originally posted on tumblr, Mar 30th 2026 

Movie-A-Day-Thon #35: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

Okay so I wanna start by saying, this movie was completely arbitrary. It's inspired by a book that has had three different film adaptations so far, each of them building upon what the previous had created while also adapting to the current moral panic of the time. I plan to watch all three eventually, but I wanted to start with this one cus it seemed the most fun, and I love me 70s-80s B movies.

And there's young Jeff Goldblum in this one! I gotsa watch it first!!

Right away, the design for the alien goop eggs spore thingies is so good! I'm pretty sure they are some sort of waterborne creature, I've seen them before, but I can't recall where. Seeing them fall down to earth, and how they grow roots, then flowers, it's just really cool!! Practical effects rock!! Nowadays they'd be done in CGI which would be fine, CGI allows for endless creative freedom and it's not something to be dismissed, but I think what most appeals to me in practical fx is the ingenuity of it all. It's cool!!

It's early in the movie, but I like how they do nighttime scenes, or dark ones. Casting most of the framing in pitch darkness while isolating characters in halos of light and very faint bounce reflections. Don't get me wrong, I love me a good well-lit night scene, but the aesthetics of this really works, reminds me of comic books in a way.

The car ride with Elizabeth and Matthew is so good too. You think it's jsut going to be more pitch for the plot, pretty sedate, and then the guy shows up and the slowwww turn of the car to reveal the aftermath, with the soundtrack.... amazing shot!

And like, I get it. A friend of yours starts acting like everyone around them is an imposter, you worry about their mental health. The other option is absurd or at least deeply inprobable. But I'm so glad that the moment something Weird becomes evident to Matthew, he connects the dots and immediately takes Elizabeth seriously and worries for her. Denial is out the window, gotta help my friend now. Too bad he's so invested about calling the fucking cops everytime. Move on, bitch, the pigs ain't gonna help ya!!

Also god, Goldblum is so Goldblumish in this movie, I'm living for it. If you have sensibility with paranoia and gaslighting, I would proceed with caution though, it even got under my skin a bit. Oh and the birthing flowers fucked me up too lol