Invasion of the Bodysnatchers (1978)
I think everyone has heard of this so it was great to give it a whirl.
I did struggle to get over many very dated aesthetics of this film, which is interesting as it sort of sits in a time period where it doesn’t merely feel ‘old with charm’, but truly ‘dated’.
Donald Sutherland always has this effect on me with his retro attire and haircut - once again here he has the presence of a scholarly chemistry teacher who smells of mothballs. The film otherwise looks fairy amateur with its grainy presentation and un-slick editing. It feels like it was made two decades before Alien, yet Alien came out only
one year later. Some of the practical special effects, which were sparingly used, were pretty good.
Edit - I watched Chinatown not long ago and that felt old but not ‘dated’ in the same way. It really stood out to me in this film for some reason.
Getting over that (and how volatile 70s electricals apparently are for starting fires... ) it did have its moments - the final sections in particular were exciting and the very final scene was still creepy / jarring even if it has been meme’d. This time Jeff Goldbluummmmm was a skinny mini.
The film also unfortunately suffers through no fault of its own as it has been parodied to death, so it never felt particular fresh (and even felt derivative, even thought it and the 50s original are the source of what is being parodied).
Wholly watchable but for me mostly interesting to observe how I reacted to its age (i.e. without charm).
6.5/10
Thanks to
@arc@css for the recommendation