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Invasion of the Body Snatchers begins with spores leaving a distant planet and heading for San Francisco, transpiring into raindrops which hit the leaves of plants and spawn weird, but pretty, rose-like flowers.
Public health inspector Elizabeth (Brooke Adams) puts one in a glass by the bed and, suddenly, her boyfriend Geoffrey (Art Hindle) starts behaving very oddly around her. Soon after, her friend and colleague Matthew (Donald Sutherland) is drawn to similar odd behaviour by Mrs Teng who works at the local dry cleaners, after her husband makes mention of it.
Something’s going on which seems to be turning people into emotionless drones, but there’s more to it than that when something bizarre is discovered at the health spa owned by Nancy Bellicec (Veronica Cartwright) and her husband Jack (Jeff Goldblum), who’s also a writer and failed poet. What they discover, I’ll leave you to see for yourself. Amongst all this is Leonard Nimoy as psychologist and hack author Dr. David Kibner, struggling to make sense with what’s going on.
Director Philip Kaufman uses some bizarre camera angles in ‘Invasion’, as well as an awesome moment when Sutherland is having to hide in a closet, but then brings his face to where the door’s ajar and shines a light from underneath, making himself look sinister (see above). There’s also some neat cameos such as Don Siegel as a taxi driver and an uncredited appearance from Robert Duvall as a priest on a swing (don’t worry, it’ll make sense when you see it).
Overall, it drags a bit at times, but leads to a perfect ending which is the one thing you can’t say for the majority of films made. I wish I could go into more detail about the film but it’s definitely one where you need to let the film set out its stall as it progresses without any advance spoilers.
Go to page 2 for the presentation and the extras.
The film is presented in the original 1.85:1 widescreen ratio and in 1080p high defintion, but there are some scenes where the print has a grainy haze across it. For the record, I’m watching on a Panasonic 50″ Plasma TV with a Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray player.
The sound has a DTS HD 5.1 option, but while I selected that, I couldn’t detect anything going on in the rear speakers. At one point there’s a stereo effect going on, but the rest of the time, it’s fairly basic.
The extras on this disc are as follows – most of which are in HD, too. Sadly, none are subtitled and the first few are full of people who are not connected with the film, which feels odd:
- Discussing the Pod (51:53): Novelist Kim Newman discusses the film with directors Norman J Warren (Inseminoid) and Ben Wheatley (Kill List, Sightseers & A Field in England).
If you’re a big fan of all three then you’ll enjoy the discussion.
- Dissecting the Pod (17:24): Director of Ungraduate Film Studies at Columbia University Annette Insdorf gives her thoughts on the film and the works of Kaufman.
- Writing the Pod (11:15): ‘Invasion’ is based on the novel The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney, and Jack Seabrook has written a book about Finney’s work. Here, Seabrook talks some more about Finney.
- Re-visitors from Outer Space (16:14): Now, this is more the kind of extra I think should’ve gone first. There’s clips mixed with chat from Donald Sutherland, Veronica Cartwright, screenwriter W.D. Richter, director Philip Kaufman, photography Michael Chapman and others.
I like how both Donald and Veronica were told different things about how the film would end, and so that’s how the outcome became totally spontaneous.
This and subsequent interview extras were all filmed in 2007.
- The Man Behind The Scream (12:47): Ben Burtt made all the sound effects for ‘Invasion’ and here, he takes you through them.
- The Invasion Will Be Televised (5:24): Kaufman, Richter, Chapman and author Christopher Vogler talk about the look of the film.
- Practical Magic: The Special Effects Pod (4:38): Special Effects whiz Howard Preston, and others from the previous pieces, talk about how the opening credits’ effects were very cleverly done on a shoestring budget.
- Trailer (2:12): Presented in 1.85:1.
- Director’s commentary: with Philip Kaufman.
As you put the disc in, the menu bursts into life with clips from the film and a piece of the theme. There are subtitles in English, but for this Special Edition the chaptering is anything BUT special with the usual 12 that so many films get these days. Very lazy.
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FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
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| OVERALL | 7 |
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 116 minutes
Year: 1978
Released: November 18th 2013
Chapters: 12
Cat.no: FCD884
Picture: 1080p High Definition
Sound: DTS HD 5.1
Languages: English
Subtitles: English
Widescreen: 1.85:1
Disc Format: BD50
Director: Philip Kaufman
Producer: Robert H. Solo
Screenplay: WD Richter (based on the novel “The Body Snatchers” by Jack Finney)
Music: Denny Zeitlin
Cast:
Matthew Bennell: Donald Sutherland
Elizabeth Driscoll: Brooke Adams
Jack Bellicec: Jeff Goldblum
Nancy Bellicec: Veronica Cartwright
Dr. David Kibner: Leonard Nimoy
Dr. Geoffrey Howell, DDS: Art Hindle
Katherine Hendley: Lelia Goldoni
Dr. Miles J. Bennell: Kevin McCarthy
Taxi Driver: Don Siegel
Priest on Swing: Robert Duvall
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.
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