The Invasion of the Body Snatchers

[The Count]

Okay, there were two versions ... right? The original (1950s) & the remake. The original stars Kevin McCarthy, is in black & white ... the remake stars Donald Sutherland & is in color.

I prefer the ORIGINAL. I "enjoy" the remake, but give me a break, there's no comparison. The very premise of the original is classic.

I figure these comments are bound to incite controversy, different opinions, etc.

One more thing. Heinlein (I believe) wrote a story years before called "The Puppet Masters." Similar premise: body snatching invaders from out of space. There's a movie (DVD)out of that also. Interestingly enough, the movie also stars Donald Sutherland.

Albert Finney wrote the short story, "Body Snatchers." To tell you the truth, when I first saw (& later read) the "Puppet Masters," I was crushed. I'd always praised Finney for his originality in penning my favorite horror tale. Then I read Heinlein's earlier version. Was Finney, thus, a plagarist?

It is of such conundrums that life is composed.

I await responses. I imagine I have left myself open to abuse, slander, and ridicule by being so bold as to express my opinions. That's cool. In the Land of Perpetual Night, are we fiends not all one big happy family?

The Omniscient Count has spoken! :cool:

[zwoti]

well 3 including the 90's remake by abel ferrara

[urgeok]

Originally posted by zwoti
well 3 including the 90's remake by abel ferrara


4 including a porn i saw ...


sorry - that was 'boobie snatchers'

[slasherman]

dont forget all the clones......
dont think i've seen the orginale...just the two remakes and a lot of clones

[scoville]

Someone (I don't recall who) is planning to do another version of this sometime soon.

[The Count]

Cool! Thanks for enlightening me on that!

If you get any more details, please post them here. I'll follow-up & do the same.

The Sutherland version waa okay, but it left much to be desired. The original had a 'feel' to it (suspense? Expectation? Horror?). That simply was missing from the re-make.

If they don't special-effects it to death, this could work.

[scoville]

I'm trying to find the source of the info, but I can't remember where I saw it.

edit: I just tried imdb and they have it.

http://imdb.com/title/tt0427392/combined

[The Count]

Thanks Scoville!

I just checked out IMDB. Did you read that posting about them making a sequel every 15 years? Interesting observation.

Someone posted a hypothetical cast wishlist. He chose Jeff Goldblumas one entry. I posted that I think that's a little redundant (I.e., 1978 version). My suggestion is JOHNNY DEPP! THis guy impresses me. He definitely can carry horror (The Ninth Gate, Sleepy Hollow) with both humor & depth. What do you think?

[scoville]

I did read about the 15 year idea. It's similar to the idea behind the timing of all the War Of The Worlds incarnations. I can see how each individual director has used time relevant ideas in the movies, but I'm not too sure if there is some set plan that has been constructed.

I'm not sure who I would cast. I would almost like to see unknowns play the parts. Depp is a good actor, but his saturation in hollywood right now has me looking elsewhere.

[The Count]

Point well taken (about Johnny Depp)!

[hollywoodgothiq]

Originally posted by The Count
Albert Finney wrote the short story, "Body Snatchers." To tell you the truth, when I first saw (& later read) the "Puppet Masters," I was crushed. I'd always praised Finney for his originality in penning my favorite horror tale. Then I read Heinlein's earlier version. Was Finney, thus, a plagarist?

Since Albert Finney is an actor who had nothing to do with INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, he certainly did not plagiarize Heinlein.

As for author Jack Finney, who wrote the novel "The Body Snatchers," that's a point we can debate.

By the way, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences held a "Salute to Don Siegel" on Wednesday, July 20, at their Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Beverly Hills. Curtis Hanson (L.A. CONFIDENTIAL) hosted, and Clint Eastwood was guest. They showed some clips of Siegel's work, discussed their memories of him, and finished with a screening of a brand-new widescreen print of 1956 INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (prepared by Paramount especially for the occasion).

"The film holds up so well in terms of tension," Hanson said. "After it was completed, the studio found it a little too disturbing and insisted that a prologue and an epilogue be shot. Don argued and lost, then shot the prologue and epilogue himself, because he didn’t want them shot by anybody else. One could -- it was a thought tonight -- one could show the movie without the prologue and epilogue, but in truth this is the version that went out into theatres; this is the version that became part of our culture. To just cut them off would not create a director’s cut, because Don was also unhappy that some other things were cut out of the movie."

Eastwood called the film "one of the best B-movies ever made... it's one of the greater little science-fictionf ilms, without all the gore, without the stuff you'd have to put in nowadays, and without any visual effects, to speak of."

READ MORE HERE: http://hollywoodgothique.bravejournal.com/entry/13111

[The Count]

Thanks for the primo information & informative reply! :)

Umm ... did this thing post "Albert Finney"? Darn dumb computer keyboard! :rolleyes: Obviously, I did not mean "Albert" ... I clearly remember typing "Jack" ... What odd & mysterious things happen in this haunted realm. Certainly, this could not be attributed to an err ... erro ... mist ... to anything done amiss by the omniscient & beloved Count! :) (Did I neglect to add "humble"?)

(Listen, you spent a few centuries in a moth-infested, moldy, dust-ridden coffin & see how good your damn memory is! Sheesh!)

Thanks sincerely for the gems. As I've stated before, this is what Horror.com forums are really all about.

