Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
Director: Philip Kaufman
Screenwriter: W. D. Richter
Starring: Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Veronica Cartwright, Jeff Goldblum, Leonard Nimoy

This film is about aliens. Technically. But also, it isn’t.

This is the second adaptation of “The Body Snatchers” by Jack Finney (following the 1956 Don Siegel adaptation, also titled Invasion of the Body Snatchers). It follows roughly the same plot, where strange, plant-based life forms come to Earth after travelling across the stars, where they grow replicas of human beings in huge pods, each identical save for the removing of emotion (and so no war, no pain, no love). Their infiltration of the community they find themselves in is the scene of paranoia, of the discovery of a conspiracy, of the terror of realising that your family members may look and sound the same, but that they aren’t actually them. A small band of survivors must battle the odds when the system has been infiltrated and turned against them. The novel and original film, taking place in the midst of 1950s Red Scare McCartheyism, is as thinly veiled an allegory for America’s fear of communism as you can get, though Finney denied this throughout his life (movies such as The Thing From Another World and It Came From Outer Space also follow the trend). Both of those texts are also seminal sci-fi horror reading/viewing. The question, therefore, is how does this version stack up?

Part of the genius of this interpretation is the decision to move the action from the small town of Santa Mira (in the film)/Mill County (in the book) to downtown San Francisco. The added chaos of urban life gives a sense of menace to the spreading contamination. The allegory here is of corporations turning people into shells of their former selves, and of the destruction of the natural world – a kind of capitalist updating of the red weed from H. G. Wells’ “The War of the Worlds”. Roger Ebert commented that it might also be influenced by the Watergate scandal, with tapped phones and wires. Whilst this is a possibility, those features were always elements in the novel and the first film. What is certain, is that by putting this viral personality takeover in the middle of a city, the danger is far more immediate. With the first film, if it gets out of the small town, there’s still a chance. There’s a larger civilisation out there to help. Here, if you’re dead in the city, with all that manpower and all those connections, with all that modernity, there’s not much chance that anywhere else is going to last. Along with this updating, the pod-people in their growing stage are much more organic, more tissue-like, adding to the ecological themes. It isn’t as strong a body-horror shift, but perhaps comparable to the way in which the 1958 version of The Fly (starring Vincent Price) was updated for modern audiences: a reimagining rather than a remake, as directed by David Cronenberg in 1986 (ironically, also starring Jeff Goldblum).

The air of being hemmed in is all around. The buildings impose, the close proximity that everyone is to each other (and in some sequences having several of the characters together in every shot one after the other), makes the idea that the people next to you aren’t who they say they are even worse. The main cast is terrific, bringing sufficient weight and drama to a terror slowly building up as the horrific realisation of what is going on dawns on them. The little things occurring in the background add to that paranoia, and is something Edgar Wright specifically mentions as an influence on the background details for Shaun of the Dead in his DVD commentary (ironically, Wright’s body-snatching film The World’s End actually has the ending of the original novel, in which the invading force realises humanity will never be converted, which is something no actual novel adaptation has kept). The occasional shots of the garbage compactors crushing the husks of used pods comes back time and time again unmentioned but always there, and when you realise what they are, by then it’s all too late. Everything’s already over.

Speaking of endings, Kevin McCarthy (who played Dr Miles in the first film) has a cameo in this one, playing very much a similar character (but not the same), slamming on Donald Sutherland’s car and screaming ‘You’re next!’, much like his famous ending to the first film. Even if it’s not Dr Miles, it gives the impression that Miles has been wandering for years warning us of the oncoming apocalypse. It’s so iconic an original ending that one wonders how this film could possibly one-up it. And yet it does, in an ending reveal burned into the public consciousness with just sound. Sound that has drained from the world as the film runs on, with characters fleeing through the streets, their feet slamming against the road. Somehow that’s the most disturbing thing of all. The takeover of the pod people, with their uniformity, has reduced the need for talk, for going anywhere unplanned, for noise. Despite their horrifying screech, the emptiness of the sound of the world is what truly scares. The naturalness of the world has faded. Now it is simply a factory of the pods, a greenhouse for empty husks.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers has everything you could want. A great cast, direction that mostly stands up (there are unfortunately some parts when Kaufman decides to go for some egregious camera movements which betray the camp B-movie roots and lodge in the cinematic throat), an all-consuming tone, and some of the most iconic scenes of all science-fiction and horror. It has to be seen to be believed, and, even with the odd misstep, remains an all-time classic.

