“Set at the intersection of post-Vietnam paranoia and the myopic introspection that became hippiedom’s most lasting cultural contribution, the Philip Kaufman-directed Invasion alternates social commentary with impeccably crafted scares.”
In tribute to Leonard Nimoy who died on Friday 27 February we're showing the great science fiction film he starred in that didn't require a pair of pointy ears.
Philip Kaufman's Invasion of the Body Snatchers is that rarest of two-headed beasts: a remake that actually holds its own – and for many surpasses – the original. And a horror film that is genuinely terrifying.
Whereas the Body Snatchers of 1950s small-town America can be viewed as a (quite brilliant) ‘reds-under-the-bed’ cold war allegory, the 1978 Body Snatchers take over a San Francisco already gripped by self-obsessed fads for new age alternative therapy, psychoanalysis and the like.
Co-starring alongside Donald Sutherland and Jeff Goldblum, Leonard Nimoy’s unsettling screen-presence and off-kilter charm contribute greatly to the movie’s almost unbearable atmosphere of paranoia and creeping dread.
