MovieChat Forums > Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) Discussion > Scariest scenes!

Scariest scenes!

posted 12 years ago by crzycajun35
39 replies | jump to latest

I love this movie! I remember when this first aired on HBO November 1979, a year after it was released in the theatres when I was 9 years old. I miss the 1970's and early 80's. Those were just the best times. This is one of those movies I could watch again and again and never get tired of it.

This movie scared the crap outta me. Hard to believe it was rated PG. Back then there were some very intense PG rated movies.

My scariest scenes are: just shortly after Geoffrey changed when Elizabeth was asking him what have I done wrong as he was getting ready to go to his "Meeting". And when she said, come on, I'm just trying to be nice. He replies, "Elizabeth, what's the matter with you"? Then she goes downstairs. For some reason that scene gave me chills up and down my spine. The way he responded and the way he glared at her. One day he was giddy about the warriors, then the next, just totally creepy and emotionless. The creepy music was also a big factor.

Another scary scene was when duplicate Jack at Belecheck Baths opened his eyes as Nancy stared at him.

And another very chilling scene was at the end, Matthew Bennell squeeling at Nancy who outsmarted everyone until the end. What was even more chilling? If you notice the closing credits when the movie ends is Dead Silent all the way through. No music, no sound, nothing. Just silence. That was truly epic.

They don't make these scary movies like they used too. God I miss those days!

Definitely in the memory books!

[–] creatorof2002 12 years ago

Interesting that you did not include the human/dog hybrid or the pods developing on the lawn scenes in your list. Also, in the next remake filmed in 1993 the scene where the pod actually falls INTO THE BATHTUB with Gabriel Anwar was unbelievably terrifying, the pod was developing in the attic and falls through the wall into the bathtub with Gabriel and is half developed and Gabriel wakes up and screams and has to make a VERY hasty escape, that was freakier to me even than the pods developing on the lawn scene.

Also, did you notice the body language that made it obvious that certain people were pods and knew each other as pods? like the police after Matthew called to report Elizabeth's "other body"? Or when Elizabeth's boss was obviously podded by his demeanor?

I think one of the creepiest things is calling an emergency number and the other person knowing your name before you tell them, oh man that made it obvious that the pod people were on to them!

[–] crzycajun35 12 years ago

I did leave a few things out my bad. Yeah, those scenes were creepy as well. Especially calling 911 and already knowing your name, would leave you hopeless.

This was Sutherland's best performance in my book.

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] SuCue 12 years ago

Saw it in first run in a theater in 1978. The human-dog hybrid was the creepiest scene for me, followed by the final scream from Donald Sutherland at the end. Watched it again recently, and I still thought it was good after all these years.

[–] Simplythebest11962 10 years ago

by SuCue » Fri Dec 28 2012 14:41:45 Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since April 2010
Saw it in first run in a theater in 1978. The human-dog hybrid was the creepiest scene for me, followed by the final scream from Donald Sutherland at the end. Watched it again recently, and I still thought it was good after all these years.

Yea, the human-dog hybrid was definitely scary to me too along with the last scene!

Those are definitely my scariest moments too! 

Happy Valentine's Day!


[–] CrazyVaclav 12 years ago

The human-dog hybrid is the #1 scariest movie scene I've ever seen!

[–] psychocosmic-1 12 years ago

Great Film! Great thread!
BUT besides all the scary and creepy moments you all have mentioned, I find myself shudder WAY earlier in the film.

In the opening, after the credits, as the camera has "landed" on Earth and showing us a leaf with weird organics on it...Camera panning out, showing us the park, with all sounds of joy and fun from childrens playing. There is a set of swings, and a couple of children are sitting on them. But, in among them, THERE IS THAT PRIEST SITTING ON THE SWINGS, DOING EXACTLY WHAT THE KIDS ARE DOING; SWINGING ALL OUT, AS IF THIS IS THE WAY WE ALL ARE SUPPOSED TO DO! BUT WITH AN EMPTY GLARE OF NOTHINGNESS!

Did anyone else shudder at that. It was so subtile, still very strong and effective, because his action is not weird really, but the reason soo wrong.

