Body Snatchers: The Invasion Continues (1994)

The pod people are back! Aliens take over human bodies and souls in this hard-hitting remake of the classic tale starring Meg Tilly, Gabrielle Anwar and Forest Whitaker. Year: 1993 Director: Abel Ferrara Starring: Gabrielle Anwar, Meg Tilly, Forest Whitaker

Body Snatchers Review

This second remake of Invasion of Body Snatchers (the previous two being the 1956 one by Don Siegel and the 1978 one by Philip Kaufman) is not--in my opinion--as suspenseful as the other two; nevertheless, it is quite watchable and entertaining. Forest Whitaker and Christine Elise are very good in this film. The 2.35:1 widescreen DVD is enhanced and of high quality. May 11, 2008

Cheaply produced remake

There are a number of good remakes of The Body Snatcher, but don't waste your time with this one. It's is a very cheap production, poor special effects, completely unoriginal.
February 27, 2008

Average Remake With Some Good Moments

This third remake falls a bit flat compared to the previous ones. The first big problem is pace, which is kind of slow in the beginning, it does recover its pace around the middle but it's kind of late. The majority of the cast give a solid performance, especially Forrest Whitaker who gives a creepy scene choosing his fate of whether to join the pod people or killing himself. Anyhow without ruining the movie it has a lot of good moments, some of them are unpredictable and scary others are just okay. Ultimately it's an average flick with some great moments in it.

The film commences with a family arriving at a military base. It seems that the father of the family is scientist contracted by the army of the base, he is given orders to run test in the local waters to check any unfamiliar activity or chemicals that can be hazardous. Forest Whitaker who comes early in the story explains to the scientist that there is some recent strange activity going on; people who are afraid of going to sleep, fear of themselves and others, scientist tries all he can but it's completely out of his hands because with what he s dealing is not chemicals but alien life form which feeds of humans to create an emotionless duplicate. If you have seen the previous remakes than you are more than familiar with the story. Like the other adaptations the pod people make alarming screaming sounds when there are humans still alive, they also start of like cabbages that feed of the people who are sleeping etc. once again the movie has a lot of creepy moments and a somewhat satisfying conclusion. But there something about the movie that feels that it was sort of rushed. I recommend it to rent on a rainy night or to watch when it's on TV but not to buy.

MY PERSONAL RATING: 3 OUT OF 5





January 22, 2008

Despite the flaws Body Snatchers is a fun ride

Body Snatchers, was the 3rd film version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and one has to wonder why anyone felt the need for a 3rd version? This version lacks the creepy feel and campy feel of the original and lacks the bleak tone of the 1st remake. While Body Snatchers, was pointless and doesn't really add anything new it does make for a fun time. There are some problems though and Body Snatchers isn't nearly as good as it could have been, but does provide enough fun to get over the shortcomings.

This time around the setting is a military base and besides that there really isn't much of a difference between this one and the other two. But there are some problems with the movie. Body Snatchers is one of those movies that has so much potential to really be something great, but never fully lives up to that potential. For me that is always very frustrating. When all was said and done Body Snatchers does work, but there were some missed chances.

The screenplay was written by Stuart Gordon, Dennis Paoli & Nicholas St. John. I have to say I was expecting a lot more from these guys. While the script isn't bad or anything it just lacks the character development. While some of the characters have a little depth most of the others are clichéd and just lack any development. Gordon and Paoli are probably best known for Re-Animator and both are very good writers so it was a letdown that their script never rises about being slightly above average.

Director Abel Ferrara does an alright job; his scenes are a mixed bag some work quite well and others just seem to lack. The first half of the movie is mostly spent with the characters and getting to know them and the pacing lacks a little in those areas, but that is more due to the writing. A director is obviously very important, but sometimes I feel the success or failure of a movie isn't always due to the director.

The shortcomings in Body Snatchers have more to do with the writing than it does the directing. Like I said the first half has more focus on the characters and since they aren't exactly the best written for some scenes do lack. Ferrara though is unable to make up for that and while by no means is the first half bad it just lacks. The 2nd half though things really pick up and Abel Ferrara is able to craft some wonderful scenes with plenty of action and suspense; the pacing really picks up and the excitement that was lacking a little early on is there in the 2nd half.

