#54- Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Quick recap: A small town gets invaded by aliens (typical) who grow and harvest pods who sprout people (not so typical). The people are the exact duplicates of residents in the town, except devoid of any emotion and with a penchant for getting up early on Saturday morning.

not ripe yet, best to leave it unrefrigerated

Fun (?) fact: The film originally had a much grimmer ending, with the doctor running into traffic and yelling, ‘You’re next!’. Not wanting to offend the delicate sensibilities of the audience, the movie was given a more optimistic (lame) ending.

My thoughts: By today’s standards for horror as well as alien invasion, this movie was rather tame. There were never any moments that frightened me, although the pods spewing people was a little creepy. However, after finishing the movie and then allowing myself time to let everything sink in, I realized just how unsettling Invasion of the Body Snatchers is. That’s really rare for a film to do that, since most horror movie moments that frighten us tend to vanish once daylight hits. Going back to my childhood fear of aliens for a moment, I used to wake up from nightmares frantically searching for a clock because I remembered reading that most abductions happened between 1 and 3 in the morning. I knew that if I could just survive until 3, I’d be alright. And then the next morning, I would feel incredibly silly for believing something like that. But this movie is different. Daylight seemed to highlight just how wrong everything was and made me question what was real.

My favorite scene of the movie happens when Dr. Bennell and Becky glance out the window and see practically the whole town awake and moving about, even though it was only 7 in the morning on a Saturday. It was one of those moments that seemed a little off but grew into a more unsettling feeling as the characters realized how wrong everything was. As in the beginning of the movie, the duplicates were impossible to detect, and yet loved ones knew something was not right. The boy at the beginning who runs away because he thinks his mother has been replaced is later seen hugging her and smiling. No one had to mention anything to know that the invasion had happened, but watching that brief scene said it all and made it all the more frightening. The subtle horror moments are what really makes Invasion of the Body Snatchers stand out.

My one criticism comes not from the movie itself, but from the (I believe) over analyzation of the plot. As most of us know, the 50’s signified the heyday of McCarthyism and the Red Scare. It’s impossible to sit through this movie and not think about that. However, trying to write off this movie as a metaphor for its time really does the bigger theme a disservice. The invasion of ideas, good or bad, can be frightening no matter the time period. I am currently reading Maus by Art Spiegelman, a graphic novel about the Holocaust. I could easily compare the alien invasion to the quick rise of Nazism, how seemingly nice, well adjusted people suddenly turned on each other and became the monsters we know of today. Or, I could compare Invasion of the Body Snatchers to a comment forum in an online article- how the discussion starts civil and soon turns into a mess of racial slurs, sexist remarks, and threats of violence. Seemingly normal people become devoid of emotion and have no guilt at what they are saying. My point being that this movie is best viewed as a constant reminder of how quickly things-and people- can change.

Final review: 4/5. Not scary, but a truly significant film

Up next: Horrorfest

#53- Aliens

Quick recap: As if an murdering an entire crew wasn’t lesson enough, Ripley goes back to battle even more aliens. Sure, she thought it was just a consultant job, but some part of her mind had to realize that this wasn’t going to end well. Jones the cat thankfully makes the smart decision to stay home.

Fun fact: The alien nest set was kept intact after filming and was later used as the Axis Chemicals set for Batman.

My thoughts: Let’s just get this out of the way: I hate Bill Paxton. Hate him. With a fiery passion. I don’t really have a reason for doing so, but he just looks like the kind of guy you would walk up to on a street and punch in the face. He does nothing to help himself look favorable in this movie, except for finally dying. I just really hate that guy. Moving on.

I’m proud of myself for not punching the computer.

The book I am using to choose what movies to watch, 1001 Movies to See Before you Die, listed Aliens as a horror film and so I watched it. If I had watched this movie at any other time of the year I probably would’ve enjoyed it more, but this is definitely not horror. The aliens were scary, sure, but it wasn’t something to keep me up at night. To me, a good horror film is one that a group of girls would choose to watch at a sleepover and then after the movie, make a pact to never mention what they saw again. Aliens had way more action and suspense than what I am looking for.

One thing that bothered me about the movie is that all the quiet, mounting terror is gone. The director tried to recreate the emotion as the marines discovered the alien nest, but there was just so much going on with the people in webs and other horrors, that I immediately knew everything would end badly. The gunfire and torch blowing was also a disappointment. I guess it was cool that the alien spewed acid when it had been hit,but I was hoping bullets and fire wouldn’t bring them down so easily. In the end, they were rather easy to exterminate.

A couple more things I found annoying: 1) adding in an adorable little girl for Ripley to mother instead of just using the cat again and 2) except for a brief scene at the beginning, no one mentions that Ripley is like, 70, now. It’s bothered me way more than it should have.

Final review: 3/5. I expected horror and it did not deliver. Bill Paxton, you’re lucky I gave it any points at all.

Up next: more Horrorfest!

