3) Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

(4.5 👽's out of 5)

"Only when we fight to stay human, we realize how precious it is to us." 

Director

Don Siegal

Cast
Kevin McCarthy - Dr. Miles Bennell
Dana Wynter - Becky Driscoll
King Donovan - Jack Belicec
Carolyn Jones - Teddy Belicec
Larry Gates - Dr. Dan Kauffman
Virginia Christine - Wilma Lentz
Ralph Dumke - Police Chief Nick Grivett
Kenneth Patterson - Stanley Driscoll
Guy Way - Officer Sam Janzek

The 1956 original film "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" is a movie truly ingrained in American pop culture, even for those who've never actually seen it. 

For me, it's easily the "Citizen Kane" of B Sci-Fi movies. Some may consider other B Sci-Fi movies to be the "Citizen Kane" of the genre. But for me, it's this one. 

This movie goes past the typical paranoia that existed in the era it was made - the atomic age of sci-fi/horror movies when audiences were weary of space invaders traveling across light years to visit earth and, maybe, pick a fight with us, starting with an innocent small American town.

Instead, "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" relies on the fear of losing our capacity to love our loved ones or losing their love to the point of no return.

I would love to see the atomic age of sci-fi horror reemerge in modern Hollywood with aliens and nuclear monsters intruding in on our peace of mind. I thought maybe a new atomic age might resurface after all the congressional hearings in Washington D.C. involving documented military experiences with UFOs, or UAPs as they're now referred to. 

The idea of UFOs and government cover-ups is no longer the stuff of far-fetched conspiracies. It's all over mainstream news outlets. Our government is taking a serious (give or take) look at the possibility we're not alone in the universe. 

Despite this currant attention, it doesn't seem anything new about the possibility of intelligent life on other planets has come about. So, I guess that leaves all this back to being...well...government cover-ups and far-fetched conspiracies just like before.    

Alien movies still pop up in theaters once in a while. Jordan Peele's 2022 alien movie "Nope" comes straight to mind. 

Still, the general public just isn't as interested in aliens like it used to be. If the government right now declared aliens are real, and are visiting our planet, and an actual alien spacecraft landed on the front lawn of the White House or the U.S. Capital, with the entire world watching, millions of people still wouldn't care as much. They'd likely be way more interested in something like...I don't know... Taylor Swift being seen attending another Chiefs game, or what'll happen in the next "Frozen" movie. 

"Invasion of the Body Snatchers" is based on Jack Finney's 1954 science-fiction novel "The Body Snatchers."

The movie centers on Dr. Miles Bennell (Kevin McCarthy). 

Dana Wynter and Kevin McCarthy in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers."

It opens with a panicked Miles in an emergency room while in custody. He tells the doctors that he's also a doctor, and then recounts the events that led him to being in police custody and being taken the emergency room. 

He works as a psychiatrist in Santa Mira, and suddenly sees a surge of people suffering from Capgras syndrome, which is the delusion that someone close to us has been replaced by an identical imposter. He even encounters a young kid who's convinced his mother isn't really his mother anymore. It's a very effective scene. 

Miles meets up with a former girlfriend, Becky Driscoll (Dana Wynter), who just went through a divorce. 

They spend some time together, have a drink, and then are interrupted by Miles's friend, Jack Belicec (King Donovan) who wants Miles to examine what appears to be a dead body that suddenly appeared in his house. 

Even though the sudden appearance of a dead body is weird enough, what's stranger is that the cadaver doesn't have any distinguishable facial features nor any fingerprints. 

Within a short period of time, the dead body begins to develop facial features which are identical to Belicec. 

Later, Becky finds another cadaver in her basement that looks just like her. 

Miles calls fellow psychiatrist Dr. Dan Kauffman over. By the time he gets there, both bodies are gone. 

Sometime later, Miles and Becky along with Jack and his wife, Teddy (Carolyn Jones), discover duplicates of themselves hatching from some weird alien pods inside Miles's greenhouse. 

It soon dawns on the group that everyone in Santa Mira is being replaced by alien doubles.  

Jack and Teddy head out of town to find help.

Miles tries contacting the feds, but his attempts are futile.

All the exact doubles show no humanity or emotion. They're nothing short of mindless cattle. 

So, Miles and Becky crash in Miles's office for the night. They realize, too, that if they fall asleep, they'll be replaced by their alien doubles. 

When morning comes, looking out from the office window, they see a truck out front with loads of pods arriving in the town square. 

They hear the police chief instruct inhabitants to take pods to the neighboring town. 

Kauffman and Belicec have become pod people now and find Miles and Becky up in the office. 

They brought some pod people to replace Miles and Becky along with them. 

The police chief arrives in the office to keep Miles and Becky from escaping until they're replaced with the alien doubles.

Becky and Miles happen to escape and run for their lives all the way to an abandoned mine while the alien towns people chase them. 

They managed to hide and elude their chasers. But they're exhausted and want to sleep.  

While hiding, they hear music playing somewhere. Miles goes to see where its coming from, leaving Becky behind. When he returns, he finds that she fell asleep and became one of "them." 

Becky alerts the other aliens that she has Miles, but he runs off making his way onto a busy highway where he tries to stop traffic and warn people about the alien pods. Miles finds a truck hauling pods to San Francisco. 
"They're here already! You're next! You're next," he shouts. That's when he ends up arrested and at the emergency room. 

"Invasion of the Body Snatchers" is, without a doubt, the best B-SciFi movie I've ever seen. I didn't understand how the alien doubles take over the real people when they fall asleep. I'll need to re-watch the movie to figure that part out. 

Still, the movie feels like a fresh take from the usual sci-fi movies of the era. It's not another movie about alien versus earth's might. It's about the need to keep a tight grasp on our humanity. 

The fearful element lies with the trepidation and personal insecurity of our nearest loved ones suddenly becoming strangers. It may be an element in other sci-fi movies of the era, but it's the primary foundation for this particular movie. 

McCarthy's character development from a rational doctor to a frantic and fearful man shows how vulnerable we all are. 

McCarthy has become a horror icon, appearing in classics such as "Piranha," "The Howling" and "Twilight Zone: The Movie." He also stars as the antagonist alongside "Weird" Al Yankovic in a movie close to my heart - "UHF." 

As a fun fact, Billy Peltzer watches "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" up in his bedroom in a scene in Gremlins. McCarthy also cameos as Dr. Miles Bennell in the 2003 movie "Looney Tunes: Back in Action." 

Some interpret this movie as a metaphor for the communist threat of the era. And that makes sense. It's a political ideology that leaves its victims as mindless unimportant pawns.  

The theme of society becoming dehumanized, and the disappearance of empathy is always a relevant one. This movie captures that theme respectably well.