Score: 20/24

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Director: Don Siegel
Screenwriters: Daniel Mainwaring
Starring: Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, Larry Gates, King Donovan, Carolyn Jones, Jean Willes, Ralph Dumke

In the 1950s, American sci-fi horror entered an age of two new zeitgeists. One was the atomic age fear, which gave us our big monster movies such as Them! and The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms. The other came slap bang in the middle of the Red Scare, fuelled by anti-communist fears and sentiments roused by McCarthyism and Hollywood blacklisting. Here, the genres found a way to direct these feelings into their films. Movies such as The Thing from Another World (based on the novella “Who Goes There?!” by John W. Campbell) and It Came from Outer Space played heavily into these ideas, presenting alien threats that appeared like humans, wanting to take us over invisibly, substituting our individuality for a like-minded, homogenous whole, as an allegory for the individual-identity-stealing threat of communism. Around the same time, John Wyndham over in England published “The Midwich Cuckoos”, and Robert A. Heinlein wrote “The Puppet Masters”. It was a whole craze. And although Jack Finney, who penned Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ original novel in 1954, would go on record to say that there was no anti-communist themes present, it is ironic that the book, and the first of four adaptations, would be perhaps the most influential of all Cold War sci-fi horror stories.

In this 1956 film, Dr Miles (played by Kevin McCarthy) is brought into a police station in the dead of night, ranting and raving that there’s not much time left to stop “it”. He then proceeds to explain exactly what needs stopping, and what unfolds is a story of alien possession in the small town of Santa Mira and a conspiracy to replace everyone in the world with emotionless duplicates formed by giant alien seed pods.

What is perhaps most pleasing about Invasion of the Body Snatchers is its pacing. Whilst the first half is mostly the build up towards the unveiling of the conspiracy, it nonetheless has to manage multiple issues at a time. It must build up the feeling of dread, of something lurking under the surface. It must introduce and keep us entertained with our main characters. And it must stop us getting bored whilst its slow, creeping menace worms its way into our thudding chests. Invasion manages to do this wonderfully, with every scene advancing character and plot and menace incredibly deftly. By the time the reality of the situation is revealed, you understand that you’ve been watching it all happen, too slow to put the pieces together, and now it’s all hopelessly too late.

Handled by Don Siegel’s wonderful direction, we have chilling moments such as a whole town descending on a square to begin distributing the pods to the world, and the ‘birthing’ of the clones from the great gooey seeds. With the striking and memorable final moments of a character screaming “They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next!” in the middle of a busy highway, low angled, tilted, harsh lighting, surrounded by uniform car lights not heeding his warning, we suddenly understand that an outside invasion isn’t the only form of hive-mind takeover in the world. Mass consumerism, the dazzling lights of 20th century industry, the inability to heed the individual fellow man, it’s all here. We are all pod people in one way or another. The sense of futility and nihilism has rarely been matched since.

