Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978): Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum, Veronica Cartwright and Leonard Nimoy. Directed by Philip Kaufman, Screenplay by W.D. Richter, based on the novel by Jack Finney.

Wow, another remake made my list. I'm honestly as shocked as you are. As with "The Thing", though, Philip Kaufman's 1978 re-imagining of the classic 1956 film is as good as the original. Maybe the difference between remaking films then, as opposed to today, is a matter of respect, in this case, with the inclusion of Kevin McCarthy's character at one point in the middle of the film, making it seem almost like the original still matters and this is merely a continuation of the story. I would say both films are perfect companions to each other and if you're in the mood for a double bill, see them both together (I know I have on occasion).

This film seems to be the result of the right thing at just the right time. The year previous, "Star Wars" blew all box office predictions out of the water at a time when supernatural movies were getting all the press, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" had just been released and now the movie-going public was thinking of aliens and outer space, but still had a healthy appetite for horror. So why not mix the two?

The public climate was just right as well. Where the 1956 original played on Communist fears dredged up by the raging Cold War, America was now in the grip of post-Vietnam, post-Watergate paranoia, mistrusting "the establishment", and losing a bit of its identity. What better subject matter for a film could you have than pods from outer space replacing everyone you know with emotionless exact duplicates?

Kaufman manages to inject just the right amount of dread into what is basically B-movie material cranking the tension very slowly to its climax and ultra-creepy final shots.

This remake has been remade not once, but twice! That's four in total, if you lost count. The original "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" in 1956, this 1978 remake, a 1993 remake, "Body Snatchers" (which plays out more like a sequel I guess) starring Meg Tilly, that, despite its able (no pun intended) direction by Abel Ferrara never quite hits the mark that the previous two did. Lastly, 2007's universally panned "The Invasion" with Nicole Kidman, I guess called "Invasion" because the previous sequel was called "Body Snatchers". I guess the next remake will be "Of The".

Get it at Amazon.com:
Invasion of the Body Snatchers