Raetsonwe Redundant and unnecessary.

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

Robert Joyner The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

ElMaruecan82 Isn't it the scariest thing where one of your closest relatives, a parent, a child, or someone who matters acts like a total stranger? Or even worse when the person acts normally yet you feel you have no connection whatsoever or you can't seem to reach him, or her? This is the "what if" basis of classic sci-fi horror film "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", directed by Don Siegel in 1956 and that originated the term "pod people" in reference to people acting in an equally emotionless way but it's in the 'unison' aspect that the film reaches its nightmarish peak. Basically, it starts with: what if you're estranged to a love one and ends with what if you're estranged with the whole world. So the initial premise is simple but the implications are mind-boggling.The genius of the story is that it works on two levels: in microcosm, it's the relatable situation shown from an intimate perspective: a kid crying because his mother doesn't act the same, a niece feeling some emptiness in her uncle's behavior... these life details so benign and mundane hit the right chord because they're not overplayed and the supposedly 'new persons' act exactly like their counterpart would do, something has just 'changed'. The second level is macrocosmic when the 'epidemic' spreads to the whole town and people act like a civilized version of Night of the Living Dead; which is even worse because you can spot the zombies but can you distinguish between a normal average citizen and a person who lost his soul? And in-between, you have the gradual escalation of paranoia, the way where for every certitude, there's a doubt, for every suspicion, there's a rational explanation. And everything seems normal until it doesn't. The choice of the location and the casting is also crucial to the effectiveness of the story. It all takes place in a little fictional town of California, Santa Mira, and the protagonists are unknown faces, Kevin McCarthy (a mix of Gene Kelly and Dick Van Dyke) is believable as an ordinary doctor and convincing in his various embodiments of coolness, puzzlement and finally panic and madness. And Siegel never amplifies the emotions or the romantic interactions, everything is played in the most possibly low key way to accentuate the realism of the story, going from disbelief to astonishment, then suspicion, then the shocking point of no return where two survivors become persona non grata, precisely because they still have personas. Don't be fooled by the small budget B-movie feel, there are so many facets of enjoyment and appreciation on an emotional and intellectual level. Although Siegel and McCarthy refuted any political undertones, I think it's quite fair to say that the film is so multilayered you can see both the derives of conservative homeland totalitarianism or a political allegory about cultural invasion, the film can be both anti-McCarthy and anti-Soviet like a film I praised recently, "The Manchurian Candidate". In fact, the meanings are beyond any intent, it can also be seen as a denunciation of a society that would lose its capability to feel because of some brainwashing, there are countless readings but the best thing is that it's shown from the perspective of outsiders with no political luggage whatsoever and only fearing for their survival and the survival of humanity, humanity with its most precious asset: the capability to feel, to have emotions.The last act is perhaps one of the most thrilling of old-school cinema I have experienced recently, I guess it earned the film a spot in AFI's thrills with the lengthy chase scene and the unforgettable "They're here already, you're next!" "You're Next!" another sci-fi motto from the 50's along with "Keep watching the skies!" and "Klaatu Barada Nikto!", an ending that can work as a very warning to modern audiences. Indeed, the term "pod people" is very well-known and maybe if we're not standardized like the body snatchers, we should question the way Internet or social networks condition our behavior or the way media became capable to defined what it good or what is wrong, to which extent is our free will endangered, and is the fact that we don't realize it the primal symptom? And it's not just a soul matter, speaking of the body, the film features an alien in intermediary forms with human facets that seem unfinished, that's certainly an unintentional but interesting foreshadowing of the way Botox and plastic surgery will turn us into the same "plastic" clones. It's even worse with the brainwashing from medias or politics or even religion... I'm not saying the film went as far as highlighting these aspects, even Siegel and McCarthy admitted there was no politics in the story, but like good wine, some stories get better with time. One of the most popular films of 1956 is "The Searchers", I thought it had aged badly and was quite overrated, but "Invasions of the Body Snatchers" holds up pretty well and can be easily considered one of the best films of the 50's, with an iconic warning about the danger of mass-standardization.One might deplore that the film didn't end on that warning note, but I guess it was too gloomy for the 50's standard, I was looking at the screen-time surprised that the film might end without a proper resolution. I guess I don't approve the ending but I understand it, if it wasn't meant as a political allegory, it was unfortunately spoiled by studio politics.

