Quote:
Originally Posted by Giganticface
My first experience was the '78 version -- I was maybe 8 years old. It scared me more than any movie ever has in my life. My dad still pokes fun at me a bit since I didn't sleep a wink that night, and kept asking if I could sleep in his & my mom's bed.
That scene, more than any other, is burned into my brain, and was both heartbreaking and utterly horrifying.
I've never seen Ferrara's version, but realize that I absolutely must.
|
I haven't seen the 1993 version either. And most certainly will see it soon. Maybe this weekend. A buddy I'm visiting is a big Gabrielle Anwar fan.
I agree with you, the ending scene of the 1978 film is burned in my memory as well. I saw it when it made it's big primetime TV movie-of-the-week debut, and I was about the same age you were when I saw it.
I thought the ending scene was extremely effective as a devastating horror slap. Neverending mentions it removes the ambiguity of the fate of the characters and/or the world. It does. I think the ending suggests the aliens won. But I think the impact of that ending is to shock and wake people up -- in the sense, 'don't think totalitarianism
can't succeed'. Whether as a horror devise, or a social statement, it packs a different sort of punch than saying, 'we've beaten the invaders' or 'have hope and keep fighting the good fight', as the later two can leave the impression 'phew, relax, we've got it covered'.
It's to say it's more than a spectre. Totalitarianism succeeded in the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany and North Korea, to name a few. Nobody on the inside of Nazi Germany succeeded in defeating it. It was only defeated from the outside. The Soviet system was ended from the inside... after 74 years. Not exactly sure what we'd call what they have now. NK is still firmly totalitarian.