Today’s pick is always a tough one. Normally I hate remakes but there have been some excellent ones. And in today’s case the original 1956 film is a masterpiece as is the 1978 remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
Based on Jack Finney’s 1954 novel The Body Snatchers both films follow a doctor, Dr. Miles J. Bennell (Kevin McCarthy in the original) or Dr. Matthew Bennell (Donald Sutherland in the remake) who discovers that people have been acting not themselves because they have been replaced with pod people.
The original was part of the red scare of the 1950s. Your neighbour might be a communist! Despite this the film is creepy and eerie. The remake is quite faithful but it’s even more creepy and terrifying at times.
The basic plot of both films has alien seeds landing on Earth and growing into exact duplicates of people taking their place in society. The only difference between them is a lack of emotion with the pod person. The original had a more upbeat ending forced on it at the time while the remake is a little more bleak and quite brilliant.
I’ve covered both films on different 31 Days of Horror years. The original I did here. And the remake here.