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#52- Alien

Quick recap: The crew of the Nostromo, a cargo spaceship, must investigate a signal coming from nearby. What is initially interpreted as an SOS signal, the crew finds out was actually a warning they were listening to. The alien brought on board the ship wreaks havoc and murders everyone except Sigourney Weaver, because she’s a cat person.

It comforts me know I could survive an alien attack

It comforts me to know I could survive an alien attack

Fun (?) Fact: From IMDB: According to Ridley Scott in the DVD commentary, he had envisioned a moment in the ending scenes of Ripley and the alien in the space shuttle in which the alien would be sexually aroused by Ripley. Scott says that in the scene, after Ripley hides in the closet, the alien would find her and would be staring at her through the glass door. The alien would then start touching itself as if comparing its body to Ripley’s. The idea was eventually scrapped.

My thoughts: Alien is one of those movies I should’ve seen a long time ago, but never got around to actually sitting down to watch. When I saw it at the Drafthouse a couple of days ago, the manager of the theater asked everyone to raise their hand if they had never seen Alien before. Only one person raised his hand, as he was apparently more brave than I am when it comes to being publicly humiliated.

Alien also has the distinction of being so ingrained in pop culture, that I feel like I have seen it a million times already. There weren’t any scenes that really shocked me, save for the one where the crew finds out Ash is a robot. I really enjoyed that twist, especially adding in the fact that it was the government who had known and wanted the alien all along.

The alien itself was perfectly terrifying. I still don’t really understand it’s reproductive and incubation methods, but whatever. The facehugging scene creeped me out, as Ash describes what the alien is doing to Kane’s body. And of course, the chest bursting scene was gross but I had seen it parodied so many times that it didn’t bother me. There were parts of the movie that made it really hard to comprehend that Alien had been made in 1979. It’s amazing to see what special effects had to do to portray certain things, without the aid of computers to just draw it in.

Overall, I can’t really say much about this movie that hasn’t been said a billion times, and for good reason. Alien is the very definition of a ‘classic’ film that will live on for many more years. Although I wasn’t scared at any point, I enjoyed myself immensely and being able to watch it on the big screen made the experience even more enjoyable.

I was so excited to come up with this observation, only to find out that people already beat me to it.

Final review: 5/5. A perfect movie from beginning to end.

Nightmares: none this time, which kind of surprised me. I had a huge fear of aliens back when I was a kid, thanks to that show, Sightings, that would air late at night. Living in a rural area, I truly believed I would be abducted at any second.

Up next: Horrorfest continues!

#51- The Wolf Man

Quick recap: A man gets bitten by a werewolf that he defends himself from and in turn, becomes a werewolf. Except not really, because this version of a werwolf has Lon Cheney looking like a hairy hipster. After going on a killing spree, as all werewolves are wont to do, he is bludgeoned to death by his father.

googling ‘hipster werewolf’ took me down a Furry rabbit hole I wasn’t prepared for

Fun (?) Fact: The Wolf Man’s hair is made from yak and took hours to put it on and take it off

My thoughts: As I have mentioned before, werewolves are not very scary to me and this one was even less so. Although I don’t really know what I was expecting since the movie is called Wolf Man. The attack scenes were especially not scary. It just seemed like some really hairy guy had had enough of society’s rules on grooming and wanted to let everyone know who was really in charge.

new game! Hipster or Wolf Man? Either way, the music you listen to is lame.

I enjoyed this film more when I thought about the context of its time. I don’t subscribe to the idea that people back then were more easily scared because I don’t see how ANYONE would’ve had nightmares from this guy. But I can imagine some kid watching a matinee of Wolf Man, maybe a double feature, and getting kind of creeped out. There were enough elements that most 7 year olds would be scared by- a mysterious gypsy, lots of fog, and then the scenes were the werewolves are beaten to death. This movie takes itself seriously.

hipster or Wolf man? Just imagine a PBR or some super local craft beer in this guy’s hand

One part of the film that creeped me out was not the Wolf Man, but Larry Talbot’s attempts to flirt with Gwen. I don’t know about you, but if a guy came up to me and said that he liked my earrings because he had been spying on me with a telescope, I wouldn’t go walking around town with him late at night. Not judging here, of course. I had read the synopsis of the movie beforehand that mentioned the transformation of a werewolf was a metaphor for a sexual transformation. If so, Wolf Man is into some kinky stuff. Once again, not judging.

Last round of Hipster or Wolf Man!

Final review: 2/5. My favorite part of the movie is that it is only 70 minutes long. I think it would be a lot of fun to show Wolf Man at a kids halloween party, but no adult should see it and expect to be frightened.

Nightmares: no nightmares, but my dreams had plenty of fog in them

Up next: more Horrorfest!

1001 Movie Nights

Tag Archives: horrorfest

#54- Invasion of the Body Snatchers

#53- Aliens

#52- Alien

#51- The Wolf Man

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