Rating: PG
Genre:
Thriller
Release Date: 03/31/1998
SubTitles: English/French/Espanol
Dubbed: English/French
Sound: DDS/DD1
Run Time: 117 Minutes
Distributor/Studio: MGM
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), doesn't seem like himself; he's cold and distant and somehow just not quite there. When she turns to her friend
Matthew Bennell (
Donald Sutherland), a colleague at the Department of Public Health, he convinces her to see his friend
Dr. Kibner (
Leonard Nimoy), a pop psychologist who argues that the problem is all in
Elizabeth's head. Soon, though,
Matthew and
Elizabeth begin to notice that people all over the city are changing subtly and inexplicably. When their friend
Jack Bellicec (
Jeff Goldblum) and his wife
Nancy (
Veronica Cartwright) find a lifeless, half-formed doppelganger covered with plant fibers in the mud baths they own and operate, the group of friends finally begins to understand that a sinister transformation is sweeping their city.
Kevin McCarthy and
Don Siegel, respectively the star and director of the original film, have small roles in the new version, as does an unbilled
Robert Duvall.
~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide