Purely Joyful Movie!

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

This 1978 remake was as good as the original but not as tight and compact. Otherwise, it is just as scary and even more moving at times (when Brooke Adams' human form collapses into dust, for example) and just as well acted (if not better) than the original. Yes, the urban setting is quite distinct from the small-town setting of the original but it works in a different way, and given the anonymity and coldness of large cities, it is a perfectly logical setting for a dystopian film. The hostile ranks of sinister, dark, faceless, soulless figures in humanoid form and the disembodied camera-lit faces of fearful people in hiding from an increasingly unfolding terror stand out. A city, universally acclaimed for its beauty (none of which shines through the dystopia) becomes, increasingly, a prison camp or colony in a bleak and turbulent void under permanent grey skies. The performances are top notch, but I would draw attention away from the better-known stars to give special mention to Canadian actor Art Hindle, whose performance is brilliant. Only very briefly seen as the sweet but flawed human Geoffrey, Elizabeth Driscoll's love interest, his post-transformation Geoffrey is chilling. Scheming, sidling, subarctically cold, he makes one realize precisely how and why Elizabeth is so distraught at his inexplicable change. Whether going off to a sinister "meeting" in the dark of night or in closeup, avoiding Elizabeth even as he keeps trying to get her to sleep and transform, his eyes are like almost orbless sockets (wonder how he managed to do that) as devoid of humanity as any alien or predator or Klingon or werewolf but scarier because of what we know has happened and what we fear will happen as the film continues to unfold nightmarishly. Speaking for myself, I missed the human Geoffrey-- a character barely introduced -- more than I later regretted the loss of characters with far more screen time. Such was Hindle's quiet brilliance here.Yes, the ending is a shock but it shouldn't be. When you see the film again and review everything that happens once the daylight returns in the last scene it really is not a surprise. It could not unfold as it does without the shocker being unavoidably true. It's just that there is a natural audience optimism based on the way most sci-fi (even horror sci-fi) films end which creates a cognitive dissonance or tension between what the viewer is expecting (especially given the ending of the 1956 film version) and what the viewer gets in this case.

It is rather interesting how this movie still manages to be entertaining today, so many years (40) after it was released.The story is of course a very familiar story, that has been remade a couple of times through the years to some or less efficiency and success. A foreign lifeform comes to earth and starts cloning people through pseudopods and replace the original person with the clone.The special effects, despite being from 1978, still manage to impress me and work out nicely in favor of the movie, despite being so old, just goes to prove that practical effects, when done properly, works marvelously. Well, aside from the dog, which looked atrocious.The cast is impressive in this 1978 remake of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" as there are some very talented people on the cast list, which include Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum, Veronica Cartwright, Leonard Nimoy and Kevin McCarthy.If you haven't seen this remake already then it is about high time that you do so.And let's just be honest, whom amongst us haven't imitated the last scene of this movie at least once? It is just iconic and classic.

Sometimes it's a real pleasure to re-watch a childhood favourite and find out that it holds up just as well today as it did when you first saw it in your rose-tinted memories. Well, guess what, INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS is just one of those pleasures, a truly terrifying alien invasion flick that offers first-rate suspense. In fact, I can fairly say this is the most claustrophobic, suspenseful, paranoid, conspiracy-style movie I've had the enjoyment of watching; no other film exactly matches the rising hysteria and the sense that your neighbours are out to kill you. Sure, the movie is slow-paced by today's standards, but that adds to the realism and the sense that you're watching a slice of everyday life unfold, albeit with a major twist.The movie is a remake of the good 1956 original and '50s star Kevin McCarthy has a wonderful cameo as pretty much the same character. The first thing you notice when you watch the film is that it isn't dated at all; the script is refreshingly true-to-life and the characters are normal, everyday modern people. Director Kaufman offers up excellent camera-work and editing to highlight the brooding suspense and deepening chaos without ever going over the top, even in the pyrotechnic climax. The casting too, is top-notch; the major players are a carefully-assembled group of unconventionals who find themselves banded together against alien evil. Tall, gangly Donald Sutherland is all bug-eyes and heroism and looks like he stepped straight off the set of DON'T LOOK NOW; Brooke Adams is all wide-eyes and fragile feminine beauty. Then there's the always kooky Jeff Goldblum in a first major performance, possibly even weirder than we're used to; whilst Veronica Cartwright displays the screaming credentials which earned her a part on board ALIEN.One of the film's most inspired pieces of casting is in Mr. Spock himself, Leonard Nimoy as a psychologist doctor, a really creepy character at that. Then there are the little things that make this film hold together so well: the continuity being immaculate (see the kicking the pod sequence for an explanation of this) and the weird, pulsing sound effects and dodgy music. Special effects are underused and work so well as a result; they're ace and the stuff of nightmares, and definitely scared the heck out of this reviewer at the tender age of 12 or so. The culmination of all this great stuff is an awesome movie that stands the test of time as THE greatest alien invasion flick there is – Spielberg should have tried watching this when he made his pointless and overblown WAR OF THE WORLDS remake.

What do these people all have in common? Donald Sutherland ... Brooke Adams Jeff Goldblum Veronica Cartwright Leonard Nimoy Kevin McCarthy They all had roles in one of the most underrated sci-fi/horror films of all time. It's a pleasure to revisit it every time---and that has been often. 7.4/10.0 on IMDb and I concur. Notably, this 1978 remake of this 1956 classic, unfolds with almost ~zero~ soundtrack music to garnish the scenes or the dialogue. Occasionally some orchestral trumpets blare to accompany forthcoming shocks. I won't bore you with a plot synopsis. Who hasn't seen one of the versions of it? It's an iconic grandparent to many sci-fi offspring over the past 3 decades. BTW; just an aside...a young Jeff Goldblum has already begun to carve out his specialty niche in 'Snatchers-2'; e.g; the fast-talking eccentric whose free associating dialogue keeps the film moving at a brisk pace... (yet with no particular goal in mind.) Goldblum has this particular 'shtick' patented...reacting to scenes like they were Rorschach inkblots is a colorful additive. Alba's Real Science Ratings give it an acceptable RSR...i.e; it's realistic except for stretches the "MacGuffin" (the body snatching pods.)