Pod People

Today sees the release of The Invasion, the fourth major film iteration of Jack Finney's novel The Body Snatchers.

The Invasion started as The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, like the 1956 and 1978 versions. It was shortened to The Invasion, changed to The Visiting to avoid confusion with the William Fichtner-starring TV show called Invasion (also about aliens replacing humans through an organic process), then back to The Invasion when the TV series was cancelled.

The title process has been the least of the film's problems. The original cut by Oliver Hirschbiegel (Downfall), was deemed unacceptable by the studio, and the Wachowski brothers were brought in to do rewriting; their Matrix and V For Vendetta cohort James McTeigue was brought in for uncredited reshooting.

I recently had occasion (Donald Sutherland's birthday) to briefly mention the 1956 and 1978 versions - let's not neglect Abel Ferrara's 1993 Body Snatchers, an interesting military-based production which may not hold up to the superlative '56 and '78 films, but remains underrated and surprisingly competent for a second remake of a classic.

A brief mention as well to The Asylum's recent DVD issue of Invasion of the Pod People, one of their signature cash-in releases. The fact the movie's been on DVD for three weeks and is still awaiting its fifth vote to qualify for IMDb rating can't be a good sign.