Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

Remake of the classic 1956 film of the same title 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' takes the basic premise of the original but updates it and plays with the details. Like the source film it is better then I thought it would be, though it takes more time to get going and is 35 minutes longer, it only feels slightly padded. The leads are Donald Sutherland and Brooke Adams, the later a largely forgotten leading lady, though interestingly married to Tony Shalhoub. Victoria Cartwright, a young Jeff Goldblum, and Leonard Nimoy amusingly playing a self help type psychologist are among the main cast. Kevin McCarthy and Don Segal, star and director of the original film have cameos. Unlike the 56' version this movie explains what happens to the old bodies, though not in much detail till near the very end. This film also boasts some rather impressive special effects for the period, ones which we would now think of as of the John Carpenter school. Not quite as good as the original, but a mostly effective 70's variant. ***