{"id":688,"date":"2023-09-22T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-22T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leoloves.co.uk\/?p=688"},"modified":"2025-04-24T16:25:46","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T16:25:46","slug":"invasion-of-the-body-snatchers-1956-vs-1978","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leoloves.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/09\/22\/invasion-of-the-body-snatchers-1956-vs-1978\/","title":{"rendered":"Invasion of the Body Snatchers 1956 vs 1978"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WARNING: <\/mark><\/strong>This Review May Contain Spoilers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I promised myself that I was going to stop writing articles about remakes that are based on a novel (yes, I didn\u2019t know this before but this was based on The Body Snatchers <\/em>by Jack Finney) because they aren\u2019t technically remakes, just different adaptations of the same book. Well, I broke that promise and here we are\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starting at the End<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                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\u2019t \u2018Pod People\u2019 Seeds drifting through space for years took root in a farmer’s field<\/em>. 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Thing About Small Towns<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                This is going to sound really odd but I don\u2019t 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\u2019t be the case \u2013 so how can Elizabeth say that everybody has changed because even if she\u2019s lived there her whole life she wouldn\u2019t know every single person in the city!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Changes in Character<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                Now, obviously this is central to the story but this is what\u2019s genius about the original compared to the remake \u2013 the changes aren\u2019t 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 \u2018snatched\u2019. However, it is apparent in the remake that the changes are more obvious. Take Jeffery for example. When we first meet him, he\u2019s a slob who can\u2019t even be bothered to pick the post up off the floor but by the morning, after sleeping with the flower on his bedside table \u2013 he is sweeping up broken glass while wearing a suit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While You Were Sleeping<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                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\u2019re asleep because Teddy tells him that the cut on the duplicate Jack\u2019s hand  appeared while he was asleep \u2013 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\u2019s angle \u2013 showing it attaching itself to Matthew and creating his duplicate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Iconic Scene<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is possibly the scene that everybody knows from the original whether you\u2019ve seen the film or not, of Miles standing the middle of traffic screaming \u201cThey\u2019re coming, they\u2019re coming. You\u2019re next, you\u2019re next\u201d <\/em>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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hero in the End?<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                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\u2019m not even sure we can even consider the original film having a happy ending \u2013 especially not for Miles, as his girlfriend has been taken over by the pod and the police think he\u2019s insane. It seems however in the remake Matthew destroys the factory where they are growing the pods for distribution. However, having said that \u2013 this clearly doesn\u2019t work as it seems they get Matthew too in the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Conclusion<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                I\u2019ve said this once already but I really don\u2019t think this type of story works on the level that the remake is trying to make it on. Also, I\u2019m not 100% sold on the ending of the remake \u2013 I prefer the unknown outcome of the original. So, really what I\u2019m saying is that I\u2019m back to the old \u2018I prefer the original\u2019 stance of my early articles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019t know this before but this was based on The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney) because they aren\u2019t technically remakes, just different adaptations of the same book. Well, … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":978,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-to-remake-or-not-to-remake","latest_post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leoloves.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leoloves.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leoloves.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leoloves.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leoloves.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=688"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/leoloves.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":689,"href":"https:\/\/leoloves.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688\/revisions\/689"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leoloves.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leoloves.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leoloves.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leoloves.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}