(1976) ****1/2
(In preparation for this review, I watched both the original Don Siegel version and this one, consecutively. I maybe could have squeezed two reviews out of this, and looking at the scoreboard, I could certainly have used the other one, but onward.)
The basic nuts and bolts of the two movies are the same: duplicate humans, sprouting from enormous seed-pods, replace our loved ones, copying their mannerisms and their memories down to the very finest detail, but with no emotional edge whatsoever. These newer vege-humans are detached and logical --- frictionless and free from sensitivity. Comparing the '56 and '78 versions won't be at all fair to the original, which is simpler fare for a simpler time. The '78 version is grimmer and meaner. The cinematography, writing, and acting are all far more polished, two decades later. This is all to be expected: social thought became more sophisticated, so our movies had to as well. So no more picking on the '56 version, which did the best it could.
Things that make the flick tick:
1 - Big-city setting -- Gutsy move placing this story in the middle of San Francisco. I always get a kick out of recognizing my haunts onscreen. But a bigger setting means an inability to hide behind dialogue. Who needs a 10 minute description of how awful it would be to see these meta-humans shuffling lifelessly down Market Street when we can see it for ourselves? Also, the SF setting makes for some outstanding establishing shots, including one pearl of a shot of a thin mist passing over the Transamerica building. I don't think I've ever seen SF look so gorgeous on film, nor so stark or imposing.
2 - Music -- It's odd how effective the Moog-synth sound is here. It sounds crappy and dated in the contemporary music of the time. Here though, it sounds just the way it's supposed to sound: weird.
3 - Leonard Nimoy, bitches -- In an age of extreme anxiety, in which psychological problems weren't treated with namby-pamby sensitivity, but rather carved like a pumpkin with the knife of cold logic, is there anyone in the entire world that would have made a better choice for the role of the psychologist than Mr. Logic himself, Spock? He's made a career out of just being smart and his arguments here are so clear and earnest. His central argument to his co-stars is pretty much, "the reason you're freaking out right now is because you're silly and human, so just calm down and be rational." This concept in psychology was overwhelmingly popular in the 70's --- the reason you're unhappy is because of this thing, this thing, and this thing, and if you'd just calm down and see that, you'd be happy. And it's one of the most remarkable mechanisms of the script that this is the *exact* point of view of the invading organisms. There's genuine relief when our cadre of stars finally convinces Nimoy that they aren't deluded. And that this scene is immediately followed by the revelation that Nimoy is, in fact, already one of the vege-men, is one of the most delightfully shocking moments in the script (which I've now ruined for you by not putting a spoiler warning beforehand -- sorry).
Other points to note: *Great* lighting, especially in the chase scene at the pier; Jeff Goldblum at his most Jeff Goldblumy; yes, that's Robert Duvall as the priest on the swingset; the shot of the vege-man, pressed against the pebbled glass in the Public Health building as Brooke Adams and Donald Sutherland walk by gave me a huge jolt -- and this movie is full of huge jolts; did we really need to watch Veronica Cartwright massage oil into that big fat belly for so long? Yes, we really did.
An outstanding film on all levels.
4 comments:
I watched this one on Halloween last year. Here's what I said later:
(1978) ****1/2
This one is really creepy. Alien snot floats away from its Barbarella-inspired home planet and comes here, where it turns into harmless looking little flowers. (At this point I'm reminded, as I often am, of a Simpsons quote. Bart says he wants to be reincarnated as a butterfly, "because nobody suspects the butterfly." Too right.) Brooke Adams brings home one of the flowers and parks it on her boyfriend's night stand, and that's the end of him. The aliens' plot is quiet, simple, and terrifying: when you sleep, one of the plants makes a copy of you and takes your place.
The way the encroaching horror reveals itself is delicious. Imagine if someone you knew just spent a day tuned out, acting emotionless and distant. Would you think they were literally a different person? My point is that you wouldn't, but in Snatchers there's something so eerie about the duplicates that the regular humans sense it right away, they just have no idea what to do about it. This might be my new favorite "there's something wrong and nobody believes me" movie. The conspiracy is personal, because it sneaks right into your bedroom and takes your spouse, and it's systemic, as shown in the long scene of Donald Sutherland trying to get a government agency to listen to him. At every turn he's told what he wants to hear, but nothing is actually done. (This is thanks of course to the high levels of paranoia in the 70's, something we probably need more of today.) And the conspiracy is everywhere in between. Brooke Adams describes seeing random people share a look, like they're in on something. Then, in my favorite moment in the movie, we see that happen at a party.
What makes this so scary is that it almost certainly would work. Unlike the Dead movies, for which I can rationalize scenarios by which we'd never let the world succumb to zombies, I can't see a way out of this one. The only hitch I can see in the invader's plans is getting nicked during the duplication process itself, which does involve a lot of weird, noisy giant plants. I wondered why Brooke Adams didn't wake up when her boyfriend was being copied right next to her in bed, but it's not too much of a stretch to believe the narcotic effect the plants have on those being duped might extend to bystanders for whom there are as yet no pods. I was slightly bummed that we didn't see the full snatching sequence until almost the very end, because I was curious about what happened to the original people, but it turns out they become hollow, broken husks at the end (and you see the disposal of this husky material going on in the background through the whole movie.)
Another flick with a good cast, Snatchers is rounded out with Jeff Goldblum, Veronica Cartwright and a very non-Spocky Leonard Nimoy. I liked Brooke Adams a lot, in the same 70's brunette way I liked Christina Raines from The Sentinel. A few years later she played Christopher Walken's girlfriend in The Dead Zone. Also fun to see was Kevin McCarthy (his most recognizable role might be in the Twilight Zone; he's the poor guy who pulls the monster rabbit out of the hat. He's been in little roles all over my Horrorthon selections.) He played the main character in the original Body Snatchers; in the remake he's the man running down the street yelling "they're already here!" which is pretty much where we left him in 1956.
An amazingly chilling flick. Right on.
Both reviews are really excellent!
Wow, I just now noticed that Imnotmarkbutmyboyfriendis wrote this review, I thought it was written by Octopunk. Nice work.
Man, you thought I wrote a long review and then posted my other long review from last year?
Well...that's just stupid.
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