Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) is set in San Francisco. People start saying that someone close to them looks the same but is no longer the same person. A health inspector and a colleague realise this is not a psychological epidemic. Everyone who sleeps is replaced by a copy. The source is Jack Finney's novel, filmed once before in 1956. Philip Kaufman put two salutes to that film into the remake. Kevin McCarthy, who starred in 1956, appears as a man running through the street shouting that you're next. Don Siegel, who directed the original, plays a taxi driver who has been taken over and reports the escaping protagonists to the police. The ending was kept secret through the production. Kaufman had talked to Siegel and McCarthy beforehand about improving on the original's rather pat conclusion. Only screenwriter W. D. Richter and producer Robert Solo knew the final version. Donald Sutherland learned about the scene the night before shooting it. Kaufman was not certain Veronica Cartwright knew until Sutherland actually turned and screamed at her. The sound design is its strongest element. Ben Burtt built the shriek of the pods from many components, a pig's squeal among them. As the film goes on, the natural noise of the city gives way to industrial sound like the grinding of garbage trucks. It cost 3.5 million dollars and took around 25 million in America. It runs 116 minutes. Good for: seventies paranoia, sound design, and how to make a remake. Less good for: the pods and the transformation effects are disgusting. The first half hour is slow. The bleakness never lifts and no character is offered any hope.