Review: Assimilate (2019)

Stars: Joel Courtney, Andi Matichak

Budget: Unknown

Directed By: John Murlowski

Well this is the most recent entry into the bodysnatchers saga. It's full of relatively unknowns actor wise. I was unable to find a budget for this movie but I don't expect it would be massive. The film isn't massively effects heavy and I give it kudos for that, even relying on practical effects a lot.

So this version is our most recent as i said and it shows it's about as modern as you can get. brought right up inline with the youth of today and cataloging every on the internet and trying to be the next viral star.
This is another version like the 1993 one to stray far away from the source material. It does however have the pod person scream back in it, except greatly over acted (and CGI'd).
Also again, as from The Invasion, I wouldn't exactly call these pod people as they don't really grow from plant like pods. There is once again no Bennells, Bellicecs or Kaufmans in this version either. There is however a small town setting like the 1956 version. I'll tell you more details on the film as i review it.

So lets get on with the review, like the earlier films we see this organism make it's way through space to our planet. It's like tiny black spores to begin with, these cover quite a few thing around the village like apples etc and people dismiss it as green/black fly.
It's later when they seem to join together and create larger organisms that the real game changer begins. Once bitten by one of these tiny creatures the creature will then 'pod up' and grow a blank new you. The then newly birthed you will be a blank that ruthlessly hunts down the original you, once caught they just some physical contact for a small amount of time.
Once you have been touched for the allotted amount of time your brain is then downloaded into the new you, sans emotions.

Randy and Zach are two teenage boys who have a 'YouTube' channel, they stumble upon a great idea to attach small cameras to themselves and film their time around town. They initially want to show how boring it is in the quiet place but things seem to slowly ramp up for them.
One by one the towns people are slowly turned into these clone copies like most of the other films. The two lads try too persuade people before it's to late, due to this day and age of pranks and photo shopping people don't believe them. This is strengthened due to the fact they have a YouTube channel too, though throughout the movie they do garner help from a few people.
Unfortunately by near the end most of them are either dead or assimilated, the fact with this film is you don't even need to be asleep. Once the monster, creature or amalgamation thing has taken your DNA it WILL make a copy of you. All it takes is a simple prolonged touch to drain your memories then the original you drops dead. These clones do the screech/scream like the 78 and 93 versions and where I did give this film points for low CGI usage, this part uses unneeded CGI elongating their jaw and mouth so they can do this screech.

It does end rather bleakly but with a small message of hope that does seem a little redundant by the end of the movie as what do 3 people here or 4 people somewhere else hope to do vs millions?
It's not a brilliant film but does things better than The Invasion, but then also a few things worse too. The one thing I do take from all of these films is that they certainly show and use tropes and story ideas directly from their time, thus are a great watch if you want insight into that era's hopes and fears. So THN awards Assimilate with a standard 2 out of 5 stars.

Review: The Invasion (2007)

Stars: Daniel Craig, Nicole Kidman


Budget: $65-80 Million

Directed By: Oliver Hirschbiegel

The fourth film based on the novel and now third
remake of the 1956 version. Now is the 2000s
it's time to be edgier and sharper than ever before
cut out body-snatchers completely!
lets just go The Invasion, that's enough, we are
on borrowed time here, a sense of urgency that
all 2000's films now need to have.
How much can we pack in in our allotted time?

Action, story, horror we need to get it all in there,
along with a budding bleaker than ever outlook
that seems to take another ten years to fully take
over movie land.
This film however had A LOT of problems which hiked up its production cost. Number one was Kidman's massive $17 million paycheck. Second was extensive re-shoots after initial screening running into $10 million more on the already inflated budget. These re-shoots were done by a completely different director too. Not only that the re-writes were also done by the Wachowskis, these were done to increase action scenes and ad a new ending. Not only that 13 month delays also harmed this films release too. It's not all doom and gloom though this film did use amazing camera angles, also enclosed spaces to make scenes feel surreal and claustrophobic. This was instead of CGI as  was Hirschbiegel's vision, despite the re-shoots still were kept in.
                                                                                                                                                                 
Also despite all this it does unlike the last film go back to using more of the earlier films ideas, but changing the main thing which we'll touch on soon, so lets get into how this version plays out.

