8mm Forum: Duel of the "Body Snatchers" ...

This is topic Duel of the "Body Snatchers" ... in forum General Yak at 8mm Forum.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://8mmforum.film-tech.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=001868

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on 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 ... ?

Posted by Pasquale DAlessio (Member # 2052) on 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.

Posted by Michael O'Regan (Member # 938) on 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.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on 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).

Posted by Gary Crawford (Member # 67) on 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.

Posted by Michael O'Regan (Member # 938) on 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.

Posted by Lee Mannering (Member # 728) on June 08, 2011, 04:29 AM:

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

Posted by Gary Crawford (Member # 67) on 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.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on June 08, 2011, 10:37 AM:

Good point Gary ...

UBB.classic^TM 6.3.1.2