The weekend is upon us and so is Day 4 of The Invasion Will Not Be Televised. I couldn't really do an alien horror recap without including at least one film about the pod people!
Body Snatchers
Release: 10.14.11
Rated R
1 hour, 27 minutes
Group Rental
There's quite a few films based on the Jack Finney novel The Body Snatcher, this just happened to be the one I could get my hands on most easily. Having now suffered through it, I understand why. I'm getting ahead of myself so let's start at the beginning.
Marti (Gabrielle Anwar, For Love or Money) is none too happy about being moved to a military base with her dad Steve (Terry Kinney, Sleepers), little brother Andy (Reilly Murphy) and step-mom Carol (Meg Tilly, The Two Jakes). Dad works for the EPA and has to run samples on the toxic goo General Platt (R. Lee Ermey) is storing on-site. To make things worse, her brother and Major Collins (Forest Whitaker) are ranting about the strange behavior of the base's inhabitants. As everyone is consumed by pod people, the only plus for Marti is the hunky chopper pilot Tim (Billy Wirth, The Lost Boys) who has taken an interest in her.
Despite the Netflix rating, I was kind of excited to see Body Snatchers. Gabrielle Anwar, R. Lee Ermey and Forest Whitaker made for a nice cast pedigree. Plus I was psyched, Abel Ferrara, director of Bad Lieutenant was at the helm. Even with all this going for it, Body Snatchers seriously sucked. Granted, it does have its moments. Whitaker's insane, pill-popping rant opposite Ermey is a must-see scene. Tilly's freaky "Go Where" interrogation is a chilling turning point. Then there's everything else. The impending doom of the body snatchers is barely developed before the shit hits the fan. There are tons of squandered opportunities to show the take over by the pod people, but instead audiences are given a slew of characters who just randomly turn up as cabbage heads two scenes later.
Dirty Undies
To its credit, Snatchers gives audience some decent podding effects and gore as well as a few flashes of nudity. There's even one seductive scene featuring Anwar which is both hot and creepy. Hot because she's hot, but creepy considering she's portraying a seventeen year old (by the by, she was in her early twenties when this was filmed). There's also a random display of Rambo: First Blood Part II carnage, though it served more to pad the runtime rather than contribute to the story.
The Money Shot
Ultimately, Body Snatchers is a whole lot of staring and a little but of running. If what Andy says about the pod people is true and they do get you when you sleep, their best chance to snatch you will be if decide to queue this up.
No comments:
Post a Comment