Do follow my posts & correct me anytime, Hollywoodgothiq! You have a friend & kindred spirit (pun unintentional) in this refurbished vamp! ;)

Please, share anything of interest with me anytime; will do same!

That charming creature of the night, The Count

[hollywoodgothiq]

Originally posted by The Count
Thanks for the primo information & informative reply! :)

Umm ... did this thing post "Albert Finney"? Darn dumb computer keyboard! :rolleyes: Obviously, I did not mean "Albert" ... I clearly remember typing "Jack" ... What odd & mysterious things happen in this haunted realm. Certainly, this could not be attributed to an err ... erro ... mist ... to anything done amiss by the omniscient & beloved Count! :) (Did I neglect to add "humble"?)

(Listen, you spent a few centuries in a moth-infested, moldy, dust-ridden coffin & see how good your damn memory is! Sheesh!)

As HAL 9000 said, "We have encountered this kind of thing before, and it has always been due to human error." Being an undead count for a few centuries, you are no longer human; ergo, the errror cannot be yours.

[novakru]

*Umm ... did this thing post "Albert Finney"? Darn dumb computer keyboard! :rolleyes: Obviously, I did not mean "Albert" ... I clearly remember typing "Jack" ... What odd & mysterious things happen in this haunted realm.*


This is way off the subject.........But,

Does this happen to anyone-where,you can swear you saw something written or have written or have glimpsed or even-looked straight AT-and then two seconds later,it says something completely different?

The most recent thing:Someone gave me driving directions,it said take a LEFT-I saw it, I will swear by it,I looked at it several times....
I got lost,called the person and yelled at them for giving me the WRONG directions,and then when I looked at again...it said take a Right.:o

[The Count]

Dear Hollywoodg ...

You are so WISE; omniscient, even!

Certainly, there could have been no human error on my part. Thanks for supplying me with a wonderful excu ... Umm ... Explanation!

Something I can really SINK MY TEETH INTO ...

[The Count]

I preface further comments with the announcement that THIS IS MY THIRTEENTH POST!

In the realm of the Forgotten wherein we dwell, amid us Children of the Night, this is truly a landmark occasion! Sorta akin to a Bar Mitvah, a Confirmation in blood ... a Rite of Passage ...

Or. As Novakru. dear cohort in the shadows, would say: A "RIGHT" Of Passage! :-)))

Which brings me to the incentive for this post ...

Your sharing is apropos to ANY thread, Novakru. All feeble attempts at humor aside, THINGS LIKE THAT HAVE HAPPENED TO ME!

I read a fascinating book once that discussed exactly such phenomena. Instances where things seem to have changed in a subtle manner -- we so easily can overlook such things, attribute them to a memory loss on our part or some other such "rational" explanation. However, deep-down, we know DAMN WELL that somehow reality changed!

A common example of this (from same article) is "things gone missing." Example, I misplace my keys, I search & search ... I overturn my whole house doing so (move furniture, crawl under rugs ...). I find nothing.

Days pass, weeks even. One day, I casually sit down in a place I thoroughly searched long ago (i.e., my sofa). My quest for the missing keys is long forgotten. As I sit there, peroccupied with an unrelated task, I suddenly feel somethong cutting into my butt cheeks, I reach down & ... viola! ... the long estranged keys!

Trivial? Oversight? The keys surface in the very place I prainstakingly & thoroughly searched before! There is no doubt that I looked in that very place for them. My "natural inclination" is to dismiss the relevance of that fact! To assume that I just "overlooked" them during my earlier quest.

But in the depths of my soul, I know it wasn't an oversight! They weren't there when I searched that same place earlier! They ARE there now.

The author of the article attributed such occurrences to some sort of inter-dimensional paradox. He suggested that there are co-existing alternate universes ... & that sometimes, through some fluctuating portal of existence, there is an exchange ... my keys leave this present reality ... They are STILL on that couch in my living room, only not in THIS dimension but in the parrallel universe!

This would be one writer's explanation for your LEFT-RIGHT directions example. You read exactly what you remember having read! Reality changed, not your perception of it!

Fodder for consideration! Such examples are so trivial; we can so easily dismiss them. Do such things happen also on a grander scale?

Many have memories of more significant events that, in retrospect, "never happened." The article gave examples. One person reported memories of having seen JFK deliver his SECOND inaugaural acceptance speech! He remembered this in great detail.

This was a worthy topic to examine. "KEVIN McCARTHY" ... I just typed that so I can justify this post in this forum. I've now included a reference to "Invasion."

This 13th is now posted. We all have read it. The question is, will it still be here tomorrow? Or will it be posted on Horror.dimension.com in a realm we dare not imagine?

[novakru]

Looking back at my past,a lot of "changes" have taken place.

I wonder who we complain to-who's in charge of changing things-and if I can contact management-there are a LOT of things I want a RE-DO on!!

[The Count]

Update on the upcoming version of THE INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS.

First of all, the working title is now simply, INVASION.

Nicole Kidman has signed on to star! It was announced that this will no longer be a "re-make" of the original. It is to be a story in it's own right.

Ms. Kidman is to portray a psychiatrist who becomes convinced that the mysterious syndrome (mass hysteria?) she has come across originated with real aliens!

Considering the depth she brings to all her roles, this could prove a wortrhy endeavor. One thing for sure, Ms. Kidman has focused on a lot of re-makes recently (Bewitched, The Stepford Wives).