WARNING: This Review May Contain Spoilers
I promised myself that I was going to stop writing articles about remakes that are based on a novel (yes, I didn’t know this before but this was based on The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney) because they aren’t technically remakes, just different adaptations of the same book. Well, I broke that promise and here we are….
Starting at the End
This is something that happens in the original film and not the remake which I think adds to its subtlety. The way invasion takes place in the original film is only referenced in the original towards the end when Miles realises he and Becky are the only ones that aren’t ‘Pod People’ Seeds drifting through space for years took root in a farmer’s field. However, the remake begins with some sort of alien pollen drifting to Earth from Space This then means that we focus a lot more on the pods in the beginning of the remake than we do in the original film.
The Thing About Small Towns
This is going to sound really odd but I don’t feel like this style of story works on the level the remake is trying to apply it to. So, the original is set in a small town called Santa Mira and of course, in a small town, everybody knows everybody. In a city this just wouldn’t be the case – so how can Elizabeth say that everybody has changed because even if she’s lived there her whole life she wouldn’t know every single person in the city!
Changes in Character
Now, obviously this is central to the story but this is what’s genius about the original compared to the remake – the changes aren’t obvious! For example, when it is revealed at the end that one of the pods got Becky, I started to wonder how long she had actually been ‘snatched’. However, it is apparent in the remake that the changes are more obvious. Take Jeffery for example. When we first meet him, he’s a slob who can’t even be bothered to pick the post up off the floor but by the morning, after sleeping with the flower on his bedside table – he is sweeping up broken glass while wearing a suit.
While You Were Sleeping
Interestingly, in the remake they focus on this part of the story in a different way compared to the original. In the original, Miles realises that what is happening to them is happening while they’re asleep because Teddy tells him that the cut on the duplicate Jack’s hand appeared while he was asleep – so Miles insists that they all do their best to stay awake. However, the remake shows what happens while the characters are asleep from the pod’s angle – showing it attaching itself to Matthew and creating his duplicate.
The Iconic Scene
This is possibly the scene that everybody knows from the original whether you’ve seen the film or not, of Miles standing the middle of traffic screaming “They’re coming, they’re coming. You’re next, you’re next” at anyone who will listen in the cars passing by. It is this scene that brings us back to where the original begins of Miles with the police because they think he’s crazy. However, in the remake, this happens within half an hour of the film starting and is portrayed by an unknown character. For me, this means that it actually loses the power the scene originally held.
Hero in the End?
It seems to me that in the remake they decided to make Matthew Bennell the hero of the film, whereas in the original there is no horror. I’m not even sure we can even consider the original film having a happy ending – especially not for Miles, as his girlfriend has been taken over by the pod and the police think he’s insane. It seems however in the remake Matthew destroys the factory where they are growing the pods for distribution. However, having said that – this clearly doesn’t work as it seems they get Matthew too in the end.
In Conclusion
I’ve said this once already but I really don’t think this type of story works on the level that the remake is trying to make it on. Also, I’m not 100% sold on the ending of the remake – I prefer the unknown outcome of the original. So, really what I’m saying is that I’m back to the old ‘I prefer the original’ stance of my early articles.