There are times when the voice over (an incredibly common trope for sci-fi movies of the time, especially very low budget ones) is not needed, and can get in the way of the action unfolding on screen, which itself is a visual representation of this same recounting of events by telling exactly what we’re already seeing, but thankfully this interjection only occurs a few times throughout the film and is in no way overbearing. It is mostly gone for the final half of the film, when the momentum kicks into overdrive and everything runs at a thousand miles per hour as the conspiracy unfolds, so at least it knows to keep back when our attention is needed the most.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1954) teaches us that nobody can be trusted. Everyone is in on the conspiracy, and even law enforcement, phone companies, doctors, mayors, grocers, are out to get you. Decades later, in 1987, Andrew Tudor would outline his definition of ‘paranoid horror’ in his textbook “Monsters and Mad Scientists”, claiming the fundamental shift was in 1960 thanks to the killer-next-door films Psycho and Peeping Tom. The breakdown of the authority figure, the terror from within the circle of safety, the transmutation of the flesh, disease; all these ideas he outlines as part of his theory. He does acknowledge, however, that some films before 1960 played up the paranoid nature of the threat not coming from outside, but from within. Invasion of the Body Snatchers is right on the cusp of this transition, and in an incredible 80 minutes worms its way into our minds, our hearts, and cinematic culture. With remarkable ideas, direction, staging, and some great central performances, locked into place by a terrific open ending, Don Siegel’s classic is right to be revered as such, going above being a schlock horror picture show to become something far more important.

Score: 20/24

But what if you don’t want just one good scare, but two?

You break out the DVDs, maybe old VHS boxes, and settle in for the evening. Although you like the options in front of you, you also want something fresh. Not exactly the same movie, but you need that recommendation that says ‘if you liked this film, you’ll really love this one’, and sometimes that automated notification at the side of the screen telling you what you’ll like just doesn’t have what it takes.

This is, of course, where this carefully curated list will come in handy. So let’s set up some movie nights for you, with this list of ten suggestions for horror movie double-bills. We’ll start with a famous film, then offer an obscure gem to follow up with.

Let us know if you try any of our suggestions by leaving a comment at the end of this article or tweeting us.

1. Halloween (1978) / Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006)

The story of a ‘six year old child with this blank, pale, emotionless face, and the blackest eyes, the devil’s eyes’, who snaps one night and kills his sister, only to break out of the asylum fifteen years later, is the film that said the slasher formula could be repeated, after Black Christmas in ’74 laid out the beats. Halloween sowed the seeds for what was to come, and whilst Terror Train and Prom Night went largely unnoticed in ‘79, the success of Friday the 13th in 1980, and the still continual sleeper growth of Carpenter’s movie, helped to make Laurie Strode, Michael Myers and Dr. Sam Loomis established slasher archetypes.

All of this knowledge has now been ingrained in the cultural consciousness, even if you don’t watch slasher films religiously. This allows Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon to have a satirical, observational potency that makes it so special. A blend of mockumentary and horror, the film follows a young reporter following around Leslie Vernon, a self-professed serial killer in training, willing to give young Taylor and her crew an inside look at the preparation, training, ethos and methods behind being a big-time slasher like his heroes, Michael, Jason, and Freddy.

Not only does it poke fun at the genre, whilst bringing in some genuine academic concepts such as the final girl’s journey throughout the slasher film (as discussed in “Men, Women, and Chain Saws”, amongst other places), but it manages to be both funny and genuinely terrifying. Nathan Baesel’s Leslie is a phenomenal performance, the cameos from Kane Hodder, Zelda Rubinstein and Robert Englund (who plays a Sam Loomis character to Vernon’s Michael Myers) are something special, and it is both the horror fan’s wet dream and a great time for the casual viewer, making it a worthy pairing for an essential horror film.

Recommended for you: The ‘Halloween’ Franchise Ranked

2. Hereditary (2018) / Tumbbad (2018)

Hereditary Review

Whereas the slasher film had an obvious angle to go for, the connection between Hereditary and Tumbbad isn’t as easy to spot. With a film like Hereditary, a modern horror sensation following the ghostly and demonic activity surrounding a family with enough troubles of their own, it would be all too easy to pair it up with another film going off a paranormal, demonic, or folk-horror element. On another day, something like The Devil Rides Out (1968), or even Night of the Demon (1955) might be a perfect fit.

But Hereditary is more than just its genre. As the name suggests, it’s deeply concerned with family, and the curses and ills that can pass down from one to another through the ages. It’s on this side of things that Tumbbad, a dark fantasy/horror from India, is a wonderful compliment. Split up into three sections over thirty years, it focuses on a man’s interaction with a fallen deity, and the price of taking too many liberties in the pursuit of wealth and greed.

