Remakes do not get much love these days but if you were looking for a film to defend their existence, you couldn’t find a better example then Phillip Kaufman’s 1978 retelling of Don Siegel’s 1956 classic INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. Kaufman’s film respected its predecessor at every turn while slyly creating a more sophisticated and mature tale. In 1993 Abel Ferrara added another worthwhile take on the mythos with BODY SNATCHERS. In fact, at this point, we may not be speaking of “remakes” at all, “pod people” movies are their own sub genre, just as every werewolf movie is not a remake of THE WOLFMAN, every doppelganger from outer space film should be taken on it’s own terms. Movies like THE PUPPETMASTERS, THE FACULTY and even JOHN CARPENTER’S THE THING have largely different tales to tell, but the dilemma remains the same; something has come from outer space and it’s replacing people with duplicates and, what’s worse… you’re next!
Perhaps the reason for the snatcher’s persistence is that each generation is able to graft its current phobias onto the story’s framework. The 1956 version was read as both Communist paranoia and an indictment of McCarthyism, while the 78 and 93 versions derided pop psychology and militarism respectively. Considering today’s post 9/11 groupthink, Prozac- popping climate, now seems like the perfect time to delve once more into the snatcher well, and by this, I mean the movie practically writes itself. Didn’t our whole country just come out of a period where if you spoke your mind you could be stoned like a Shirley Jackson character? Am I the only one who saw that Dixie Chicks movie?
If THE INVASION is any indication, the pod people not only won but are also directing movies. (Well, actually they are taking already directed movies and shoehorning mind numbing sub DUKES OF HAZARD car chases into them). The movie starts out promising enough, the set up is great, and early scenes of Washington D.C in the fall brought back pleasant memories of THE EXORCIST (a movie I’m sure, if done today, would also be infused with needless…oh, wait that actually did happen). But just as you’re getting all comfy and engrossed, you are subjected to the most abrupt cinematic gear shift since MULHOLLAND DRIVE. For about a half an hour, we are told a little bit at a time –you know, like how normal stories work — then for some reason, Jeffrey Wright appears like the narrator from OUR TOWN and explains not only the entire movie thus far, but also that he’s found the cure. So he’s pretty much told us the ending too. Sadly, it’s not the last time he’s going to do this either. When this comes out on DVD, I dare you to take a drink every time a character explains the plot of the movie to you. I swear to God, if you try it, you will end up in a hospital getting your stomach pumped.
What follows is an avalanche of images with all the patience of a jackhammer. You have a scene with two characters talking inter-cut with not only the previous scenes, but also with upcoming scenes, so you’re actually watching them doing what they say they’re going to do in the future, and then you come back again and then you go forward. Then you’re unceremoniously dumped into the most boring place on earth, a pharmacy, where our heroine fights to stay awake. At least Nicole Kidman was fortunate enough to have of an endless supply of Mountain Dew, and a tyke on hand with a syringe filled with adrenaline to keep her awake throughout the proceedings. I had neither.
I like bad movies, but there’s something about a movie that’s good that so abruptly turns bad that is annoying. I think these movies are referred to, in polite society, as cock teases. They look you straight in the eye, promise you the world and then throw a Molotov cocktail at your face. This movie had a good director, good cast, decent budget, and excellent source material; there really is no excuse. Pod movies work when they’re about paranoia, when they ask questions like, “What does it mean to be human?” or “Do I really know the people who are close to me?” INVASION is so worried that it’s not entertaining that it does not have time for any of these concerns. It tries to win your approval by throwing as much at you as possible and hoping that something sticks. To be fair, one scene does stick, when Kidman gets a visit from a late night census taker. The result is legitimately unnerving and gives you a hint of what could have been.
I am assuming Director Oliver Hirshbiegel is responsible for the parts that resemble a movie, and that all the other crap is from the extensive reshoots ordered by Warner Brothers when they decided it wasn’t summer movie material. I would love to see the original version of this movie; if it’s anything like the beginning of it, it’s probably pretty good. I mean it’s got Veronica Cartwright in it! That shows that someone, at some time, had noble intentions. Somewhere along the line though, someone decided that little things like continuity and even comprehensibility should be jettisoned in favor of explosions and car crashes. Strangely enough, and I’m sure that it was not their intention, but out of all the body snatcher films, when it comes to relaying the message that conformity kills, INVASION may scream the loudest.
- Lance Vaughan
