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Beautiful, moving film.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Isn't it the scariest thing where one of your closest relatives, a parent, a child, or someone who matters acts like a total stranger? Or even worse when the person acts normally yet you feel you have no connection whatsoever or you can't seem to reach him, or her? This is the "what if" basis of classic sci-fi horror film "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", directed by Don Siegel in 1956 and that originated the term "pod people" in reference to people acting in an equally emotionless way but it's in the 'unison' aspect that the film reaches its nightmarish peak. Basically, it starts with: what if you're estranged to a love one and ends with what if you're estranged with the whole world. So the initial premise is simple but the implications are mind-boggling.The genius of the story is that it works on two levels: in microcosm, it's the relatable situation shown from an intimate perspective: a kid crying because his mother doesn't act the same, a niece feeling some emptiness in her uncle's behavior... these life details so benign and mundane hit the right chord because they're not overplayed and the supposedly 'new persons' act exactly like their counterpart would do, something has just 'changed'. The second level is macrocosmic when the 'epidemic' spreads to the whole town and people act like a civilized version of Night of the Living Dead; which is even worse because you can spot the zombies but can you distinguish between a normal average citizen and a person who lost his soul? And in-between, you have the gradual escalation of paranoia, the way where for every certitude, there's a doubt, for every suspicion, there's a rational explanation. And everything seems normal until it doesn't. The choice of the location and the casting is also crucial to the effectiveness of the story. It all takes place in a little fictional town of California, Santa Mira, and the protagonists are unknown faces, Kevin McCarthy (a mix of Gene Kelly and Dick Van Dyke) is believable as an ordinary doctor and convincing in his various embodiments of coolness, puzzlement and finally panic and madness. And Siegel never amplifies the emotions or the romantic interactions, everything is played in the most possibly low key way to accentuate the realism of the story, going from disbelief to astonishment, then suspicion, then the shocking point of no return where two survivors become persona non grata, precisely because they still have personas. Don't be fooled by the small budget B-movie feel, there are so many facets of enjoyment and appreciation on an emotional and intellectual level. Although Siegel and McCarthy refuted any political undertones, I think it's quite fair to say that the film is so multilayered you can see both the derives of conservative homeland totalitarianism or a political allegory about cultural invasion, the film can be both anti-McCarthy and anti-Soviet like a film I praised recently, "The Manchurian Candidate". In fact, the meanings are beyond any intent, it can also be seen as a denunciation of a society that would lose its capability to feel because of some brainwashing, there are countless readings but the best thing is that it's shown from the perspective of outsiders with no political luggage whatsoever and only fearing for their survival and the survival of humanity, humanity with its most precious asset: the capability to feel, to have emotions.The last act is perhaps one of the most thrilling of old-school cinema I have experienced recently, I guess it earned the film a spot in AFI's thrills with the lengthy chase scene and the unforgettable "They're here already, you're next!" "You're Next!" another sci-fi motto from the 50's along with "Keep watching the skies!" and "Klaatu Barada Nikto!", an ending that can work as a very warning to modern audiences. Indeed, the term "pod people" is very well-known and maybe if we're not standardized like the body snatchers, we should question the way Internet or social networks condition our behavior or the way media became capable to defined what it good or what is wrong, to which extent is our free will endangered, and is the fact that we don't realize it the primal symptom? And it's not just a soul matter, speaking of the body, the film features an alien in intermediary forms with human facets that seem unfinished, that's certainly an unintentional but interesting foreshadowing of the way Botox and plastic surgery will turn us into the same "plastic" clones. It's even worse with the brainwashing from medias or politics or even religion... I'm not saying the film went as far as highlighting these aspects, even Siegel and McCarthy admitted there was no politics in the story, but like good wine, some stories get better with time. One of the most popular films of 1956 is "The Searchers", I thought it had aged badly and was quite overrated, but "Invasions of the Body Snatchers" holds up pretty well and can be easily considered one of the best films of the 50's, with an iconic warning about the danger of mass-standardization.One might deplore that the film didn't end on that warning note, but I guess it was too gloomy for the 50's standard, I was looking at the screen-time surprised that the film might end without a proper resolution. I guess I don't approve the ending but I understand it, if it wasn't meant as a political allegory, it was unfortunately spoiled by studio politics.

This was the first ever scary film that i ever saw. I have enjoyed three differing versions of this story. A low budget effort it is, but superbly directed, a fantastic script and it is so good that the case for special effects almost can be thrown out the window. I have always loved science fiction horror films, and this one is right up there with the best of them. A slow start, and a believable tale is shown to the audience, as the doctor struggles to deal with the comings and goings on in the town. Simply a must see for students of science fiction horror.

INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS is an science fiction horror, which is, among other things, a kind of an allegory of the political situation of that time in the United States.One doctor returns to his small town in California to continue his practice. However, strange things start to happen in the city. Some of the citizens become emotionally cold and heartless. The doctor reveals a chilling truth about his neighbors...Mr. Siegel skillfully and gradually builds tension in very anxious atmosphere. Of course, this approach leads to strong and "warning" climax. Paranoia is so obvious and pronounced that at times harms the story. The story is just modest. However, the director pays attention to small details throughout the entire film. It is very important for a good horror movie. The soft lighting and frames that emphasize the horror, fear and excitement are the main advantages of this film.Romance is an integral part of the story, but it is quite prude and unconvincing. The chemistry between the two main actors is superficial.Nevertheless, this is a very intelligent movie. It gives us a certain view of the history of American social clubs and viewers can enjoy in the exciting moments of paranoia and hysteria.

Dr. Miles Bennell (superbly played by Kevin McCarthy) suspects that something might be amiss in the sleepy small town of Santa Cruz after various people start behaving in an odd and detached manner.Director Don Siegel grounds the fascinating fantastic premise in a thoroughly believable workaday rural reality, adroitly crafts a supremely creepy and unsettling atmosphere, and likewise creates with equal expertise a quietly unnerving sense of mounting dread and paranoia that gradually builds to a shattering fever pitch in the harrowing last third. Daniel Mainwaring's ingenious script makes a profound and powerful statement on how our capacity to feel all kinds of emotions and desire for individual identity are two key important traits that make all of us special and human (if deprived of these two traits, we are reduced to the level of bland and emotionless automatons). McCarthy and Dana Wynter as the smitten Becky Driscoll make for personable leads; they receive excellent support from Larry Gates as the skeptical Dr. Dan Kauffman, King Donovan as the worried Jack Belicec, Carolyn Jones as the shaken Theodora, and Virginia Christine as the distraught Wilma Lentz. Both the crisp noir-like black and white cinematography by Ellsworth Fredericks and Carmen Dragon's spirited shivery score are up to par. Worthy of its classic status.