Invasion of the Bodysnatchers (1978)

Invasion of the Bodysnatchers (1978) is a horror, thriller and science-fiction movie directed by Philip Kaufman, starring Donald Sutherland as the protagonist Matthew Bennell and Brooke Adams as his colleague Elizabeth Driscoll. The film is a remake of Invasion of the Bodysnatchers (1956) that was produced by Don Siegel.

Narrative

Story:

- setting: a big city, San Francisco, USA - main characters: Matthew Bennell (health inspector), Elizabeth Driscoll --> friendship and colleagues at first, throughout the story development of love interest - others: Geoffrey Howell (partner of Elizabeth and first victim), Nancy and Jack Bellicec -events: see theme - conflicts: Matthew and Elizabeth try to find out what is happening to the city (people acting weird) and later try to flee from it with their friendsNancy and Jack.

focus:
 * personal identity VS. aggregate identification; "no transcendental roof" (Weber)

Discourse:

- order: no narative frame, no foreshadowing, no narrator, no flashbacks - open ending: even the protagonist has been taken over by the aliens. The chances of the last ´normal´ person, namely Nancy, to get away are minimal.

Medium

- colour film - cinematography: a lot of night- time shots, detail shots, long shots of the city - editing: faster towards the end - sound: unnatural, no possibility of visualising the orchstra behind the sound, possessed humans utter their own sounds on forms of squeaking screams to warn and to call for other group members

Genre

- horror thriller, science fiction (transforming process explainable and its understandability supported by visual elements, e.g: by laboratory scenes)

Theme

- ´plant- creature feature´, invasion of alien plnt creatures that replace humans and have no use for emotion. They can be tricked by showing no emotions. Endemic expand.

Source(s)

- the novel The Body Snatchers (1955) by Jack Finney - Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), as the 1978 version is supposed to be a remake - Also: cameo appearance of Kevin McCarthy, who played the protagonist in the first version

Cultural context

- historical: Cold War, Vietnam War just ended (1975), civil rights movement, oil crisis, first strip mall - political: Cold War, ´flower power´, hippie movement - social: breaking up o families- also represented in other horror movies of that time, such as Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), The Hills have Eyes (1977)

Film Technology

- improved film formats, almost no more black and white TV, more special effects - film industry: rating system, trash and exploration movies --> big companies lost their money--> chance for new and young directors to try out new and risky things (e.g: George Lucas, Steven Spielberg) --> ´New Hollywood´, new audience

Possible interpretations

- San Francisco during the 1970s: - liberation, more sexual freedom, one can live as he or she wants to (drugs, sex, clothes, etc.) --> Everyone is an indivudual

BUT conservative view: decline of common values --> Message: Where is the group? Who should you stand up for now?

- Fear of Communism still a confirmative theme but needs an entirely new shape