Wonkette Movie Night: Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1978)
'People are being duplicated. And once it happens to you, you're part of this ... thing. It almost happened to me!'
This movie was the launch pad for a classic gif. Even if you have never heard of or seen the film you know the pointing finger and horrified face of Donald Sutherland.
But the film itself is a classic horror remake, one of the few that lives up to the original that inspired it. It is rather meta that Invasion of The Body Snatchers (1978) is a clone of the 1956 version which itself was based on the book The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney from 1955. Two more films followed the 1978 version, Body Snatchers in 1993 and The Invasion in 2007. There are others that fall into this genre but are not remakes, The Faculty (1998) and Assimilate (2019).
The title tells you right away what is happening in this flick, but not only do they snatch your body, they also snatch your mind and your individuality. The “they” in this case is an alien parasite. Starting as gelatinous blobs floating through space they find their way to Earth. Riding on raindrops the parasites find a new host on the leaves of trees and bushes. They spread out their root-like tentacles and develop a pod from which a red flower sprouts.
Perhaps the pods are like putting on a red hat. Once you have fallen asleep (or ignored the truth) you let them in and lose yourself to the mindless mob.
Back on Oct. 17 we had a bit of fun with Dok’s story on “Wonkette Refugees.”
Could AI be just another version of pods sent to replace us? In a movie it could be scary and fun, but real life, not so much. One thing I came across from Google AI about my own writing was that it said I connect the movies we watch with current world events. That is true. Invasion Of The Body Snatchers is no different, but it is a really easy one with which to make those connections to a certain cult.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of. They were right. It’s painless. It’s good. Come. Sleep.”
We stay awake by staying involved, by not letting the pod people get to us. We keep coming out like we did at last Saturday’s No Kings protests. We stay WOKE.
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1978) is available for free on the Internet Archive. Available with subscription on HBO Max. Free on Daily Motion with ads.
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers stars Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum, Veronica Cartwright, Leonard Nimoy, Don Siegel, and Kevin McCarthy. Directed by Philip Kaufman.
To make requests and see the movie lists and schedules go to WonkMovie.
The animated short is Paperman from Walt Disney Films.
Next FRIDAY we have a Movie Night special event for Halloween, 9 p.m. ET:
Dawn Of The Dead (2004) is available for $3.99 in the usual places. Available with subscription to Shudder (1 week free trial subscription available).
Saturday will be our regular Movie Night that kicks off November with Cat People (1942). Free on the Internet Archive. Available with subscription on Hulu. $3.99 is the usual places.
I've heard that if you smoke enough weed you can sleep without the pod people being able to duplicate you. It may not be true but it can't hurt to try!
𝐁𝐎𝐍𝐔𝐒 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐀:
Veronica Cartwright and Kevin McCarthy have both been in two versions of this story. Cartwright also appeared in The Invasion (2007) and McCarthy starred in the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956).