With breathtaking cinematography and a long, drawn out narrative that takes its time to pile up the atmospherics, it’s incredible that it was made for just $700,000 (approximately). Both films take a supernatural approach to drawing upon themes within their narratives – grief in Hereditary and greed in Tumbbad – and the horrific effects that these can have on the characters and their families. Both brooding, thoughtful pieces, they make for a great Halloween horror double bill for those who aren’t up for a crash-bang-whallop of an evening, but want something more measured and, in some ways, more epic.

The Slasher horror movie became fruitful in the late 1970s and directors began to push the boundaries of what could be shown on screen. Many were popular at grindhouses and drive-in cinemas, attracting fans of low-budget splatter-horror and gore.

The films in this list were considered to be some of the most shocking horror films of their time, most of them using never-before-seen special effects, horrifying narratives and intensely thrilling performances from their casts.

With such a plethora of memorable, genre-defining releases, the 1970s offered up dozens of memorable horror movie moments, the 10 Best of which will be presented in this Top List.

These are the 10 Best Horror Movie Moments of the 1970s.

Let us know your favourites in the comments, and be sure to follow us on Twitter.

10. Dawn of the Dead (1978) – Basement Zombies

Kicking off our top ten is the second in George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead series, Dawn of the Dead. Showing the further extent of the events in the first film, survivors of the outbreak barricade themselves in a shopping mall amid mass public hysteria.

One of the film’s more unnerving scenes comes at the start. Peter (Ken Foree) and Roger (Scott Reiniger) find themselves fighting through a housing block full of zombies before coming upon the building’s basement. Realising that residents have been hiding their dead rather than delivering them to the National Guard, Peter and Roger discover a room of zombies all feasting on fresh flesh and struggling inside body bags. In a drawn-out moment, Peter begins to kill each ‘undead’ individually by shooting, which Roger steps in to help with.

The scene focuses particular attention to the ethnicity of the undead – with the majority of them being black or Latino – a big hint to the awful treatment and conditions of housing for minority communities in the 70s and beyond. Although this scene is not necessarily terrifying by way of jump scares or some of those yet to come in this list, it is scary in a way that points to the true terror of our own world and thus as poignant of a moment in horror as any to come.

9. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) – The Scream

At number nine is Philip Kaufman’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers, a remake of the 1956 film and adapted from the novel by Jack Finney. In a world where humans are being replaced by alien duplicates, the most disturbing moment in the film comes at the last minute.

In the final scene, Matthew (Donald Sutherland) reveals himself to be a duplicated “pod person” by emitting an ear-splitting shriek whilst pointing frighteningly at Nancy (Veronica Cartwright). Presenting a constant sense of unease throughout the film, this scene is the icing on the cake. It has since become the stuff of legend, the above shot recognisable to all fans of film, not just those who enjoy this Ivasion of the Body Snatchers, and one of the most memorably unnerving moments of 1970s horror.

Why?

Because a horror film is like a rollercoaster. You sit through minutes of suspense as you climb to the top of ‘scare mountain’, then the immense drop of a jump-scare hurtles us into an adrenaline rush. We take the rollercoaster over and over again because we love the rush that it gives us, even though we exit the rollercoaster also feeling frightened, disgusted and disturbed. It is commonplace for us to be so mindful of ourselves and the reality of our position in the world is often overlooked. Both rollercoasters and horror films envision this reality for us, and make us contemplate our fragility. The simulation of death on-screen, and on a tiny, only-just-passes-safety-regulations cart racing at up to 100mph, only encourages this intense feeling; making us feel vulnerable yet incredibly omnipotent.

