“…the level of apathy that this movie inspires really immerses you into the story…”

I’ve seen versions of Invasion of the Body Snatchers before, but it’s not like I make it a point to collect as many as I can. But fate presented me with the 1956 version of the film, what I can assume is the original (at least in movie form) and honestly it wasn’t bad. It didn’t have Jeff Goldblum in it so it wasn’t perfect, but it wasn’t bad.

The thing I liked about Invasion of the Body Snatchers was the no-bullshit attitude of the movie. It introduced us to our main character, Dr. Miles Bennell played by Kevin McCarthy, and then immediately afterwords we are introduced to our problem. Sure there was a little bit of the old “huh, this is strange. Oh well, let’s ignore it” shit that you’re used to by now, but Invasion of the Bodysnatchers surprisingly played it light with that kind of writing.

So pretty much as soon as it can, Invasion of the Body Snatchers drops you right into the action. Sure the action isn’t the best, especially if you know the story already, but I admire the non-nonsense behaviour of the film. This middle section of the movie is what you came to see. It can be kind of intense, it has the best performances, it has an air of mystery; it’s everything you could want out of whatever this movie is.

Unfortunately Invasion of the Body Snatchers stumbles towards the end when it draws out a chase scene that should have been over in a few minutes to a sequence that seemingly runs for years. And after this it just kind of fizzles out. There was nothing really stand-out about this movie, everything was just kind of fine. Ironically the level of apathy that this movie inspires really immerses you into the story, with your emotions now mimicking that of the ‘body snatchers’.

I give Invasion of the Body Snatchers a C