Southport Magazine

Invasion of the Body Snatchers starts off somewhat slow, but ends up being so suspenseful. The story has been redone and revised several times in the years since the original: an unknown alien plant species has landed on earth, and replaces people as they sleep with perfect clones. Perfect, except they have no emotions of any kind.

The main characters are Dr. Miles J. Bennell (Kevin McCarthy) and Becky Driscoll (Dana Wynter) who slowly come to understand that something sinister is happening to their town and spend most of the movie trying to stay awake and find some way to escape their fate. This is an awesome movie full of suspense. You will be on the edge of your chair until the very end! It is creepy to see the town’s people change over night.

According to film experts, there are many ways to interpret this film. On IMDb, the internet movie database, I read this – This film can be seen as a paranoid 1950s warning against those Damn Commies or, conversely, as a metaphor for the tyranny of McCarthyism (or the totalitarian system of Your Choice) and has a pro- and epilogue that was forced upon Siegel by the studio to lighten the tone. You can be the judge. I thoroughly enjoy this movie because of the cinematography. It’s a black and white movie and so they rely on the use of shadows and angles to create the mood. It is genius!