclusion: Paranoia, likable characters, genuine terror, Jeff Goldblum, and playing on the whole urban isolation themes of the 70s. And I love few things more than a good alien invasion. Definitely recommended.