As crzycajun so well put it: My favorite era of horror films, late 70´s and early 80´s! Many masterworks we have from this period. They delivered, at the same time were cool and with characters in the films you really care for. I love it!

[–] Yorke71 12 years ago

In the opening, after the credits, as the camera has "landed" on Earth and showing us a leaf with weird organics on it...Camera panning out, showing us the park, with all sounds of joy and fun from childrens playing. There is a set of swings, and a couple of children are sitting on them. But, in among them, THERE IS THAT PRIEST SITTING ON THE SWINGS, DOING EXACTLY WHAT THE KIDS ARE DOING; SWINGING ALL OUT, AS IF THIS IS THE WAY WE ALL ARE SUPPOSED TO DO! BUT WITH AN EMPTY GLARE OF NOTHINGNESS!

I'm surprised more people haven't commented on that. It definitely sets the tone for the movie.

BTW, did you notice that was Robert Duvall playing the priest!

[–] psychocosmic-1 12 years ago

Hi! Always thought it looked like Duvall, but is it really him? Is he in the credits?

[–] Yorke71 12 years ago

He's not listed in the film credits, but I checked the IMDB cast list and he is shown as "Priest on swing (uncredited)".

[–] psychocosmic-1 12 years ago

So its him. Wow, what a microscopic role he had! Did you like the other versions?

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] psychocosmic-1 12 years ago

Exactly. These things that happen in the periferie, in the corner of the eye of the main person, is creepy. The scene you mentioned with the crazy face in the door glass reminded me about Cronenbergs Rabid, where the celebrated surgeon was behaving wild frowning saliva and all very disturbing behind the window of an ambulance. I watched the 90´s version of Invasion.. but thought it simply didnt work as everyone in the film was kinda already reserved and unemotional, and the new one with Craig and Kidman I cant recall, I remember i didnt like it. Other wise, i feel that 70´s films often has "a real feel" and a warm, humanitarian approach which make us feel so much for the main characters.

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] psychocosmic-1 12 years ago

Hi Raphaela!
I suspected you were a Cronenberg fan! Yes you are crazy! But we all have to be, other wise we would go crazy all the time for reals. Oh boy I have many things to tell you about him / me. It all started in 1978, when I was 15 and as the age limits in the theaters were so strict I just have been starting to go to the more adult movies. I remember, in the papers here in Sweden, there where claims that people had been seen fainting in the theaters during the new film RABID, probably because this kind of horror havent really been seen before.

This was, I tell you, about two years before the great "videonasty" wave and the serious debate about censorship swept over Scandinavia and England. This "war" between video collectors and censorpeople and politicians went so far in that the police could come home to collectors and take their videonastys (like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, italian zombie films and alike) as if they were real Snuff or something. Horror film makers started to excaggerate the nasty effects just to provoce. But in the end, the politicians won, for a while at least, and what you see in american and european horror in the mid 80´s is just much more tame, Stephen King for the family kinda stuff.

Anyways, I went to see RABID. I kinda liked it, but wasnt a fan immediately, I was far more into the older horror films Ive seen on TV. But I clearly remember that two guys had to carry out an unconscious girl after the show, and there was a lot of weird sounds in the audience during the "surgeon goes wild with the scalpel" scene. Two years after they started to sell or rent out VCR´s and video films, thats how my collecting Fantastic films started, and among others, I rented SHIVERS (orig Canadian title). When I watched it I actually fell in love w this film making, the black humour and the "teasing" with the audience about creepy and slimy tasteless things. At the end I saw the name of the director. It was the same as the maker of RABID. Since then I have had the happiness of seeing his horror sci fi films in the theaters...

As I see it he did all of these: Crimes of the Future71, Shivers75, Rabid77, The Brood79, Scanners80, Videodrome83, Dead Zone84, The Fly86, Dead Ringers 88, and Naked Lunch and Existenz. Anyone you prefer?

Excuse me if i ask. Latino names sometimes can be pretty androgynous, like Maria. I just wanted to ask if you are a woman or a man. The only female Cronenberg fan I ever met was an American/Mex whom I was together with for ten years..:)

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] psychocosmic-1 12 years ago

Dear raphaela!

