There are some things that seem to strike fear into humanity across history, irrational fear from days long past. We fear the dark because it could hide monsters, a fear that almost all of us begin with but that often fades with age. We understand why this fear exists, that it’s from a more primitive part of our brains, and we deal with it.
One primitive fear that sadly lingers to even this day is the fear of the other. People fear those that are different from them, people that they don’t understand or have little experience with. This fear comes from a tribal past, and rears its head in the modern day as the root of things such as racism, homophobia, transphobia, and any kind of prejudice that fears people as potential dangers based on nothing. This fear can lead to terrible things, including the notion that those different to us want to replace us. The Great Replacement Theory, a white nationalist, far-right belief that non-white people will try to slowly replace white people has led to people quite literally marching with flaming torches whilst chanting ‘You will not replace us’.
What does this have to do with Invasion of the Body Snatchers? Well, that should be somewhat obvious at this point if you have any kind of knowledge of the story. Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a film that preys on this primal fear of the other, that feeds into the very idea of The Great Replacement, even if the original book, The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney, was written some fifty years before the theory came into being. This is a large part of why the story has struck a chord with audiences, why we’ve had four direct big screen adaptations and numerous other stories that use the novel as a basis. The story plays into this fear, it puts it at the heart of the conflict, and it’s because this fear is one of the hardest for our society to kill that Invasion of the Body Snatchers will always feel relevant and frightening.
The 1978 adaptation of the film, from director Philip Kaufman, was the second major adaptation of the book, having followed the hugely popular 1956 film of the same name. Where the original movie played into the small town setting of the book, showing what the replacement invasion would look like to most Americans living in small communities, the Kaufman version updated things to a more modern audience, shifting events to the big city. Set in San Francisco, the film follows a small group of characters, including Health Department inspector Matthew Bennell (Donald Sutherland), Health Department scientist Elizabeth Driscoll (Brooke Adams), aspiring writer Jack Bellicec (Jeff Goldblum), and his wife Nancy (Veronica Cartwright) as they begin to notice strange things happening in the city.
The horror of Invasion of the Body Snatchers begins small, with Elizabeth believing something strange has happened to her boyfriend, and that the man living in her home with her isn’t who he says he is. She becomes convinced that he’s been replaced, a worry that is dismissed by everyone around her to begin with. Mirroring the themes of Gothic horror, where female characters are often ignored by the men in the story, their knowledge of the strange things happening around them dismissed as hysteria, it’s not until Matthew begins to witness unexplainable, bizarre events that he starts to listen to Elizabeth’s fears. But by then it’s too late. Matthew, Elizabeth, Jack, and Nancy realise that the world is changing around them, that the noose is tightening around their throats, and that if they don’t find a way to escape the ever growing horror they’ll become yet more victims to the replacements happening around them.
One of the ways in which Invasion of the Body Snatchers works so well is in the slow creeping nature of the horror, and the ever present feelings of paranoia. It’s almost impossible to go into this film without knowing what’s happening. Even though I’d never seen this version of the movie I was well aware of the story, and knew that the people were being replaced, but rather than this being some kind of spoiler, or ruining the movie it just heightened the tension. As the audience, I knew what was coming long before the characters, and I found myself waiting desperately for them to figure things out as the evidence slowly mounts, making for an incredibly tense viewing experience. But the film doesn’t just rely on this slow creeping dread, and features some genuine, visceral moments of body horror that feel so shocking and disturbing.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers will be with us for a long time, reinvented every fifteen to twenty years with new spins on the tale, new ways in which the horror can fit into our evolving culture. And whilst the original premise is strong enough to survive that, to be used over and over again without being twisted beyond what the novel was saying, no film has ever really succeeded in capturing the horror and the fear the way this version has. There’s a reason why when people mention Invasion of the Body Snatchers people’s first question tends to be ‘the Donald Sutherland version?’; it’s because when it comes to these adaptations the others just don’t come close.
The new Limited Edition 4K Ultra HD version of the film from Arrow Video offers a gorgeous looking version of the film. The image is wonderfully crisp and clean, and the audio sounds great, with the tiniest details able to be picked up. Arrow have been doing a fantastic job at updating older films, preserving and presenting them in ways that are better than their initial release, and this movie is no exception.
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Alongside the film the new set offers a full length audio commentary from director Philip Kaufman, and a number of behind the scenes interviews and features, including a panel conversation about Invasion of the Body Snatchers and invasion cinema, an interview with Jack Seabrook, a documentary on the making of the film featuring featuring various cast and crew members, a look at the film’s pioneering sound effects, an interview with the film’s cinematographer Michael Chapman, a look at the creation of the special effects, and more. For those with a love of diving into the making of films and learning more about cinema history this set is likely more appealing for these extras than the film itself.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers is out now on Limited Edition 4K UHD and Blu-ray from Arrow Video.