As much as I did enjoy Body Snatchers again it wasn't without its problems. Carol played by Meg Tilly is the first of the main characters to have their body taken over and the problem is we barley get to know her so it lacks in that we the audience don't really care. But what does work is it does provide some creepy moments. I love when Carol says to her family, "Where you gonna go? Where you gonna run? Where you gonna hide? Nowhere, `cause there's no one like you left." I just love that scene and it was a great and creepy moment.

Gabrielle Anwar plays the lead Marti Malone and her character is probably the best of them all. While her character is sort of the typical type in these type of movies, Anwar is really able to make the most of it and come across as real and likable; When these terrible things begin to happen around her I suppose we can feel for her even if her character is lacking a bit like I said Gabrielle Anwar makes up for that.

My only other problem is I hate when characters go MIA; Jenn played by Christine Elise appears a couple of times early on and while her character was a little clichéd I really like Christine Elise and she makes the character work a lot better than maybe it should have. She figures out there is something weird going on, which she tells Marti, but that doesn't really go anywhere. After that Jenn goes MIA for the remainder of the movie until the final few minutes.

Once the invasion starts to break out and the main characters are under attack it's fairly obvious what happened to Jenn, but point is she played a decent enough part that going MIA like that is annoying. Again it's obvious what happened, but I just hate when characters disappear like that. I think there was potential there for something more with the character, but what's done is done.

Now some people might be wondering why the 4-star review? For starters I love the concept of the movie. I'm a big fan of this franchise and the concept is what really gets me so interested. While in no way are these zombie movies they do have a similar concept. One is about the dead coming back and if bitten by a zombie you become one and the Body Snatcher franchise has aliens taking over bodies. Like zombie flicks, you aren't yourself anymore.

Despite any flaws there is also a lot of fun to be found. As stated earlier Gabrielle Anwar delivers a mostly solid performance and Terry Kinney as her father Steve also delivers a solid performance and both characters were quite likeable as well. Also, Body Snatchers was never boring; despite the first half being a little slow in some spots there was enough going on to hold my interest and the 2nd half has a lot of excitement when the only characters left are being chased around. Forest Whitaker is excellent even if a little over the top, but sadly kind of wasted. He only appears in two scenes, but the last scene he does is one of the strongest and one of the creepiest moments of the movie.

While in many ways, Body Snatchers does lack it's still a lot of fun to watch and the 2nd half more than makes up for the slowness of the first half. Body Snatchers does take a good 45-minutes before it really gets going, but overall I very much enjoyed it. If you liked the original and first remake you'll probably enjoy this. Don't expect anything different just enjoy the ride.
December 7, 2007

Body Snatchers - The most plausable version yet!

This version of the Body Snatchers theme is I believe the most plausible version to-date, clearly depicting an accelerated inutero like development of the aliens, after picking the subject's nose, ears and likely any other available orifice with an array of spaghetti tentacles to suck-out the "life-force" of whomever they are attempting to replace. Plus, it better depicts what happens to the original humanoid immediately upon transition. Besides each neat-nick clone apparently ordered by the collective to clean-up their own mess, it shows in multiple scenes that the alien's need a single consciousness, because even collectively they're not too bright at detecting humanoids or finding good hiding places for their pal pods---like in a closet, over 1/8" perforated-balsa bathroom ceiling panels, or under someone's bed. Now aren't those the first places you'd look for a body snatcher pod?

But the primary problem with this version is that it starts out with depressing sun-down and available-light shots, and it just gets chronically darker after that. In other words, there was just too much relentless drama, from beginning to end. Plus, all of the characters were already depressed and suicidal candidates anyway, so there wasn't much difference after the metamorphoses. While well acted by most everyone in the cast, just don't anyone tell me that was a nude body-double for Meg Tilly's hip-mom character. That would be truly disappointing. Alien or not, I'd still like to date her.
November 3, 2007

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