I dont know how to stop writing back! Fulci, ARGENTO!, KArloff, Dead Ringers, Burroughs! Unbelievable! Your boyfriend must be the happiest man in the world! Of course I love them all! I am very proud of having seen the oldest monsterfilms of Universal plus Nosferatu 21 AND ten of the greatest science fiction classics of the 50´s, when I was 9 years old. It was that legendary year of 1972, when the Film chief of the TV commitee decided that Swedish people were allowed to watch them for the first time. We were still kinda socialist country and we had only two uncommersial channals.

Anyways, all these films which became legendary among my friends at school together with the AM Aurora monster model kits, all horror comic books came this year too, plus horror classics like the Hammer films in the theaters. One month there was ten different vampire films up. Amazing!

Anyways, you have a great taste, included the vintage classics. Bela and Boris is of course my idols. Wow! Dead Ringers, I feel, is Cronenbergs heaviest, but / and still a masterpiece! Have you seen Argento´s later films, with his daughter, Asia?

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] psychocosmic-1 12 years ago

Hi again! I guess we have taken over this thread!
I usually write some in the morning before starting w my work at the office. I am all alone here! About Argento, I consider Suspiria and Profondo Rosso his peak works but I also like his films around that period, before and into the 80´s. The latest one i saw, Stendthals Syndrome, was chocking and gruesome to say the least, very well made but to put your daughter into these rape scenes..? I must rewatch it, just need that moment when my stomach can take it! But she is talented and has an awsome charisma...

****Actually my husband thinks I'm nuts*********
Sorry! I do hope though, you two are able to watch something together..? :)

***His earlier films were more in the vein of "giallo"**
Yes indeed! Giallo is more or less an Italian style/subgenre. "giallo" means yellow? I know that Mario Bava made some, one that is considered the first, in 1964 (dont remember its orig titel, but it was called Blood and Black Lace). I usually mention the films by their original titel, because it all gets confusing w all anglo-american titles. There is actually a Swedish film, Mannekin In Red fr 1958, a kind of detective story which include model firm, murders, knifes, close-ups of hands and gloves..and the color red. These elements are often featured or rather define that subgenre. I know I can be pretty boring for trying to "sell out" Sweden as an important influence on the world :) but I have read in books that Bava must have watched "Mannekin" which was shown in Europe, taken some stuff from it and did Blood And Black Lace, the first giallo horror film. Still, I think Argento, with his intelligence and details, perfected Giallo.

I am/did actually start to write what would/will become the first Horror Film book in Swedish, but after 100 pages I figured that to get the rights for using pictures from films you have tto be a millionaire. Its very expensive to produce books here, and thats why no one are making film books. Who wants to buy a book about the history of horrorfilms, WITHOUT pictures?

***Karloff - God that man - acting, voice, demeanor, class, he had it all. LOVE. The silent Nosferatu is an amazing film, and I found the recent "Shadow of the Vampire", a film "based" on Max Schreck, star of that film, wonderful, Willem DaFoe is mesmerizing.***

Karloff was an actor who was brilliant in whatever he participated in. I dont think there is another actor with more charisma. As you say, the voice, body gestures and posture,,..About Nosferatu. Thats the very first horror film i saw. When I saw a pic of the shadow of Orloc in the stairs in the TV magazine, I went down on my knees for my mom begging her to let me stay up and watch it. Only barely seven and already hooked on what my parents had told me from their memories of great cinema experiences in the 50´s and the 60´s. Nosferatu gave me nightmares for three night in a row, after that I ve never been really frightened when watching anything. But the problem with this film I understood, was that there are so many different soundtracks around. Sorry for long post. Of all music Ive heard, from soothing organ scores to pompous big orchestras, the only one I have felt mending perfectly with the film is the Peter Schirmann score. A rather small ensemble with roots in jazz although its not jazzmusic, rather free forming colorful "poetry music". There are creepy organ disharmonies whenever the vampire comes and there are beautiful flutes, strings and other sole instruments which bizarrely suck you into the whole nightmarish film. When they finally found the original score a couple of years ago, I was really disappointed. The jolly and romantic score had nothing to do with a horror film and the composer clearly didnt know what kind of film the director had done.

Sweet words you ended your post with. I usually write on the James Bond board because on other boards there are mostly half hearted posters which reply with a one sentence post.

