Stars: Leonard Nimoy, Donald SutherlandBudget: $3.5 million
Directed By: Philip Kaufman
The first remake of the first film over twenty years later, still based on the novel of the same name too. Making this is the second attempt at telling the story in what has very recently become the the fifth time.
This film was heavy in it's cast too, with the likes of Leonard Nimoy of star trek/Spock fame. Donald Sutherland with a massive acting career under his belt, a young up and coming Jeff Goldblum as well as Angela Cartwright.
Both Siegel and McCarthy have brief cameo's in this movie too, i like that as it shows respect for what came before.
The direction of this movie is directly bleak compared to the first right from the start also much much more serious in tone that the 1956 counterpart. It's not told in flashback this time, We are told right from the beginning that the gelatinous stuff that falls from the atmosphere is the alien organism and that it has fled a dying planet. It lands on plants and takes the form of a small pod with a pink flower. The roles of people in this film are much more of their time as well. with the women in good jobs or just not screaming to be saved every five minutes.
For a start Becky Driscoll is now Elizabeth and she's a lab technician at San Francisco health department, Bennell now Matthew instead of Miles is her co-worker. Instead of Kauffman, we have David Kibner (played by Nimoy) who has a bigger role of having the both the doctor side of Miles character and psychiatrist character now rolled into one.
The Belicec's are basically the same husband and wife friends with also slightly enhanced roles, played by Cartwright and Goldblum. One of the major changes in this film and something that still freaks me out even watching it to this day is the screams of the cloned pod people. It's so freaky and scary, it's also something i'm sure has moved to all of the other remakes from this point too.
As stated this film starts as it means to go on with a bleak story of the Alien gel coming to earth. If possible even with the last film being in black and white, the washed out monochrome of this film lends to the darker tone of this remake. The gel settles on plants and begins to imitate it by taking on a small pod like form with a pink flower.
Driscoll finds one of these plants and takes it home, where she and her boyfriend (Geoffrey) find it an odd little specimen. The two are obviously in love too. Later that night they both go to bed.
In the Morning its clearly obvious that something has happened to Geoffrey in the night too as he seems very cold and distant towards Liz. She does dismiss it it and goes about her daily business.
She talks to her Co-worker Bennell about it that day, a little concerned he gives her the address of where David Kibner is giving a talk on his new book. She explains to him the situation, he puts it down to her wanting to take her relationship slower.
Jack Belicec calls Bennell to come to his wife's (Nancy) mud parlour where they have found a half deformed/malformed version of himself. piecing the information together with what Elizabeth said earlier he rushes to her place.
Just in the nick of time too, as he finds a semi formed duplicate of her there too. Rushing to the police to warn them, they actually get them to come and check both Jack and Liz's duplicates. Unfortunately they have vanished.
Elizabeth find evidence that it may be the flower she found, checking the databases she finds no traces of the flowers genus at all. The movie very quickly escalates from here, as Matt tries unsuccessfully to warn other places. When they are nearly all copied again in the night they find out the local police are also duplicated.
They all go on the run but slowly and surely are all assimilated one by one until only Bennell and Elizabeth remain. They meet back up with Nancy who they originally think is taken, she's not she's just been acting without emotions to blend in. They all do as she does but Elizabeth gets freaked out when she see's a dog with a mans face alerting others to their status.
they get separated from Nancy but manage to escape on a truck, where turning bad to worse is stocked full of pods. Intending them to be shipped worldwide now, while Matt goes to look for a boat the can escape on Liz can no longer hold out and falls asleep. Matt arrives just in time or perhaps to late and see's Liz's copy arise, distraught he burns the warehouse down.
He's chased by some pod people but manages to hide under the docks, though they taunt him by saying he can't hold out forever and will fall asleep.
I won't spoil the end of this one but it's bleak and has an amazing little twist just to show it too, I love it and hate it at the same time. It's one of them rare occasions that a remake is better than the original.
THN awards the 1978 IotBS's a great 5 out of 5 political stuff aside it is still tense, paranoid and just as scary as it's ever been.
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