3 stars out of 4
Added 5/6/2009
The Bottom Line:
An exciting and quick-moving second remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Abel Ferrera's version cleverly takes on military conformity by setting the story at an army base; the finale leaves a little bit to be desired but this is still a fine horror film that doesn't disrespect the original.
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Abel returns to his horror film roots with this average remake
Added 2/2/2009
Things keep going from bad to worse for Marti (Gabrielle Anwar). She hates her home life with her father and his new wife and their son. She hates that she was uprooted and moved to a military base where her father, who works for the EPA, has just been hired to take samples of the water since several soldiers have been exposed to something and are coming down with extreme cases of paranoia. Marti and the soldiers are paranoid for good reason since the base is being overrun with pods turning everyone into pod people with no emotions. When she arrives a soldier ambushes her in the bathroom and warns her that "They are out there. They get you when you sleep." R. Lee Ermey and Forest Whitaker are both officers at the base on opposite sides of the battle. Life is lonely for Marti save for a fellow army daughter named Jenn who she hangs out with and a cute pilot named Tim who Marti develops a crush on. Things take their time to build with Marti's step mom, who was weird to begin with, becoming the first one in the family to turn into a pod person. Her first target is her husband whom she attempts to turn while he sleeps and while Marti takes a bath. This scene is pretty gross with the long tentacles oozing from the ceiling and making their way up Marti's nose. The film has a lot of good themes going for it and it handles them well. Marti and her father have a very strained relationship and he and his new wife are distant and cold to her anyway even before things start to go wrong. Abel, one of the ultimate rebels, is the pefect director to tell this story about the dangers of conformity and how frightening a large group of people can be that are all brainwashed into believeing the same thing. The script includes contributions from fellow horror directors Larry Cohen and Stuart Gordon, as well as regular Ferrara writer Nicky St. John. Abel doesn't skimp on his usual violence and nudity. There are some nice nude scenes here of Gabrielle Anwar and a full frontal scene of Meg Tilly which is actually her sister the more well known Jennifer Tilly doubling for her. The film has a very good look to it and is indeed unsetlling and creepy watching the pod people staring blankly into the camera and shuffling about. The film just feels average and fails to make an impression at a very brief 87 minutes. After the issues of family and conformity are introduced it becomes a standard horror film with the heroine running for her life from the pod people but it ends on an exciting note. This was Abel's first experience with a studio and the bigger budget that came with it. It is also his only other horror film after his directorial debut The Driller Killer. It's fun and entertaining but slight as well.
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Body Snatchers Review
Added 5/11/2008
This second remake of Invasion of Body Snatchers (the previous two being the 1956 one by Don Siegel and the 1978 one by Philip Kaufman) is not--in my opinion--as suspenseful as the other two; nevertheless, it is quite watchable and entertaining. Forest Whitaker and Christine Elise are very good in this film. The 2.35:1 widescreen DVD is enhanced and of high quality.
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Cheaply produced remake
Added 2/27/2008
There are a number of good remakes of The Body Snatcher, but don't waste your time with this one. It's is a very cheap production, poor special effects, completely unoriginal.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Average Remake With Some Good Moments
Added 1/22/2008
This third remake falls a bit flat compared to the previous ones. The first big problem is pace, which is kind of slow in the beginning, it does recover its pace around the middle but it's kind of late. The majority of the cast give a solid performance, especially Forrest Whitaker who gives a creepy scene choosing his fate of whether to join the pod people or killing himself. Anyhow without ruining the movie it has a lot of good moments, some of them are unpredictable and scary others are just okay. Ultimately it's an average flick with some great moments in it.
The film commences with a family arriving at a military base. It seems that the father of the family is scientist contracted by the army of the base, he is given orders to run test in the local waters to check any unfamiliar activity or chemicals that can be hazardous. Forest Whitaker who comes early in the story explains to the scientist that there is some recent strange activity going on; people who are afraid of going to sleep, fear of themselves and others, scientist tries all he can but it's completely out of his hands because with what he s dealing is not chemicals but alien life form which feeds of humans to create an emotionless duplicate. If you have seen the previous remakes than you are more than familiar with the story. Like the other adaptations the pod people make alarming screaming sounds when there are humans still alive, they also start of like cabbages that feed of the people who are sleeping etc. once again the movie has a lot of creepy moments and a somewhat satisfying conclusion. But there something about the movie that feels that it was sort of rushed. I recommend it to rent on a rainy night or to watch when it's on TV but not to buy.
MY PERSONAL RATING: 3 OUT OF 5
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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3 stars out of 4
Added 5/6/2009
The Bottom Line:
An exciting and quick-moving second remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Abel Ferrera's version cleverly takes on military conformity by setting the story at an army base; the finale leaves a little bit to be desired but this is still a fine horror film that doesn't disrespect the original.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Abel returns to his horror film roots with this average remake
Added 2/2/2009
Things keep going from bad to worse for Marti (Gabrielle Anwar). She hates her home life with her father and his new wife and their son. She hates that she was uprooted and moved to a military base where her father, who works for the EPA, has just been hired to take samples of the water since several soldiers have been exposed to something and are coming down with extreme cases of paranoia. Marti and the soldiers are paranoid for good reason since the base is being overrun with pods turning everyone into pod people with no emotions. When she arrives a soldier ambushes her in the bathroom and warns her that "They are out there. They get you when you sleep." R. Lee Ermey and Forest Whitaker are both officers at the base on opposite sides of the battle. Life is lonely for Marti save for a fellow army daughter named Jenn who she hangs out with and a cute pilot named Tim who Marti develops a crush on. Things take their time to build with Marti's step mom, who was weird to begin with, becoming the first one in the family to turn into a pod person. Her first target is her husband whom she attempts to turn while he sleeps and while Marti takes a bath. This scene is pretty gross with the long tentacles oozing from the ceiling and making their way up Marti's nose. The film has a lot of good themes going for it and it handles them well. Marti and her father have a very strained relationship and he and his new wife are distant and cold to her anyway even before things start to go wrong. Abel, one of the ultimate rebels, is the pefect director to tell this story about the dangers of conformity and how frightening a large group of people can be that are all brainwashed into believeing the same thing. The script includes contributions from fellow horror directors Larry Cohen and Stuart Gordon, as well as regular Ferrara writer Nicky St. John. Abel doesn't skimp on his usual violence and nudity. There are some nice nude scenes here of Gabrielle Anwar and a full frontal scene of Meg Tilly which is actually her sister the more well known Jennifer Tilly doubling for her. The film has a very good look to it and is indeed unsetlling and creepy watching the pod people staring blankly into the camera and shuffling about. The film just feels average and fails to make an impression at a very brief 87 minutes. After the issues of family and conformity are introduced it becomes a standard horror film with the heroine running for her life from the pod people but it ends on an exciting note. This was Abel's first experience with a studio and the bigger budget that came with it. It is also his only other horror film after his directorial debut The Driller Killer. It's fun and entertaining but slight as well.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Body Snatchers Review
Added 5/11/2008
This second remake of Invasion of Body Snatchers (the previous two being the 1956 one by Don Siegel and the 1978 one by Philip Kaufman) is not--in my opinion--as suspenseful as the other two; nevertheless, it is quite watchable and entertaining. Forest Whitaker and Christine Elise are very good in this film. The 2.35:1 widescreen DVD is enhanced and of high quality.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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