All the best to you, raphaela!

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] psychocosmic-1 12 years ago

Sounds great! Wow, yeah I have Twitch (Isn´t that the same as Bay of Blood 1971? and Planet of Vaampires. Yes indeed, the whole "sos signal from an alien planet" to Giant skeleton and the Takeover the ship is used in ALien. I have two other films that could be influences, lowbudget Night of the Blood Beast, about an alien who impregnates an astronaut, and It! Terror from Beyond Space!1958 where an hidous Mars monster chases spacetravelers through the air tunnel system. But I must find these films on dvd. I think there are some films that suffer from being shown cropped and not in windscreen more than others, like Bava´s. I have about 1500 horror and sci fi films, but on VHS, hahaha! But a have little collection of dvds too, and I expecially enjoy watching the old black and white films crisp and fine.

Amazing that your favorite is Cabinet of Dr Caligari!!!??? You know its considered the first real somewhat long horror film? Why is it your favorite? I love it too. Veidt is a genius. You saw him in Thief of Bagdad as the black magician Jaffar? Fantastic!

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] psychocosmic-1 12 years ago

Hi again!
Yes, youtube is a treat. I remember not long ago I started to watch old American TVfilms, like the very first horror TV film FEAR NO EVIL 1969, and it was fabulous, atmospheric and creepy.

Oh, I get all excited to hear you tell about how you discovered horror films. You have obviously gone all the way through the film history of horror and I respect you so very much. I almost wished we could write a book together. There are many books about the subject. Some quite good. I can dearly recommend one that came out just a few years ago which was written with such intelligence and open mind for things like Cronenberg and unusual films. If you want me to I can give you the author name/title..

I wonder though. Did you go to the library and watched Caligari on a projector? Strange?! Great!? When I was 18 I joined a film club with the access to the biggest screen in Sweden. I watched all kinds of films, from the whole world and many different genres. Suddenly there was a guy there who had a lecture/speach about horror films and showed a number of classic horror films. I also went to watch their Melies series of films. I was amazed about the inspired imagination of the great film magician. He seemed to have had such a good time doing them, jumping around as the devil, great movable sets, double exposure and all...

I always wanted to become a horror director and actor. But the culture of my country never had a horror tradition but has for some reason been moulded into a gray socio realism. But even Ingmar Bergman did a little of the fantastic (The Seventh Seal and The Hour of the Wolf), although his films are so full of angst and "religious trauma" its hard for me to enjoy. I guess Sweden was an important film country in the 1910s - 1920, in the way we made naturalistically acted/styled works. So apart from the 1922s HÄXAN (Witchcraft through the Ages)which is basically a documentary and a religious criticism, we never really explored the world of dreams and fantasy. Its a pity because that would have been great for us to dig up the folk lore of our ancestors with all our elves, fairies, giants, huldras and trolls. Wow! I cant believe that there is a whole genre Northern fantasy completely unexplored. There was a Norwegian film about giant trolls a few years ago. Fun, but it was played out as a comedy.

I guess I have to start working now! Always nice to read your posts, Raphaela!

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] psychocosmic-1 12 years ago

YOU are amazing! I wish there was a woman like you over here. Anyways you have the greatest and most mature taste of film I ever heard of, except myself and my closest friend, hhehe. Peeping Tom? Masterpiece. First timee in film history the subject of child abuse is brought up. Its such a charming and atthe same time disturbing and perverse film. He walks around filming LIFE among prostitutes, models, police working on the murder case he himself has caused!? Talk about timeless!

Häxan was a Swedish film but the devil in there is played by the director, a Danish one Benjamin Christensen. So you really like Bergman too? Wow! Hehehe Idont know what more to say. Of course I have seen all his films, especially in my 20´s. But it seems that the older I get the more sensible I get to "realism" and real gritty dramas. Bergman, though, had such an amazing photographer who made the films look so beautiful. Did you see The Virgin Spring? I guess it is considerd the first "Father avenges raped daughter in a really horrible way" like the Death Wish films.

