Countdown to Halloween, Day 3: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

We came here from a dying world. We drift through the universe, from planet to planet, pushed on by the solar winds. We adapt and we survive. the function of life is survival.

Both the 1956 and 1978 versions of this movie are great, but I truly love the 1978 Invasion directed by Philip Kaufman. Generally, I have a soft spot for 1970s horror, as later entries in this list will reveal. Invasion features a very young and lanky Jeff Goldblum in an early role in his twitchy science fiction mode, but Donald Sutherland is of course the central attraction here. He is fantastic and the final scene is simply perfect. That face, that scream. I think of it often.

Earlier countdown entries:

1. Night of the Living Dead, dir. George Romero (1968)
2. Dawn of the Dead, dir. George Romero (1978)

Horror Movie Countdown to Halloween, Days 1 & 2: Romero

I am doing a countdown of horror movies this October. I’ll be posting images and quotes on my office door all month and also posting here. I’ll post one movie per day (two on Mondays and Fridays to account for the weekends), not in any ranked order. They are just horror movies I love in an order that pleases me.

I’m starting with George Romero. I didn’t even have to think about this as a starting point or about including either of these films on my list. Romero is just a given.

They’re coming to get you, Barbra!

I have taught Night of the Living Dead (1968) in multiple classes, and I love it. Students often have trouble getting into it because it’s kind of old-fashioned and slow by their standards, but I love the human drama, the slow zombies, the zombie daughter, and the bleak, bleak ending.

When there’s no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth.

And I adore Dawn of the Dead (1978). Again, students don’t always appreciate it, but I love the very things that they have been critical of: the makeup, the weird musical montage where they play in the mall, the dramatic shifts in tone between parts of the movie, the Goblin score.

In both cases, the zombies are interesting, but the real draw is in the way the non-zombie human characters interact with one another as they try to survive – whether fighting or trying to set up house in a mall.

More to come!