Body Snatchers - Die Körperfresser

Entertaining, but totally unnecessary and uncalled for remake of the classic 1956 movie makes the fatal mistake of moving the action to a military base which has fallen victim to pods that kill everyone in site and replace them with cold emotionless replacements. Very unmemorable fare with an appealing cast and decent visual effects.

Rated R; Nudity, Violence, and Profanity.

The EPA sends Steve Malone (Terry Kinney) to a military base in Alabama for a month. He brings along his daughter Marti (Gabrielle Anwar), his second wife Carol (Meg Tilly) and their son Andy. Marti is scared by a soldier who tells her that "They get you when you sleep". She befriends base commander (R. Lee Ermey)'s wild daughter Jenn Platt (Christine Elise). She falls for chopper pilot Tim Young (Billy Wirth). There are strange things happening and Maj. Collins (Forest Whitaker) asks Steve if it could be chemical toxins. Military personnel delivers mysterious boxes to the Malones. Carol is the first to turn.

The major drawback is that the premise is known to everybody. There is no surprises except for the sci-fi uninitiated. The bathtub scene is pretty good although it's nothing shocking. This is a solid execution. The army base location is pretty good. Body snatchers can be camouflaged by being stoic soldiers and they are pretty creepy. There is nothing wrong with this version but it adds nothing new to the idea.

"Body Snatchers" is a good film by Abel Ferrara, a worthy version of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" by Jack Finney, of course without being better than the 1978 version. This 1993 version has a good script but what is taken slowly, suspense is absent for much of the film, the characters and their loss of individuality by being supplanted is a gloomy idea but in the film it is executed in an uninteresting way. The performances are good, especially from Meg Tilly and Christine Elise. A great positive point of "Body Snatchers" is the special effects, which appear in few scenes but are well done and with good gore. "Body Snatchers" isn't the best movie based on Finney's work, but it's worthy and well-produced.

Okay, the 1956 original paved the way and has to get the credit for that, but from an objective point-of-view, both the 1978 and this 1993 remake are better, scarier, more developed. In comparison to the second version, this one has a nowhere nearly as brilliant, rather disappointing ending, but the pacing is must faster. Abel Ferrara keeps the movie running for only a tight 85 minutes, and pushes all the right buttons along the way; the horror ranges from the gory (the melting heads) to the supremely subtle (the scene in the classroom, where all the kids draw the exact same picture, except for one, who naturally realizes that something is wrong - the teacher seems to want to punish him for being different). This is a spine-chilling, absolutely terrific little picture - but even if it wasn't, it would still be worth seeing just for Meg Tilly's exceptional performance - her "where are you gonna go?" monologue is as scary as anything in say, "Psycho" or "Rosemary's Baby". (***1/2)

In this remake of a classic, they used Bad Lieutenant and King of New York director Abel Ferrara, and cast the young beauty Gabrielle Anwar (The Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mines) and "thirthsomething" Terry Kinney in the leads.

Kinney went on to do The Laramie Project later and was fantastic.

If you want conformity, then setting your movie on a military installation ensures that you have an easier time of it. Younger people will love this version, but just updating to modern techniques and special effects doesn't always make for a better picture.

Skintastic Moment: Great view of Gabrielle Anwar's ta-tas waking up on a stretcher.