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Topic: Duel of the "Body Snatchers" ...

Osi Osgood
Film God

Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005

posted June 04, 2011 07:31 PM

Your opinion, ladies and gentlemen ...

I was watching the remake of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and I was struck by just how good it was.

As a general rule, remakes of classics do not fare well, but this one definitely did. In fact, I think that the remake is at least on the same par and in many ways (at least for me) far scarier than the original.

I think this is because, (in part) the special effects were far better. I know that they did the best they could for the original ...

but I could tell that it was rubber popping out of a bunch of soap suds.

The remake's special effects were able to be far more graphic and they serviced the same story better, enhancing the experience.

Your opinions ... ?

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"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "

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Pasquale DAlessio
Film God

Posts: 3523
From: Bristol,RI, USA
Registered: May 2010

posted June 04, 2011 08:58 PM

I agree with you 100% [Big Grin]

One of the better remakes. Of course, having Daniel Craig in it certainly didn't hurt it at all.

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Michael O'Regan
Film God

Posts: 3085
From: Essex, UK
Registered: Oct 2007

posted June 05, 2011 03:15 AM

quote:
As a general rule, remakes of classics do not fare well,

Yes, and that's because people insist on comparing them to the previous film instead of just judging them on their own merit.

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Osi Osgood
Film God

Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005

posted June 05, 2011 08:53 AM

Pasquale

I think you were thinking of the modern version "Invasion" with Nicole Kidman in the lead. It was OK, but nothing compared to the first two versions, (only my opinion, of course).

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"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "

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Gary Crawford
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 979
From: Manassas, VA. USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted June 07, 2011 08:17 AM

Yes....the first remake was ok....but I remember seeing it in the theater....and I thought they ruined it by making the pod people into screeching monsters at the end. The idea of the book and the first film which made them so scarey was you couldn't tell humans from pod people...except on a very very subtle level. I liked the remake up to that point. Loved having Kevin McCarthy reprise his role in it briefly...and the brief appearance of the director of the original , Don Siegel. I would say, though, that between the two films, the original, for some reason, is more repeatable. I have original prints of both in 16mm...the remake is low fade...and I've only screened the remake maybe twice in 25 years...but the original...I keep pulling out every so often. There's just something a little special about it.

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Michael O'Regan
Film God

Posts: 3085
From: Essex, UK
Registered: Oct 2007

posted June 07, 2011 08:40 AM

There was of course another version of the same story which was Abel Ferrara's BODY SNATCHERS in the mid-nineties or thereabouts. Meg Tilly was in it.

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Lee Mannering
Film God

Posts: 3216
From: The Projection Box
Registered: Nov 2006

posted June 08, 2011 04:29 AM

Always liked the 1978 version with Donald Sutherland and directed by Philip Kaufman.

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Gary Crawford
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 979
From: Manassas, VA. USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted June 08, 2011 09:22 AM

Yes...there have been so many tries at recapturing the feeling and dread of the original....both official tries ....like the latest Daniel Craig one...but also lots of similar films ...all have their good points, but there's something about that first one. The horror is not in the special effects in any of these stories.. The horror is finding that friends, relatives, loved ones....likable people are suddenly changed....with the agenda of destroying you and turning you into one of "them". The original, I think, most conveys that aspect...which is the core of the story.... the rest is window dressing.

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Osi Osgood
Film God

Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005

posted June 08, 2011 10:37 AM

Good point Gary ...

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"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "

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