Tim Burton's alien invasion was fun as hell, but this movie's alien invasion is a lot more horrifying. Even in 1956, they knew how disturbing this concept was.
Dr. Miles Bennell (Kevin McCarthy) is baffled when all his patients come to him with the same complaint: their loved ones seem to have been replaced by emotionless impostors. Despite the age of this movie, it manages to pull off the slow dreadful kind of horror that the remake excels at. It's that feeling you get when everything looks normal, but something feels off. this nameless anxiety hangs over the entire movie, and by the time you realize why things feel so off, it's already far too late.
another reason this movie works so well is the strength of its characters. Dr. Miles is played expertly by Kevin McCarthy, and it's disturbing to watch him go from a carefree doctor to a screaming madman. the movie is full of equally intelligent characters all struggling to deal with what is essentially the end of life on earth, and watching their confusion turn into horrible understanding is the most nihilistic shit I have seen in a long time.
now all this end-of-the-world talk might lead you to believe that this movie is joyless, and I assure you that is not the case. the opening scenes of Dr. Miles returning home are all quite light and fun. it's a great way to introduce both his and the town's characters, and the 1950s big band score help to lighten the mood before things get too tense. The doctor and his wife also have great chemistry, and the scenes of this movie that focus on the pair are some of my favourites.
I have found movies this old hard to engage with sometimes, but this movie is damn near perfect.
sometimes everyone really is out to get you.
UPDATE OCT 18TH, 2022
Christ, I'm glad I am re-writing some of these old blog posts...
Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a 1956 American science fiction horror film produced by Walter Wanger, directed by Don Siegel, and starring Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter. Daniel Mainwaring adapted the screenplay from Jack Finney's 1954 science fiction novel The Body Snatchers.
Held by the police as a raving lunatic, Dr. Miles Bennell recounts to a psychiatrist the events that have turned his life upside down. He returned to his small town the previous Thursday, having been called back from a medical conference by his nurse, who was being flooded with patients. He arrives to find that most have cancelled their appointments, but the few cases he does have all have the same story: someone close to them is acting strangely as if they had been replaced. Consulting some of his colleagues, he finds that these types of reports have been coming in all week and they conclude it must be some type of mass hysteria; however, when his friends Jack and Teddy Belicec show him a partly formed body they have uncovered in their home, he begins to realize that there may be some truth to the wild stories he has been hearing.
Part of the reason this movie works so well and left such a strong impression on me the first time I saw it is how well it captures the feeling of helplessness. At first, it's the helplessness of not knowing exactly what's going on, or if anything is going on at all. the movie opens with the incredibly talented Kevin McCarthy as Dr. Miles Bennell visiting a number of patients suffering from the belief that their relatives have been replaced with identical-looking impostors. It's a wonderful way to introduce the charming Dr. Miles Bennell, several of the small-town neighbours and friends he has had most of his life, and the anxiety that has crept into town since he last left. On the surface, everything is the same as it always was, but deep down something feels wrong. different somehow, as if everyone but you was in on some private joke.
the movie does an excellent job of starting with a fun mostly joyful tone and keeps getting darker and darker until things are unquestionably hopeless. if that's not enough for the hungry horror heads, this movie has some of the best practical effects I have seen in a movie of this age. it's as wonderfully simple as it is effective, and it helps make an already strong genre classic all the stronger.
Though Invasion of the Body Snatchers was largely ignored by critics on its initial run, Filmsite.org ranked it as one of the best films of 1956. The film holds a 98% approval rating and a 9/10 rating at the film review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. The site's consensus reads
"One of the best political allegories of the 1950s, Invasion of the Body Snatchers is an efficient, chilling blend of sci-fi and horror"
10/10
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