You mentioned Criterion! I have been looking forever for Monterey Pop Festival film of 1967/8, you know with Joplin and Hendrix and the rest before Woodstock, which was so much bigger and marked maybe the beginning of the end of that era. Criterion charge 100 dollars for it, but I hope I can find it cheaper somewhere else. I love that festival. But the hippie thing is somewhat different from the horror we keep on talking about.

As I am almost a collector of horrorfilm literature I got very interested in ****I bought "The Philosophy of Horror" a huge book that delves into the film history of horror from silents to present day,*** Is it new? Big and expensive? I cant recall the authors name of my favorite book but I can return to you about it because its so well written, and also take into the account that many many horror films are very cheaply made but still can be highly interesting and enjoyable. Second, when I was 20 something I found the two first critical studies of filmhorror ever (both fr 1967) the classic Carlos Clarens Pictorial History of Horror Film was one, both on the same shelf in a second hand store here in Stockholm!

Finally, I wonder if you could recommend, maybe make a top ten list of your favorite Italian Horror films, except for Argento, whom I know too well already. I need a little more input about Italy here, but I, for example know a little more about Spanish horrors.

Really nice talking to you, as usual! keep writing my friend and horror and fantastic film lover! :)

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] psychocosmic-1 12 years ago

Hi! Its friday night and I think I drop you a line before I go and watch something. Right before you and I started writing, I befriended a guy from Illinois, who liked my music so much that he offered to send me a bunch of old VHS films burned onto dvd-r´s, if I sent him my records. So here I am with 16 movies, mostly horror. mostly B-films. Man Who Haunted Himself with Roger Moore, The Seventh Victim by Val Lewton and many more..

****I have seen almost all of Bergman's films, and most people think I am weird because others find his films "depressing." I don't, I actually find them thoughtful and inspiring. The book I mentioned is older, goes into covering at the end the "Nightmare on Elm Street" films, so I would say late 80's. I had to special order it used and it cost quite a bit. I am not at my home right now,but I believe Phil Harris wrote it, but I could be wrong.****

Thanks for advice! And here is the best written of all books I have, witty and every little sentence seems written with care and afterthought. It picks 300 plus titles which really stand out and have become either classics or rather obscure but shining horrorfilms through the ages and from almost the whole world. The picture material depends on which issue/version you get, but the first issue has beautiful photos. Its called HORROR - THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO THE CINEMA OF FEAR by James Marriot & Kim Newman (2006) or, the second issue title HORROR - 333 FILMS TO SCARE YOU TO DEATH 2010 (same book, commercial title, smaller size!

Yes, you are certainly right about Peeping Tom. Just like Tod Browning after Freaks, Powell´s life as a director was totally devastated. And now its considered a classic and masterpiece.

Well here comes your list! Lets see! Hahaha, well, I think I have all of them. No, I see eh, Whip and the Body! Never saw! Frusta Il Corpo ? Oh I wish to see it! Les Yeux sans Visage. I saw it once 20 yrs ago, but thought it unengaging. But as it is such an "important" film and mentioned in every single book about horror films I have (appx 15) I got the widescreen version, just to discover it was something wrong with the dvd. Fulci? Nasty! I love both of the titles you have, and also Aldi La (The Beyond).DEMONS? Hahah! That one and the sequel are titles I like to watch quite very often. They ar so enjoyable, fun and scary in a "teenage vibe" kind of way, which resembles the American horror films around 1980, if they were really good! Fun you like Demons too. Bergman, Argento, Cronenberg, silents, Karloff, "fun" horror.. Great taste! Hope you dont think I say I like the films you do, because to... I dont know..."flatter", flirt?? Its just that I have had many years on me to watch and read about horror films, from real obscurities to analyzed classics! Well, Black Sabbath (wonderful, I like the Telephone episode as well despite it gets critique, and Operazione Paura is wonderfully disturbing, when the man keeps running after the intruder, opening doors and running through the rooms, only to find he´s running after himself!. I was just about to recommend Bava´s last, Shock, before I saw it last in your list. Isn´t Daria Nicolodi the lead actor in that, the woman who is driven insane, and that awfully creepy little son of hers. Brrrr!

