Bloodtype Online

    This version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a very creepy movie.  This movie is all about the loss of individuality while becoming a small part of the whole of a new society.  Instead of the large and scary monsters the aliens are very soothing and calm.  Leonard Nimoy is especially great in his role as psychiatrist/pod person Dr. David Kibner.  There is one scene in particular where he is administering a sedative to the Matthew Bennell character (played wonderfully by Donald Sutherland) where Bennell is yelling at him “you’re killing me” over and over again.  The way that Nimoy plays that scene is far creepier and disturbing than any rubber suited alien could be.  Another scene that is incredibly effective is towards the end of the movie where the Bennell character is walking past a long line of school buses as children are being lead into a building.  You hear a child’s voice saying “why do I have to take a nap now”.  Again another very simple and low-key scene that really is just horrifying if you think about what it happening.  I’ve already mentioned a couple members of the cast in Nimoy and Sutherland but I wanted to mention a few others.  Brooke Adams is wonderful as the lead female character in the movie.  Early on in the movie she is the only one who knows that something isn’t right.  Her performance sets the tone for the rest of the movie and is critical to the film’s success.  Genre vets Jeff Goldblum (The Fly) and Veronica Cartright (Alien) are also very good in supporting roles.  Truthfully this is one of the finest casts that I’ve ever seen in any sci-fi or horror film.  Without their performances this movie simply wouldn’t work at all.   

    The special effects in Invasion of the Body Snatchers are pretty good.  This was a fairly low budget movie so they had to be creative in how they managed the effects.  The filmmakers were able to pull of many of the effects by shooting the action in reverse and then simply running the film backwards.  This is particularly effective in the early scenes with the pods and their tendrils.  Some of the effects with the nearly finished pods are sort of rough, especially the scene in the garden towards the end of the movie.  Though in the same scene we do get the one really good gore effect with a garden tool to the head!  All in all the effects are perfectly fine for this movie.   

    Since this is a two-disc set I did want to talk about the second disc of extras.  To be honest I was very disappointed in the extras that were available on the second disc.  The discs boast 4 documentaries, which it does have.  Unfortunately they documentaries are only 5 to 13 minutes long each.  All together they amount to just a bit more than 30 minutes long and they really don’t cover all that much.  For example the documentary on the special effects talks exclusively about the effects that you see in the first 5 minutes of the movie and never once mentions any of the actually pod effects!  This as well as the lack of interviews with either Leonard Nimoy or Jeff Goldblum ruined the second disc for me.   

    If you are looking for a gory horror movie then Invasion of the Body Snatcher isn’t for you.  If there was ever a movie that was all about getting into your head and scaring you with it’s ideas this is it.  This movie is a very sophisticated psychological thriller that will seriously creep you out.  This is a great movie that I highly recommend.  But be warned.  If you already own a copy don’t double dip with this one.  In spite of what the package says the extras don’t warrant the purchase of another copy.