Blu-ray Review: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

October 13, 2018

Written by DanXIII

Daniel XIII; the result of an arcane ritual involving a King Diamond album, a box of Count Chocula, and a copy of Swank magazine, is a screenwriter, director, producer, actor, artist, and reviewer of fright flicks…Who hates ya baby?

Dr. Miles J. Bennell (Kevin McCarthy) returns to his bucolic town after attending a medical convention to find the citizenry changed in subtle ways, such as a lack of genuine emotion and the fact that some folks claim their relatives are not whom they appear to be. Soon Miles gets caught up in the craziness after he is called on to investigate a body…a body with a face that remains unfinished and possesses no fingerprints. Things then go completely off the rails, as our hero discovers that plant-born changelings are taking he place of the townsfolk and he’s in for the fight of his life to stop their other-worldly machinations!
Full of fantastic performances (with McCarthy being a spirited and game lead that goes from jovial to completely panic-stricken with equal aplomb, as well as notable appearances from Carolyn Jones, Dana Wynter, Larry Gates, and King Donovan…not to mention a cameo by Sam Peckinpah), a palpable sense of dread and menace, moody black and white cinematography, and a story-line that combines both cold war fears and an alien invasion (the pod people could easily be communist surrogates); Invasion of the Body Snatchers is one of the most well regarded (and re-made) sci-fi terror tales of all time! Moving at a brisk pace and featuring a snappy script by Daniel Mainwaring (based on the novel by Jack Finney) and crisp direction from Don Siegel; ol’ Invasion is straight up genre cinema perfection, and is vastly entertaining and suspenseful from beginning to end!
While the film is a justified classic of sci-fi cinema, and well worth the price of this Blu on it’s own, there are a surprising number of extras included in this release from Olive films. First up we get two audio commentaries; one featuring Film Historian Richard Harland Smith (which provides a scholarly yet entertaining discussion of the film’s production and meaning…and surprisingly includes the word “queef”, so kudos there…), and the other featuring Actors McCarthy and Wynter along with filmmaker Joe Dante, which is naturally more anecdotal since it features folks that actually worked on the picture! Following that comes a visual essay with actor and son of director Siegel, Kristoffer Tabori, reading from his father’s autobiography (which is a great way to hear the late director’s thoughts on Invasion), a featurette where filmmakers Larry Cohen and Dante comment on the film’s cultural significance, and a fascinating piece where film scholar and author Matthew Bernstein discusses the life and career of Walter Wanger, the film’s producer. Next comes an appreciation of the film featuring actors McCarthy and Wynter, as well as directors John Landis, Mick Garris, and Stuart Gordon along with a featurette discussing the making of the film, its place in history, and its themes featuring the same folks as the previous segment. We also get an archival interview with McCarthy, a look at the film’s locations (which is excellent…except it is broken up over eight segments with no “play all” feature…really freakin’ great dudes…), a featurette examining the possible titles the film (and novel) could have had, a gallery of documents detailing aspects of the film’s production, an essay by author and film programmer Kier-La Janisse,  and the film’s original theatrical trailer.
Simply put; Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a masterpiece of suspense and sci-fi cinema, and belongs in the collection of everyone and anyone who considers themselves a fan of genre cinema…and with the extras present here, this release is the way to go!
 

 


 
 

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