Alright! Time to go and watch something exciting! By the way. Now that I know you can watch really heavy Euro stuff, I can recommend (If there is any subtitled release!) Arne Mattssons Vaxdockan (The Doll) 1961 with one of my favorite Swedish male actors. And Leif Krantz made a series of TV series (youth oriented) and very atmospheric. But as usual, I am sure they are not really available in USA or anywhere else, although they and many other Swed TV and film stuff was released around, in Northern and Mid Europe in the early seventies!

Good night Raphaela!

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] josebut8 11 years ago

Back to Body Snatchers...
I was thinking back on my initial viewing of this film in 1978. I was taking my little brother to see Superman and it was sold out, so we went to this instead. I was thirteen or so.
This film has no outright "scary" scenes. It's a slow buildup of paranoia that in the end becomes horrific. It's a "creeping dread" movie as opposed to an "I'm too scared to watch what's coming next" type thing. So I'm trying to think back on what I actually felt upon first viewing.
Well, first of all, both my nine year old brother and myself were completely mesmerized by the movie. We didn't say a word the entire time. I guess the one jolting moment was the dog with the human face, but that was also kind of funny. I suppose the scariest scenes were the discovery of Jack's other body in the baths. And the look of absolute confused terror on Veronica Cartwright's face at the end is something you can't forget. The movie is literally about the loss of humanity and that is what is scary.
The things that upset me the most were people who were trapped and being pursued by a mob. When he's under the dock. When they're in the warehouse. But I think the scariest moment for me is towards the end when Elizabeth is sitting in the lab just staring off while her little beaker spins. Everything that made this woman the charming, funny, loving person she was is gone. Completely gone. That was scary to me then and even scarier to me now.

[–] psychocosmic-1 11 years ago

Hi Jose!
****I was thinking back on my initial viewing of this film in 1978. I was taking my little brother to see Superman and it was sold out, so we went to this instead. I was thirteen or so.***

How can two kids be let inside of a horror film? Dont they get it can harm a child. I mean it could have been another more visually scary film. Unbelievable here in Europe..

*****So I'm trying to think back on what I actually felt upon first viewing.
Well, first of all, both my nine year old brother and myself were completely mesmerized by the movie. *****

Its always fun to hear someone think back on the first time they watched something. This film I never watched in the theater, but discovered in the vid store in the 80´s. It has "aged well", because as you say the acting, atmosphere, editing and all. Nothing relies on anything that is purely technical. Today I find many many scenes creepy. From the priest in the swings to the pod formations in Sutherlands garden with all the cracking noices and pseudo infant mouth exercises...brrrrr!

*****We didn't say a word the entire time. I guess the one jolting moment was the dog with the human face, but that was also kind of funny. I suppose the scariest scenes were the discovery of Jack's other body in the baths. And the look of absolute confused terror on Veronica Cartwright's face at the end is something you can't forget. The movie is literally about the loss of humanity and that is what is scary.****

Isnt it funny, how Veronica Cartwright is always in the state of almost hysteria in her films? She is even like that in The Birds as a kid.

****The things that upset me the most were people who were trapped and being pursued by a mob. When he's under the dock. When they're in the warehouse. But I think the scariest moment for me is towards the end when Elizabeth is sitting in the lab just staring off while her little beaker spins. Everything that made this woman the charming, funny, loving person she was is gone. Completely gone. That was scary to me then and even scarier to me now.***

When I was a kid I used to dream about being chased by a mob. I think that was even before I saw the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers on TV when I was 9! That film experience though, as we only had two uncommercial TV channels in my country, became a legend at school as everyone had seen it. The pods, the replicas, being chased by a whole town of people....Stuff for nightmares! Now I must check if that Kaufman director have made any more creepy films. I suspect he hasnt cause I have read and checked so many lists for decades without bumping in on his name...

Any other great film memories/ favorites?

[–] josebut8 11 years ago

Hi psycho-cosmic!

I too enjoy hearing someone's recollections of an initial viewing of a film many years after. It's almost like climbing into a time machine; because reactions are also part of the time in which the movie came out and was viewed. And with truly great movies the movie changes over time along with the viewer. I would say one of the reasons Body Snatchers was so mesmerizing was because in 1978 it was surely one of the most intelligently written horror films up to that point.