The main change is at the beginning of the film. A space craft breaks up and crashes back to earth after a mission. Each of these pieces may or may not have a fungus on board the part that infects differently to how the pods infect. Now its always inside you if your infected but if you reach REM sleep the fungus is then able to take over your body.
This is of course a big step away from cloning a new emotionless you from a plant based pod, so you can't even call these pod people!
We do also get a lot a of familiar names such as Kaufman, Bennell and bellicec except none of roles are who they are in any of the previous movies. The closest is Kidman as Doctor Carol Bennell.

Shes a still a doctor and gets word of mouthed by a patient Wendy Lenk (played by Veronica Cartwright from the 782 version, a nice nod like having McCarthy guest appear was in the 78" version), that some people she knows aren't acting like they used too. She also notices one of her sons friends acting detached also.
She finds other evidence such as strange patches of skin on some people too, though she believes it's linked to a new strain of flu. As one of the first people infected and also Carols Ex-husband Tucker Kaufman uses the CDC to spread the virus even further saying it's a flu vaccine.
I feel like this is perhaps a stab at no vaccination people or maybe vice versa, whether it is or not it certain is a fear tool in the film. As loads of people take the vaccine in fear against the new flu.

Ben Driscoll (Craig) who was working on the patch of skin finds the spores, he and a colleague discover that the spores are taking over people who enter REM sleep. They also discover that some brain diseases such as ADEM or encephalitis prevent the virus from maturing in the brain.
Carol's son Oliver suffered from ADEM as a young child, which makes him immune, due to this Carol thinks that her son may hold a chance at a cure.
They see a few of Ben's friends turn in front of them, then Carol goes to get her son from Tuckers house. She's caught by him and a few other infected people where they (do the old trope of) try to persuade her that their way is better. When she refuses to accept it willingly he forcefully infects her anyway, she escapes heading back to Ben without Oliver.

They both escape after being chased, then make their way to a fort in Baltimore where other scientists are working to make a cure too. Carol gets a text off Oliver with his location, Ben and her separate to get him. They find him in Tuckers Mothers apartment, Carol manages to rescue him but has to kill Tucker in the process.
She asks Ben to meet her but almost falls asleep until Oliver keeps her awake, unfortunately when Ben arrives Carol realises he's succumbed to the virus too. He tries to persuade Carol to convert but he says they will have to eradicate all people like Oliver she shoots him in the leg and then escapes.

I'll leave it there but I will say this version too has a happy ending as it was still kind of popular at the time to have a hopeful ending in things. It's okay these days to have a bleak ending if you want just like back in the 70's and 80's it may go out of fashion again, who knows.

The Invasion is not a bad film, it's also not good but if you like the snatchers type films it might be worth your time. if not give it a miss, THN awards The Invasion 2007 2 strong stars out of 5.

Review: Body Snatchers (1993)

Stars: Gabrielle Anwar, Forest Whitaker

Budget: $13 million

Directed By: Abel Ferrara

The Third iteration of the novel and second remake of the 1956 classic Invasion of the body snatchers. born in a time called the 90's where film was ever evolving into the shit storm its become today.
It suffered from THE SHORTENING where it's title was cut down to make the film sound more edgy and appeal to the new age where everything word wise was becoming shorter or abbreviated thanks to the internet. With the likes of LOL's and ROFL's quickly becoming the new way to communicate with people in online chat-rooms.

