Golden Oldies: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

Since it's the spookiest month of the year, I thought it would be apt to review some horror classics, beginning with:

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

Starring: Kevin McCarthy & Dana Wynter

Directed by: Don Siegel

Rating: ★★★

Invasion of the Body Snatchers has to be one of the most copied, parodied and remade movies ever. There are so many elements of it, including ‘pod people’ and the title, that have been lovingly spoofed or lampooned in many other different media, including other films, television and of course literature.

The movie itself is based on The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney, which has been adapted many times to the silver screen, to varying success. And even though the 70s remake starring Donald Sutherland is probably the best version, as it is unnerving, graphic and terrifying, the original 50s movie is where the idea of body stealing aliens began to wriggle itself into popular culture.

This town just isn't what it used to be...

As I’m sure you already know, since this idea is so famous and has been ironically replicated many times since, Invasion of the Body Snatchers is about the invasion of extra-terrestrial life forms on a small American town, who replace people with duplicates and so ‘steal’ their bodies. The new bodies grow in pods, and although look identical to those they replace, have no emotions or humanity. The main character Dr Miles Bennell (McCarthy) sets out to investigate his ex-girlfriend Becky’s (Wynter) claims that her uncle ‘isn’t himself’, and so begins to uncover the truth about the pod people.

The pod people growing in the barn...

Even though the film is obviously dated, it still manages to deliver chills. The idea itself is incredibly unsettling, but there are moments that make the most of this frightening premise, most notably when Bennell and Becky actually see duplicates of their friends emerging from their pods, and when the two leads are trapped in a cave towards the end. Also, the most iconic (and most parodied) scene, when the good doctor loses his sanity and begins screaming at cars on a highway, is suitably disturbing, so much so that the studio insisted on adding a prologue and epilogue in order to avoid such a downbeat finale.

It was this executive meddling that added to the film’s troubled production history. Plagued with studio interfering and budget cuts, Invasion of the Body Snatchersis so well known for its altered ending that some, including the movie’s director, felt that it almost ruined the movie.

Watch out for the pod people!

But Invasion of the Body Snatchers is perhaps more infamous for how it was viewed by film theorists and political commentators, who saw a depth to the film that was probably not originally intended.

As the film was released during the Cold War, many saw it as an anti-Communist piece of propaganda, as it warned small town Americans against the possibility that their neighbours may be undercover Soviet spies, hiding in amongst the shadows of society. At this time, McCarthyism, a term coined when U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy began accusing thousands of Americans of being Communist traitors, was in effect, with people in high ranking roles being aggressively accused and interrogated. Because of this, it was easy for people of the time to draw parallels between the unstable political climate and the dark edge that the movie has, as many saw Invasion of the Body Snatchers as being either pro or anti-McCarthyism, depending on their interpretation.

Do you really think he's just going to stand there and let the alien invasion happen??

Also at its height was the idea that people could be inadvertently brainwashed, and so the theme of the film, that ordinary people could suddenly turn against you by an unknown force, was incredibly potent. Some people may feel that this was just scaremongering, but after two World Wars and with an incredibly uncertain future ahead, it is understandable that people were a little bit edgy and paranoia was rampant.

You just know that things will not end well for our heroes...

Apparently, the film wasn’t intend to have any political connotations whatsoever- it was just meant to be a thriller and critics at the time read too much into it. This can be true of film theorists- sometimes they do read too much into things- but whether or not it was intentional, the movie’s thought provoking ideas and themes were clearly indicative of their time.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers is considered one of the scariest films ever, which is one of the reasons why I decided to watch it. Although I don’t agree with this from a contemporary perspective, there are some frightening moments, and at the time, with the worldwide climate of fear being what it was, I can understand why it must have scared the crap out of the movie going public.

You'd better run egg!

Overall, Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a good film, and is worth a watch just to see what all the fuss was about. But if you want to see a more successful, more petrifying and more horrific film that uses the same ideas to more chilling effect, watch the 70s remake. This version takes the paranoid, the horror and the feeling of dread to the next level, and rightfully deserves to be known as one of the scariest films of all time, as it continues to chill you to the very bone to this day.