So now it’s 2018, and we still aren’t over this rollercoaster feeling. You’d have thought that we would be at the point where nothing scares us anymore in a horror film. We’ve seen everything – blood, guts, ghosts, demons, the end of the world, projectile vomiting over helpless priests. What else is there to scare us? Apparently plenty. Contemporary horror films are still offering scares by the dozen, and they don’t show any signs of stopping. But what is it that makes them continue to tick and why are we still running from the cinema screaming?

Psycho (1960) – Dir: Alfred Hitchcock – Paramount

In any horror film, it’s likely that you will see similarities to other films. Filmmakers take ideas from here and there to expand upon their own. Go on, try and think of a horror film that is nothing like any you’ve seen before. It’s difficult, but I reckon some recent horror films may fit this bill. If we think about horror films through the ages, you’ll see common themes and trends throughout, even if they were released 50 years apart. For example, The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) could be closely compared to The Purge franchise (2013-). Groups of people becoming emotionless and devoid of humanity, living through an epidemic of mass hysteria. Sound the same? They’re very close. Another common theme which is still seen in horror films is the “I-think-I-know-who-the-killer-is”, but it turns out, you’re always wrong. Well, you’re sometimes wrong. Psycho, Scream, The Thing, Seven; these classic films have you trying to guess who the antagonist is, only to prove you mistaken. This happened to me when I saw The Secret of Marrowbone at the cinema. I won’t hand out spoilers, but let’s just say I was wide off the mark about my verdict! I think the biggest theme of contemporary horror is the psychological aspect. We don’t get scared by a man in a mask anymore – it’s actually more likely that we’ll just turn that into a meme. What scares us seems to be the unknown, yet somehow it’s the known too. We’re scared of things we can’t see or explain – ghosts, spirits, possession – yet we’re also scared of the things we know transforming into something less familiar and/or instinctual. We’re scared of the human condition and what we could become, and especially what could defeat us, kill us, end our species. Split, for example, presents the expansion of the human mind to extreme lengths and that is unnatural to us. The increasing prominence of technology has become a fear for many, and filmmakers in the genre like to use this to their advantage too. The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity and Unfriended are films that take on the ‘found footage style’ of horror. Unfriended in particular takes on the fear of someone watching our every move through our devices. But, considering society’s current thoughts and knowledge on this subject, is that such an irrational fear?

Compared to 60s and 70s ‘slasher’ horror, most of the horror films we see now are psychological horrors. They mess with our minds and have us asking questions we never thought we’d be asking. We’re so used to knowing who the antagonists of a horror film are and their motives for their actions, so when we’re faced with an invisible force, we simply don’t know what to think. If we look back on horror films and relate them to Western society at that time of their releases, it’s actually very easy to see why the villains scared us so much. The ‘man in a mask’ theme is easy to understand – we were fighting men in masks, men in uniform, men following orders, people dressed up as something they were not usually seen as being. Nazi Germany in World War II and Russia during the Cold War are two big examples. Whereas now, we are fighting an enemy without a face; the group known as the ‘Islamic State’. As it has been shown in national and international news, many members of this group have been civilians, people we walk past on the street everyday and don’t bat an eyelid at. It’s becoming increasingly popular to remind us that we can’t trust people, not even one another. Even something so simple as saying ‘hello’ to a stranger is almost completely unheard of now; the result of our lives being bound to technology and every warning we’ve ever been given from society regarding the dangers of such an act. Our enemies are each other and in being so, they are unknown. The scariest antagonists in contemporary horror films usually take on roles similar to real-life villains; the creepy online predator, the dark figure following you down an alleyway at night, the isolated neighbour who keeps to themselves and is actually a psychopath… It’s natural for us to assume that the invisible antagonist in a horror film is a ghost, and that’s how their actions are portrayed, but it sometimes turns out to be a living person, deranged and manipulative, in a psychotic state. The Boy, for example, leads us to believe that we are watching a ghost story, when in fact it is the story of a man with a traumatic childhood. These villains and antagonists only fuel the fire we have against each other. It makes us more judgmental, more unfair, and more likely to point the finger and put the blame on one another. In this case, the real question we must ponder, is: are horror films scaring us or scaremongering us?