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Is the third time the charm for Jack Finney's stubborn human duplicator pods? Abel Ferrara keeps the faith and makes a straight, effective revisit of the paranoid classic. Does it all seem too familiar now, or are we just more Pod-like and less excitable? Body Snatchers Blu-ray Warner Archive Collection 1993 / Color / 2:40 widescreen / 87 min. / Street Date October 18, 2016 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring Gabrielle Anwar, Forest Whitaker, Meg Tilly, Terry Kinney, Billy Wirth, Reilly Murphy, Christine Elise, R. Lee Ermey, Kathleen Doyle, G. Elvis Phillips. Cinematography Bojan Bazelli Film Editor Anthony Redman Original Music Joe Delia Screenplay Dennis Paoli, Nicholas St. John, Stuart Gordon story by Raymond Cistheri, Larry Cohen, from the novel by Jack Finney Produced by Robert H. Solo Directed by Abel Ferrara

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Still the most potent and meaningful movie expression of modern paranoia is Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the first film made...

A spaceship heads to a remote planet to answer an Sos. Upon arrival on the fog covered world, they discover an insidious alien race that needs warm bodies to propagate their species. Yeah, I love Alien (1979) too! However, the film I’m referring to is Mario Bava’s Planet of the Vampires (1965), an influential departure for the prolific horror auteur and a gorgeously rendered sci-fi/horror blend.

Now, by no means am I suggesting that Sir Ridley Scott borrowed from Mario Bava (he claimed he never saw Planet beforehand); but I will say that this film also has a giant alien skeleton at the helm of a ship. Regardless of influence (or lack thereof), Planet still plays today due to Bava’s magnificent brushstrokes that drip from every frame.

Planet of the Vampires was also released as (take a deep breath): Planet of Blood, Terror in Space, The Haunted Planet,...