Do you want to see ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’?

Add to Netflix

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

tomatometer

All Critics
Top Critics

Average Rating: 8.1/10
Reviews Counted: 42
Fresh: 40 | Rotten: 2

Employing gritty camerawork and evocative sound effects, Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a powerful remake that expands upon themes and ideas only lightly explored in the original.

Average Rating: 8.2/10
Critic Reviews: 5
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 1

Employing gritty camerawork and evocative sound effects, Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a powerful remake that expands upon themes and ideas only lightly explored in the original.

audience

liked it
Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 31,656

My Rating

Added to your Facebook Timeline. — undo

Movie Info

This remake of the 1956 horror classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers moves the action from small-town USA to 1970s San Francisco and replaces at least part of the original's psychological horror with special effects. Spores rain forth, unseen, from outer space, and soon strange flowers begin popping up all over the city. After bringing one of these hybrid specimens home with her one night, biologist Elizabeth Driscoll (Brooke Adams) notices that her live-in boyfriend, Geoffrey (Art Hindle),

PG, 1 hr. 55 min.

Horror, Mystery & Suspense, Science Fiction & Fantasy

Directed By: Philip Kaufman

Written By: W.D. Richter

In Theaters: Dec 22, 1978 Wide

On DVD: Aug 28, 2001

MGM Home Entertainment

Invasion of the Body Snatchers Trailer & Photos

Cast

Donald Sutherland
Matthew Bennell
Brooke Adams
Elizabeth Driscoll
Leonard Nimoy
Dr. David Kibner
Veronica Cartwright
Nancy Bellicec
Jeff Goldblum
Jack Bellicec
Art Hindle
Geoffrey
Lelia Goldoni
Katherine
Kevin McCarthy
Running Man
Maurice Argent
Chef
Joe Bellan
Beggar
Tom Dahlgren
Detective
Garry Goodrow
Boccardo
Sam Hiona
Policeman #1
Wood Moy
Mr. Tong
Al Nalbandian
Rodent Man
Jerry Walter
Restaurant Owner
Robert Duvall
Priest on Swing (uncred...
Jerry Garcia
Banjo Player
Rose Kaufman
Outraged Woman
Tom Luddy
Ted Hendley
Don Siegel
Taxi Driver

Critic Reviews for Invasion of the Body Snatchers

All Critics (42) | Top Critics (5) | Fresh (45) | Rotten (2) | DVD (21)

Gives remakes a good name.

October 23, 2010 Full Review Source: Wall Street Journal

| Comment

Joe Morgenstern

Wall Street Journal

Top Critic

This film wants to have it both ways: to have a more urbane, more "important" scope than the original, and yet retain some of its inexpensive intimacy as well.

October 22, 2010 Full Review Source: TIME Magazine

| Comment

Richard Schickel

TIME Magazine

Top Critic

Invasion of the Body Snatchers validates the entire concept of remakes.

March 26, 2009 Full Review Source: Variety

| Comment

Variety Staff

Variety

Top Critic

Ideas that Siegel knocked off in a few shots are expanded to fill entire sequences -- but they're good ideas, and can stand a little stretching.

May 30, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader

| Comment (1)

Dave Kehr

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

There's a little something extra in virtually every frame of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Philip Kaufman's dazzling remake of one of the cleverest of horror classics/

May 9, 2005 Full Review Source: New York Times

| Comment (1)

Janet Maslin

New York Times

Top Critic

This terrific remake never lets the audience forget that it should be frightened.

August 16, 2011 Full Review Source: Oscar Guy

| Comment

Wesley Lovell

Oscar Guy

Very entertaining, and despite the by now over familiar-plot, pleasantly suspenseful.

May 24, 2011 Full Review Source: Film4

| Comment

Film4

one of the great sci-fi horrorshows, a movie that gooses you with its premise, makes you laugh and jump, and ultimately leaves you with something you can't quite shake

September 23, 2010 Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk

| Comment

James Kendrick

Q Network Film Desk

[Philip] Kaufman's version persuasively asserts its right to life as an imaginative reflection of our time...

April 21, 2010 Full Review Source: Parallax View

| Comment

Richard T. Jameson

Parallax View

Siegel gave the frissons classical sharpness while Kaufman goes for baroque erudition

February 13, 2010 Full Review Source: CinePassion

| Comment

Fernando F. Croce

CinePassion

Indeed, Invasion of the Body Snatcher, for all its well-crafted creepshow conceits, is probably the most purposefully obtuse fear film ever.

September 24, 2007 Full Review Source: PopMatters

| Comment

Bill Gibron

PopMatters

If not quite as great as its predecessor, still a pretty damn fine genre picture.

September 12, 2007 Full Review Source: Antagony & Ecstasy

| Comment

Tim Brayton

Antagony & Ecstasy

It's not only the best of the four films based on Jack Finney's story, but also one of the best films of the 1970s.

August 30, 2007 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid

| Comment

Jeffrey M. Anderson

Combustible Celluloid

A superior sci-fi thriller that makes even raindrops, plants and electrical cords take on sinister life.

August 10, 2007 Comment

Bruce Dancis

Sacramento Bee

This socially aware 70s cinematic stew artfully blends cool, shadowy noir with steamy, gooey horror.

August 7, 2007 Full Review Source: Horror.com

| Comment

Staci Layne Wilson

Horror.com Source: Horror.com

The script by W. D. Richter relies less on clich�s and stock situations that most thrillers of this type, and gives us character development so that we care what happens to these folks.

August 7, 2007 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis

| Comment

James Plath

Movie Metropolis

The film collapses midway -- because of unsure and sloppy direction, splintered story continuity, and the overacting of Adams, Cartwright, and others.

May 30, 2007 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide

| Comments (5)

TV Guide's Movie Guide

Kaufman here turns in his most Movie Brattish film, but soft-pedals on both his special effects and knowing in-jokiness in a way that puts De Palma to shame.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out

| Comment

Geoff Andrew

Time Out

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Invasion of the Body Snatchers

View All

With the incredible abundance of slasher, psychological, and supernatural horror these days, not many people have a good idea of what exactly "body horror" is. But there are a few very well-known examples, and up there with the ALIEN trilogy, THE THING and its recent prequel, and BLACK SWAN, is INVASION OF

November 22, 2011

Alexander Diminiano

Super Reviewer

This remake of the classic 1956 Don Siegel film is maybe the best remake of all time. With the greatest sound design I have ever heard, the audio track adds a whole other level of tension to this great film. The screams of the body snatchers will forever be in the back of my mind.

October 25, 2011

Graham Jones

Super Reviewer

Invasion of the Body Snatchers Quotes

View All

No quotes approved yet for Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Logged in users can submit quotes.

Character	Quote
	Enter quote here...	Delete

DVD

Top Rentals

35%	The Hangover Part II
25%	Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Par...
81%	Kung Fu Panda 2
44%	Cowboys & Aliens
83%	Rise of the Planet of the Apes

More…

New On DVD This Week

25%	Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Par...
88%	Lady and the Tramp
69%	A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas
21%	Fireflies in the Garden
45%	The Rebound

More…

Movies Like Invasion of the Body Snatchers

The Invasion

View All

Latest News for Invasion of the Body Snatchers

August 22, 2007:

Total Recall: The Invasion Joins A Long List Of Paranoia Movies
Time will tell if The Invasion is remembered as a movie that captured something about the way we...