The resurgence of happy ending films rife in the box office also may have some effect on this movie. Still with a serious tone but with a message thrown in that USA wasn't going to this conformity shit sitting down!
What do i mean?
You'll see as I get to end of this review how the 70's version bleak outlook and ending just wouldn't do in this day and age!
This iteration is serious, sexy and hopeful everything that 90's movies embodied. Staring some of the newest up and comers who were willing to do their best no matter the movie damn it!
Gabrielle Anwar is our titular heroine just like the first remake a reasonably strong female character but also as a nineties piece of eye candy too as was the formula of those films. This version is considerably shorter than most others too clocking in at only 86 mins.
The 90's version also takes a large step away from the source material with it's characters too, no Bennell's or Belicec's. The setting is also slightly altered to a military base too. The main storyline of alien pods copying their subjects into emotionless clones and how we deal with it is still forefront though. This film also features early appearances by Forest Whitaker and Jen Tilly's sister Meg too.

So this adaptation we join a scientist sent to a military base with his family the Malones, Steve the father, a daughter from a previous marriage (Anwar) Marti, his wife and young son Andy. Steve has been sent to research adverse effects on the base. While travelling there Marti is attacked in a gas station and we are introduced very early on to the fact there's something wrong. The soldier is paranoid but he see's that Marti is scared he calms down and warns her about going to sleep.

Marti makes friends with another girl called Jenn on the base, Andy seems to have a harder time as he's made to feel an outsider by the bases daycare. He runs away but is picked by Tim a helicopter pilot, of course Tim and Marti hit off it's a 90's film!
Steve is approached by another medical officer Major Collins asking if the base could be having any effects like Narcophobia (fear of sleep). He believes if there's toxic links in the soil the effects would be more physiological than psychological.

Later in the night Marti and Jenn go to a bar where she meets Tim, She also see's the soldier from the gas station but he is acting strange and says he's never met her. That night while we see soldiers picking up pods out of a nearby river Andy goes into his mothers room only to see her crumble to dust. Her naked clone steps from the shadows making Andy run but when he tries to tell people no one believes him. The next night Marti and Steve are almost taken over too, Carol attempts to reason with Steve and his scientist side.
Explaining that all is clarity with an end to confusion and all other emotions it's a better way of living. He seems to be accept this somewhat but is dragged away by Marti and Andy, we then get this versions 'shriek'. It's not as soul destroying as the 78 version to me but i'm glad they kept in at least.

The rest of the infected people on the base come screaming out to try and capture Andy, Marti and their father. Marti and Andy hide in a warehouse while Steve goes to try and contact for help. Unfortunately in Collins office he meets a distraught Collins who exclaims its already to late, backed up by the fact that the phone-lines are blocked. Pod people show up and Steve hides, he listens in as they try to convert Collins over to their side with the same lines. Collins shoots himself in the head.

Steve comes back to his kids claiming to lead them to a way to escape in a vehicle but Marti believes her father has been turned into one of the clones. She swerves the car off the road attempting to escape with her brother Andy. She bumps into Tim as their father chases them, she grabs his gun shooting her former father multiple times.
Heading back into the heart of the base Tim attempts to steal a helicopter, unfortunately Marti and Andy are taken while he does. They are taken to where the remaining humans are being processed where they are sedated. When Tim goes to rescue Marti her almost complete doppelganger tries to persuade him to join her. Quickly ripping off the tendrils that connect the two of them her copy dies waking up the real Marti, they escape to try and Andy.

They bump into Jenn on the way out while both of them are trying the old trick of acting emotionless. except Marti betrays herself when Jenn mentions Andy, Jenn does the typical scream to alert the other duplicates to where they are. They both run towards the helicopter and Andy magically run out of nowhere to join them in escaping. Unfortunately while they are lifting off Andy goes mad trying to make them crash the vehicle. upset and distraught Marti fights her brother off ending up kicking him out of the helicopter, sending him falling screaming in the clones scream as he does.

I won't spoil any further but this one does end on a lighter note and hope that the invasion is stopped (despite a few pick up lines Carol mentions earlier on in the film) which i find is very reminiscent of films of the time, like independence day, the day after tomorrow etc. despite the bleak there's always hope that humans can fight back.
Invasion 93 might not be the best remake out of them all but it's a good midway point and unfortunately possibly one the last 'okay' entries in the series. In saying that THN awards Body Snatchers (1993) a strong 3 out of 5.