frankwiener It's much more sinister than that. Dr. Miles Bennell is rushed back to his small, ordinarily blissful southern California town because something just isn't right. Some strange influence has gripped the town, and his patients are flooding his phone line before mysteriously cancelling their appointments. What is up with Santa Mira? What's even worse is that folks, both adults and children, are insisting that their family members just aren't the same people anymore, as if they have been possessed or corrupted by some very nefarious force.I love the best of 1950's science fiction, and this is surely among the best. During the very first viewing many years ago as a child, I was scared out of my wits, and after many, many subsequent viewings, I still share the horror that Miles feels when he realizes that his beloved Becky Driscoll just isn't the same person anymore. What's worse is that she will never, ever again wear that knockout, strapless dress in which she appears early in the film. Need I state in words that Dana Wynter was one beautiful woman?Aside from the uniqueness and intelligence of the original idea, the captivating cast, both leads and support, and the excellent script by Daniel Mainwaring ("The Hitch-Hiker", "Out of the Past", "Phenix City Story"), director Don Siegel very successfully establishes a perfectly paradoxical situation of a town, an area, and a way of life that appears to be serene and idyllic on the surface while a very powerful and extremely ominous force is quietly destroying it all from deep within, one house at a time.Of great interest to me is how some viewers interpreted the malevolent force as a symbol of mind-controlling Communism, or any form of totalitarianism, while others saw it as analogous to the McCarthy anti-Communism movement of the period. For me, the theme is so deep, significant, and universal that it can be perceived in many, different ways and on many, different levels. On a personal note, I lived in a small town for 28 years that gradually became "invaded" by a very specific political and social philosophy that seemed to program the minds of the inhabitants over a period of time until any member of the community who believed differently became ostracized, ridiculed, and widely condemned by an oppressive and very unhealthy "tyranny of the majority". To this day, I believe that the town's public education system was systematically programming the children in a specific way, and the children were then influencing their parents, who desperately wanted to be accepted by them as "hip" peers rather than as traditional parents who were supposed to guide their kids into adulthood, at least to some degree. It was a kind of role reversal in which the children of the town had taken control of the hearts and minds of the parents. This was not science fiction. This was actually happening in that very real town and continues to this day. As I endured the very disturbing transition of the town over time, I was constantly reminded of this brilliant and terrifying work of art, which so successfully depicts a very, very important message about our need to fight for our individual convictions and for our precious sense of humanity, regardless of the odds.

leplatypus Back to the roots of cinema, i'm surprised to discover that those old movies stay as good still today: sure it says also that today cinema goes down for quality and moviegoer experience but here we have a nearly perfect movie: a really intelligent story in a remarkable setting with an outstanding cast, everything tied with a inspired director and in 80 minutes!This space invasion with green pods is a brilliant idea that modernizes the vampire subject with stunning visuals: this pods - eggs would inspire later Alien, Gremlins and this silent, soft takeover looks like the future Salem novel from Stephen King. The movie really pinches a good nerve because this paranoia was real in those cold war years and later, as a child, i was totally terrified to be taken away at night, with family that turns to be enemy! This fictitious town of Santa Mira is the idyllic small town, America between Smallville and Twin Peaks. But it's also a incredible slice of the American way of life because at that time, 1956, everything looks shining, new, modern and really cozy...The late McCarthy was just really good and i understand why Joe Dante appreciated him: His girlfriend Dana Wynter is much more than the poor screaming woman and is the proof that old fashion was not outrageous nor too much closeted!At the end, with today eyes, you feel that this movie reunites a lot of ideas, moments that would be used and abused long after. So instead of always going to the stupid, soulless reboots, prefer come back to the original source!

Maddyclassicfilms Invasion of the Body Snatchers is directed by Don Siegel, has a screenplay by Daniel Mainwaring, is based on the novel by Jack Finney and stars Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter.This is one of the best science fiction films ever made. Instead of aliens landing in spaceships and trying to make contact with us or destroy us from outer space, the aliens in this film invade us and kill us, replacing us with identical duplicates which lack emotion. This film perfectly captures the feelings of hysteria and paranoia such an event would cause. The film can also be seen as an allegory for the so called threat of the day which was communism. In this film people look at everyone with suspicion and paranoia is rampant.The film opens with a deeply distressed Miles Bennell(Kevin McCarthy)arrested by Police and begging for people to listen to what he has to say. He claims that there has been an alien invasion. We then see in flashback what he has experienced.Doctor Miles Bennell returns home to his small town and stumbles upon a nightmare. He has many patients contacting him claiming that family members are not who they say they are. Miles suspects some sort of mass hysteria but as time goes on he notices that people are acting strangely.A strange seed pod is found at his friends house and Miles discovers a growing duplicate of his girlfriend Becky(Dana Wynter).Soon almost everyone in town is replaced by an alien duplicate, these duplicates look human but they have no emotions. The pod people are sending their seed pods out of town to other towns and cities to take over more people. Miles and Becky try and escape the town to warn other people what is happening but are pursued by the pod people.This film is truly chilling and is still very effective today. I like this version very much but my favourite is the 1978 remake starring Donald Sutherland, that is truly chilling and the pod people's scream is one the scariest things I've ever heard.