Surrounded by friends and family and loved ones, but you're all alone. The world is being taken over and there is nothing for the characters to do but run. This suspense filled horror is a sweaty palm ride from start to finish. You don't know what is going to happen the movie gets you so wrapped up in what is happening you can't stop to think of the possible outcomes.
In the city of san Francisco everyone is living their everyday lives but they start to notice something wrong with strangers and then friends and then family. The paranoia starts to build as you don't know what is going on and then the conspiracy against them is rising. There is a large rising fear along with the enemies among the crowd.
Added to the list of favorite horror films. This movie does such a great job of leaving you as blind and scared as the characters not knowing if anyone you are talking to you can trust. It was really good with the exception of a few things.
The character development is fine and it works for the film these are characters that are contempt with their lives but have that feeling of just wanting different or more and they end up getting that in the worst way possible. It worked for the film and I felt for them but it took a bit to get there. Another part that bothered me a little bit was the soundtrack. To me it felt like a video game soundtrack just a same tune that would intensify in danger. Where as films like The Thing, Jaws and The Shining all have great soundtracks that help carry the feeling and theme of the movie. So I thought it felt a little lackluster. The setting and costumes throughout the film was very real though. It all felt like it belonged and nothing was out of place, there were a few strange shots but that was because strange things were happening everywhere. A big part of this movie that I wasn't expecting to see a whole lot of was the special effects. It was very prominent for a lot of the scenes and it looked very alien and foreign and I guess since we haven't actually seen anything of the sort I cannot say that it doesn't look real. There was a scene or two of blood that felt a bit cheesy but it was effect nevertheless.
One of my favorite parts of this film was the slight monotone voices of some of the background characters. It left so much in the air early in the film, making you question everything that is going on. A filming technique that I picked up on was the silence a lot of the time. There was some strange music throughout a lot of the film but there was a ton of silence just before the music. I enjoyed this very much it made for a very eerie feel for a lot of the film. One technique that I understood but felt was a bit out of place in the movie was the scene in which Donald Sutherland's character is trying to talk to someone about what is going on and the camera is zooming around creating a distressed feeling for him. I liked what it was going for but it felt out of place in the film.
"Jack Bellicec: It's a big conspiracy. Matthew Bennell: What's a conspiracy? Jack Bellicec: Everything." (W. D. Richter 1978). A huge message in the film was conspiracy and how it was you against the world with not escape. This feeling was shown very well through the constant worry and distress shown through the lead characters. Paranoia is a huge theme and feeling that is throughout a large portion of the film, it has so many little things that go on the just catches the eye of the main characters for a second making you stop and wonder what exactly is going on. I believe the main theme deals directly with the quote from the film that I used to title this review; Survival. All everyone is trying to do it survive and fit for their independence and be themselves. This is throughout the entire film they even start to lose hope that they will be able to fight back against the invasion but the characters know that they must continue to fight.
This Invasion of the Body Snatchers 1978 film has some technical flaws here and there but overall it is a very good horror film and it has one of the best movie endings I have ever seen, right up there with Keyser Soze from The Usual Suspects and The Sixth Sense. On a grading scale of A+ to F, I would give Invasion of the Body Snatchers a B+.
Review of Invasion of the Body Snatchers
