(Is there *really* no board for this? Despite being one of the classic science fiction movies and a current remake?)

It's probably best that this board cover the entire run of productions rather than having a dedicated board for each.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
Body Snatchers (1993)
The Invasion (2007)

Spoilers for the 2007 version within.

I love the original. The second was okay, the third I saw on tv not even realising it was a remake at first, the fourth I just saw.

What makes the first one work so well is its being an allegory for communism. At the time, Americans viewed communists as unemotional beings, so the threat of an invasion, making us just like our then-enemies, was a rich vein to explore. But now, the notion of unfeeling aliens is old hat, and it was hard to be scared for them in the newest film. I think the good though flawed 28 Days Later was, in some respects, a better updating of the original Body Snatchers movie in its depiction of a rapidly decreasing number of remaining humans trying to survive against the majority of former humans, but in 28DL they were fast and full of rage--far scarier than unfeeling people going about their daily jobs and not sweating.

The pods are gone, replaced by the aliens vomiting on the humans, sadly a typical modern updating. The bodies are no longer copied but the humans basically just change into the aliens, which at least has the advantage of eliminating the 'What becomes of the original bodies?' question.

The new film could have used better direction. The relationships between the main characters were not very strong, the near impossibility of staying awake, while in there, was not very developed, and, as I said, the emotionless aliens just weren't scary. Sometimes they even were aggressive, when they were attacking a human, but frankly alternating between unemotionalness and aggression just made them seem more human. Bringing out the alieness was a matter of exposition, telling now showing, especially as we never really got to know any of the characters before they were infected (save Ben, but he didn't seem all that different after he changed). In fact, it's only at the very end, after the invasion is thwarted and the news is reporting outbreaks of war and violence again and humans have gone back to our habit of killing each other, that we see the biggest contrast. (There were reports of military withdraw in the middle of the movie, but it didn't have the 'Look how more effective the new life is' effect on me.) In the past movies (my memory of the 1993 is vague), the remaining humans were holding on to their humanity with all their might; in the new one, it seemed at times that they just wanted to avoid catching a virus or, later, were just afraid of change.

The usual Body Snatchers cliches are here, like the reunion between two main characters...only one of them's changed. Ironically, that almost put me to sleep. And the modern Hollywood clches are there too: using a montage of CNN and other broadcast news sources to shortcut storytelling, and the main character using the Internet to help piece together what's happening.

One possible nit: Was nobody at CNN infected? The news coverage throughout the movie didn't change, only the news. Or, since the infected aliens still carry out their jobs, maybe it wouldn't change. But that just highlights my complaint about there not being enough contrast between our life and the new one the aliens want us to have.

At one point in the new version the news announces all the quarreling countries of the world spontaneously declaring peace with each other, and we see some footage of a bunch of people happily celebrating and cheering the new peace. Is this right? Shouldn't we see a bunch of people somberly saying, "we have peace, good"?

At one point in the new version the news announces all the quarreling countries of the world spontaneously declaring peace with each other, and we see some footage of a bunch of people happily celebrating and cheering the new peace. Is this right? Shouldn't we see a bunch of people somberly saying, "we have peace, good"?

When I initially read this comment, I had a theory. Now, that I've actually seen the film, it's done nothing to dispell said theory. I think that the revellers were not infected and the ones who declared peace were.

BTW, this is now the third time I've seen a movie and its remake. (The other two were Gone In Sixty Seconds and The Italian Job.)

The Invasion is playing on HBO this month. It's more of a chase movie than the first and second versions (I haven't seen the third) and gets a bit tiresome. Daniel Craig has an awful haircut. The music is credited to Superman Returns composer John Ottman. But, parts of the score sound like they were ripped off from Cliff Eidelman's score for Star Trek VI.

A video review of the 1978 version, by the Fear Fan, has been posted to the Agony Booth.

Since the 1978 version takes place in San Francisco, there are more than a few shots of the Transamerica Tower. There's quite a bit of corporate synergy going on there - Transamerica at the time was the corporate parent of United Artists, the studio that made the film. Transamerica got out of the movie business in 1981, after the Heaven's Gate debacle, and sold UA to MGM.