by Adam Ritchie, Contributing Writer
Welcome back to another edition of 20th Century Flicks!
As I write this, sitting in my makeshift little home office in Australia, we are entering sneezin’ season, otherwise known as spring. The skies are blue, the sun is shining, the temperatures are rising, my eyes are itchy, and my random loud as hell dad sneezes are scaring the kids and the cat.
Assuming most of the audience for this column is from North America, you will all be entering what you call Fall, but what we English colonials correctly call Autumn. But you are also entering a season that every Australian kid that grew up in the ‘80s and ‘90s watching American movies could only dream about: Halloween!! Walking around the streets, knocking on strangers’ doors, and asking for candy, as weird as it sounds to us below the equator, is actually gaining a growing foothold here. The stores have this strange mix of Halloween decorations, while Christmas stuff is sitting on the dugout, waiting to be called off the bench.
So… in support of this macabre yet sweet little season of dress ups, sugar bumps, and pumpkin mutilation, I thought I should write about a classic horror film. Being a recent convert to horror, I couldn’t hold out until October so began my #spooky watching season in earnest. I have spent a lot of September (or #Spooktember on Letterboxd) delving into some of my list of shame for these old classics. So having really enjoyed the 1956 version, and hearing so much positive word of mouth about its 1978 remake, I thought I needed to watch Invasion of the Body Snatchers ASAP.
Set San Francisco, the basic plot is that an alien race deposits their pods in the form of pink flowers onto earth and begin to invade and take over the bodies of those that come close to them. Fortuitously or not, a lab scientist named Elizabeth Driscoll (Brooke Adams) is the first to notice any danger through a change in her partner. She reveals her assumptions to her colleague Matthew Bennell (Donald Sutherland) and so the investigation and chase begin.
This is probably the best atmospheric film I think I ever remember seeing. I’m not talking about tone specifically, but atmosphere. The score is terrific, and that grainy film stock is just so perfect that I was locked in and completely immersed in this world from the get go.
Also starring a baby Jeff Goldblum, Leonard Nimoy, and Veronica Cartwright, Invasion of the Body Snatchers is filled with great practical effects and suspense that creates a true sense of urgency.
Thanks to a well written and performed through line, a positive driver of this film is the relationship between Bennell and Driscoll. The subtle exposition, with a look or throwaway line of how he feels about her without the ability to act on it, is equally effective from her perspective. You can see she knows he’s smitten with her, but she plays it off professionally and carefully. It feels so authentic to watch, and Bennell’s hopelessness in Driscoll’s presence was adorable. It’s such fantastic character development told largely with only visual exposition and great performances from Sutherland and Adams.
Admittedly, I did a wee bit of research on this after I watched it, as the consensus of themes seemed to be that of political paranoia, which I did not pick up on at all. With hindsight, I can definitely see why this could have been viewed that way at the time, and in that Cold War climate. With the 1956 version, I couldn’t help but think the allegory was about cancer. An invasive infection that (true in 1956) was basically impossible to beat. With this 1978 version, I did not get the same sense of impending and fearful hopelessness. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) really feels like it’s primary purpose is to be a straight out horror/thriller. Mindless conformity and any political undertones are merely a byproduct of the story telling.
This is what I love about art, though. Depending on your social surroundings, influences, and timing, different people will perceive different ideologies and metaphors in the art they see. And truth be told, you can’t deny anyone their individual experiences as all are true.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers is astutely directed by Philip Kaufman, and is one of those films that has stayed in my mind since I saw it. I am itching to see it again ASAP.
You can read more from Adam Ritchie, and follow him on Twitter and Letterboxd