Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978 film)

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From deep space... The seed is planted... terror grows.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a 1978 remake of the classic sci-fi/horror film, starring Donald Sutherland as Benell (now named Matthew instead of Miles).

It transferred the setting to The City (San Francisco) and worked in an effective theme of urban alienation, which in some respects actually reverses the theme of the original - at one point a character expresses her paranoia that she keeps witnessing people recognizing each other. Isolation is so much a feature of city life that excessive human contact itself is suspicious.

This version also cranked the Body Horror; appropriately, three of the film's stars (Brooke Adams, Art Hindle, and Jeff Goldblum) all went on to do films with David Cronenberg. Thanks to its critical acclaim and high performance at the box office, it is considered one of the best horror remakes.

Tropes used in Invasion of the Body Snatchers include:

• Adaptation Distillation: This version shows the invasion taking place in a colder, more impersonal "I'm OK, you're OK, everyone's OK" national culture that often openly questioned whether its best years as a country were behind it. In such an environment, the invasion succeeds.
• And Then John Was a Zombie: (See Twist Ending.)
• Assimilation Plot: Discussed in this version.
• Body Horror: The remake answers the question of what happened to the people whom the pods replaced. They melt.
• The Cameo: Quite a few; the star of the 1956 version, Kevin McCarthy, plays a man crying, "They're here!" (just like the end of the 1956 film); the 1956 version's director, Don Siegel, plays a cab driver; Robert Duvall plays a priest near the beginning of the film; and Jerry Garcia can be heard on the soundtrack playing the banjo.
• Cleanup Crew: The garbagemen.
• Dutch Angle: The remake features many bizarre camera angles to emphasize disorientation and isolation.
• Eat the Camera: Ends this way.
• Heroic Sacrifice: When the group are being chased by the Pod people, Jack and Nancy sacrifice themselves to the pod people as a distraction to allow their friends to escape.
• Hope Spot: The "Amazing Grace" scene.
• Mythology Gag / Remake Cameo: Kevin McCarthy reprised his performance from the ending of the original, banging on the protagonists' windshield and screaming, "You're next!" Later on in the film, Don Siegel (director of the original) appears as an overly-suspicious cab driver.
• Twist Ending: (Matthew was transformed.)