I can recall most of my first viewing experiences with most of the movies I've seen, especially if it was a film I enjoyed that later became a favorite. At the time here in the U.S., "Body Snatchers" was rated PG for "Parental Guidance Suggested" which meant that kids could see the movie by themselves. It was a much less uptight and fearful time in 1978!

I often say that Veronica Cartwright is the Cassandra of Modern Cinema. If you'll recall, Cassandra was the mythological character of the woman who could see the future and the truth but when she tried to warn people she was doomed that they wouldn't believe her. She's played this character in pretty much every film she's been in, including "The Right Stuff", also directed by Phillip Kaufman. It's the story of the American Space program. In that, she played an astronaut's wife who is doomed to second rate status because of her husband's failure.

I have so many beloved movies...why don't you run a list of your favorites by me and if we synch up we can trade memories!

[–] denise1234 11 years ago

I am watching the DVD with commentary on right now, and P. Kaufman said that Duvall was in the area at the time, Kaufman thought a horror movie should have a priest in it, Duvall is the first pod of all that you see in the movie (he calls him the 'priest pod'), and Duvall refused to take any money for his cameo, but Kaufman did buy him a coat from Eddie Bauer to keep him warm .

"I will not go gently onto a shelf, degutted, to become a non-book." ~ Bradbury

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] denise1234 11 years ago

You are very welcome

"I will not go gently onto a shelf, degutted, to become a non-book." ~ Bradbury

[–] tomtkh 11 years ago

I saw this movie in it's original release, I was a teen at the time. Most of it was pretty creepy but definitely the ENDING to the film...that loud, piercing scream from Donald Sutherland, and Veronica Cartwright's reaction...then SILENCE as the credit rolled. I was in shock, I had never seen a movie with a negative ending like this! I was also affected by the movie for a few weeks, especially the ending! BUT... when I saw this on DVD 20 years later, I fell in love with it, especially the ending. Because now movies FORCE happy endings, and it's annoying as hell (like "The Invasion" -- it's forced, stupid happy ending!)

[–] sillyspaghetti 11 years ago

Donald Sutherland pointing and screaming at the end! Eep!

[–] tecnogaming 10 years ago

I totally agree with you people.

Although I must confess I really liked Invasion, right up until the last part, those car chases were plain idiotic..

Up to this day I still can't understand what a car driving in flames has to do with body snatchers, it was so out of place that it really sunk the whole movie.

Invasion (the remake) with a dreadful ending would had been AWESOME, because they DID found a way to up the tension and it is up in the same level as this one, but where Invasion did good (building up tension) failed miserably in the end, and this is where this version excels.

The middle-climax was somehow flat on this version but the ending was simply SPECTACULAR, you don't see it coming and so, if you remember both movies you will remember this version being awesome and invasion being stupid.

It is sad, but it is like somehow the producers forced a happy ending on the last remake and they ruin the movie, like they are ruin a lot of movies lately.

THe directors had much more control over their productions in the early 70-80 in contrast to what they have now, if you read what is happening you will see directors all over the world trying to film in america and complaining that it is a painful experience, they decide to stop filming and go back to their countries, this is happening more and more, producers get in the way too much these days and that's why the best endings and very good dark movies are usually the oldest ones.

Let's not get into the discussion the false morality this days, if you see a woman naked in a mainstream movie they will declare it R-rated today. Nude in movies was much more natural in the past.

Today hollywood condones violences and profit above all.

Alex Vojacek

[–] Cult_of_Kibner 9 years ago

I think the creepiest scene is the pods hatching in the garden while Matthew is asleep. Imagine waking up to that. Also the scene where Elizabeth and Matthew are walking down the hall and there's a guy behind a door with his face up against the glass staring at them.

[–] daverindone 9 years ago

I was 11 when I saw this one with a buddy at the theaters and remember really being wigged out at the "birth" scenes. There was something wildly explainable about the visuals and those pig-like...sounds that just got to me. As a much older adult, it's more what you don't notice (the guy running in the street as Elizabeth passes him, too worried about her own experience) that start to add up. One of the best examples is the 911 call when she's keeping him on the phone just long enough to track the location. Plus you get the random people that you around every day, but never really "see". Office cleaners, dry cleaners, random folks in a large building. They all turned and very few people noticed. What a movie.