“At first glance, everything looked the same. It wasn’t. Something evil had taken possession of the town.”
Oh, to travel back to the 1950s. If I could, I would just sit myself in a drive-in theater with a big ol’ bucket of popcorn and watch flick after flick of whatever science fiction schlock was being shown. I’d never leave.
Especially if Invasion of the Body Snatchers was on the bill. Newly remastered in 4K from Kino Lorber, who takes over the release from the now defunct Olive Films. Their handling of the movie shows that they care. And that Don Siegel’s film is in good hands.
Jack Finney's 1955 novel "The Body Snatchers" gets remade almost every decade. It’s true. While nothing has topped 1978’s version, few of the films stray thematically from the original content. That’s how fear-inducing his novel is.
If that isn’t the mark of eternal entertainment then I don’t know what is. Having read the novel, I can tell you that it is terrifying and that there have only been two adaptations worth seeing. Director Don Siegel’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers, from 1956, is where you should start. Siegel, a B-movie pioneer and mentor to Clint Eastwood, threw everything into this gem and most of it still sticks for today’s audience.
Dr. Miles Bennell (Kevin McCarthy) has a story to tell. Frantic and nearly hysterical, he can only claim to not be insane. He just wants someone to hear him out. Dr. Hills (Whit Bissell) gets to be the lucky one.
The aliens have landed. They aren’t friendly and they are taking over.
Santa Mira, California, you see, has been overrun by aliens. They emerge from pods and take the forms of friends, neighbors, strangers, and enemies while they sleep. The real people never wake up. Pod people take their place in the world. Bennell, having lost his best friend (King Donovan) and girlfriend (Dana Wynter) to sleep and pods, has outrun them and traveled a great distance to warn others.
No one believes him.
Adapted for the screen by Daniel Mainwaring, Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a tight thriller that never outstays its welcome with needless exposition and repetitive scares. Siegel keeps the action tight and the tension tighter throughout this cold war era thriller and manages to strike a nerve that resonates today. It’s a cautionary tale about blind conformity and not using your noggin when fear and hype rule the scene. For America, it’s a cautionary tale we seriously need to heed – which is why it probably gets remade as often as it does.
McCarthy is simply great as the man on the edge of sanity. His performance is a milestone in the B-movie market and, as popular as the movie became, he would eventually play the character twice more; the most famous being in the 1978 remake where he crashes into the windshield of a car screaming his famous lines.
While the film eventually went down into the culture annals of time, critics largely ignored its first run in theaters. Working as an allegory for the red tide uprising, Invasion of the Body Snatchers changed the way audiences “read” sci-fi horror films. Here, with Siegel’s swift construction and producer Walter Wanger’s attention to detail, the film pushes its low budget and drive-in theatrics into places that feel very real.
The film might have sacrificed its original ending (McCarthy screaming while truckloads of pods pass by) to a nervous studio, but that’s no reason to dismiss this little gem from the 1950s. Invasion of the Body Snatchers is of historical and cultural significance and one of the better B-movies of American cinema.
Let the deconstruction of conformity in the 1950s begin!
Home Video Distributor: Kino Lorber
Available on Blu-ray - July 16, 2024
Screen Formats: 1.85:1; 2.00:1
Subtitles: English SDH
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
Discs: 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc; Two-disc set
Region Encoding: 4K region-free; blu-ray locked to Region A
“They’re already here! You’re next!” With these chilling words, Invasion of the Body Snatchers sounded the clarion call to the dangers of conformity, paranoia and mass hysteria at the heart of 1950s American life. One of the greatest and most influential science fiction films ever made, Invasion stars Kevin McCarthy (Nightmare, Mirage) as Miles Bennell, a doctor in a small California town whose patients are becoming increasingly overwrought, accusing their loved ones of being emotionless imposters. They’re right! Plant-like extraterrestrials have invaded Earth, taking possession of humans as they sleep and replicating them in giant seed pods. Convinced that a catastrophic pandemic is imminent, Bennell, in a terrifying race for his life, must warn the world of this deadly invasion of the pod people—before it’s too late! This is the original adaptation of Jack Finney’s eerie tale, produced by Walter Wanger (Scarlet Street, Cleopatra) and directed by Don Siegel (Dirty Harry, Charley Varrick) in beautiful black-and-white Superscope. One of the mightiest cult classics of cinema is now scarier and timelier than ever! This special edition features the film in two aspect ratios, 2.00:1 and 1.85:1.
VIDEO
King Lorber presents this 1950s black-and-white film in a solid AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.00:1 and in 1.85:1. While none of the 4K retooling would be reference ready material, the upscaling and the remastering is indeed noticeable and appreciated. The stark black-and-white flickering offers a very filmic and horrifying look into the era. In spite of the age of the flick, fine details are seen on faces, costumes, props, and gloriously illuminate the sets. There is a nice layer of authentic film grain throughout the clean transfer. One would never know this sucker was shot on a flimsy shoestring budget as the punchy visuals hold up in HD. Close-ups are filled with terror and detail and they absolutely hold up to the HD microscope.
AUDIO
The release features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track that sounds, in spite of its age, surprisingly robust and full.
Supplements:
Commentary:
-
There are four different commentaries. See below for details.
Special Features:
Kino Lorber packs this release with some cool supplemental items. Surprisingly, nothing has been ported over from the Olive release, though. It seems that Kino Lorber has no rights to those featurettes.
DISC 1 (4KUHD):
- Brand New HDR/Dolby Vision Masters - From a New 4K Scan of the Best Available 35mm Elements
- Includes Both the 2.00:1 and 1.85:1 in HDR/Dolby Vision
- Audio Commentary by Actor Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter, Moderated by Legendary Filmmaker Joe Dante
- Audio Commentary by Film Historian Richard Harland Smith
- NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historians Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson
- NEW Audio Commentary by Professor and Film Scholar Jason A. Ney
- Triple-Layered UHD100 Disc
- Optional English Subtitles
DISC 2 (BLU-RAY):
- Brand New HD Masters - From a New 4K Scan of the Best Available 35mm Elements
- Includes Both the 2.00:1 and 1.85:1 Version in Newly Remastered 1080P HD
- Audio Commentary by Actor Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter, Moderated by Legendary Filmmaker Joe Dante
- Audio Commentary by Film Historian Richard Harland Smith
- NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historians Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson
- NEW Audio Commentary by Professor and Film Scholar Jason A. Ney
- The Fear is Real: Featurette (12:26)
- The Stranger in Your Lover’s Eyes: Featurette (11:54)
- I No Longer Belong – The Rise and Fall of Walter Wanger: Featurette (21:08)
- 1956 and 1978 Theatrical Trailers
- Dual-Layered BD50 Disc
- Optional English Subtitles
| Movie |  |
|
| Video | |
|
| Audio |  |
|
| Extras | |
|
|
Composite 4K UHD Grade
|
||
MPAA Rating: Approved.
Runtime: 80 mins
Director: Don Siegel
Writer: Daniel Mainwaring; Jack Finney
Cast: Kevin McCarthy; Dana Wynter; Larry Gates
Genre: Horror | Sci-fi
Tagline: Walter Wanger Creates the Ultimate in Science Fiction
Memorable Movie Quote: "They're here already! You're next! You're next, You're next...!"
Theatrical Distributor: Allied Artists Pictures.
Official Site: https://kinolorber.com/product/invasion-of-the-body-snatchers-1956-4kuhd
Release Date: February 5, 1956
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: July 16, 2024.
Synopsis: A small-town doctor learns that the population of his community is being replaced by emotionless alien duplicates.
