I’m a sucker for 1950s era horror and science fiction. Though I didn’t arrive on this planet until a few decades later, there is a nostalgic quality to these films for me. The Twilight Zone started in 1959. Ray Bradbury and Richard Matheson really hit their strides in the 50s. Hammer started putting out their classic retellings of Frankenstein and Dracula. And some of the best film titles ever came from that decade: The Crawling Eye (1958), I Bury the Living (1958), and a near endless list of movies beginning with “Attack of”.
Perhaps the most iconic horror/sci-fi flick of the 1950s—just perhaps—is Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The film is based off the novel of the same name by Jack Kirby, a novel that was serialized in Collier’s magazine in 1954. (Sadly, I’ve not read the book; really need to.)
The basic plot of Invasion of the Body Snatchers is that a young doctor, played wonderfully by Kevin McCarthy, discovers that the residents of his town are being replaced by emotionless replicas of their former selves. It’s a storyline that has become cliché at this point, but in 1956 it was a unique concept. To date, their have been four versions of this film and dozens of others that at least borrowed the concept.
The suspense and sense of unease throughout the entirety of the film is impressive for a flick from that era. Most horror and sci-fi movies from the 50s, while still conveying their original creative wonder, fail to inject fear into a modern audience. This one does however, thanks to the slow build of suspense and the great acting by McCarthy and Dana Wynter. (As a side note, another 50s movie that is surprisingly scary is I Was a Teenage Werewolf.)
You never see any alien space crafts. Nor do you see monsters creeping through the night. Aside from the pods, looking like oversized bean sprouts, there is very little visually that relates Invasion of the Body Snatchers to its sci-fi brethren of the era. Yet it’s likely the most compelling of them all. It’s like if Alfred Hitchcock were to direct an episode of The Twilight Zone.
PC3’s Horror and Exploitation Movie Scale of Awesomeness!
Gore - 0
Special Effects - 2
Nudity/Sexuality - 0
Wow Factor - 6
Acting - 8
Fear Factor - 6
Story/Plot/Originality - 7
Cinematography/Atmosphere - 5
Sound/Music - 4
Fun Factor - 6
The 1956 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers gets a 44 PHEMSA. There is zero exploitation in this movie, but it’s an iconic and influential piece of film history. I’ll have to watch the 1978 version soon and see how they compare. I’ve seen it before but it’s been awhile. To watch this one, you can find it for free on Amazon and the Roku Channel.
Is it me or does this poster look like something from a Broadway show, depicting people dancing in the spotlights? —PC3