INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956)

Small town California doctor Kevin McCarthy rightfully thinks that something strange is going on in his peaceful little berg when people he's known his whole life start acting strange.  At the same time, others tell him that their relatives are not their relatives.  McCarthy doesn't know quite what to think about this, but when his old flame comes back into town, he puts all that on the back burner in order to get laid.

Unfortunately, his hot date is ruined when he receives a phone call from a friend telling him there's a clone sleeping on his pool table.  Naturally, most people would absolutely freak the fuck out at this point, but McCarthy takes it pretty well and says keep an eye on the clone!  He still doesn't even freakout that hard when, later that same night, he finds a clone of his girlfriend in her basement!  What does it take to shake this guy?!! 

That's just some of the many questionable things that happen in this film.  The idea of your fellow citizens being taken over by aliens is super scary, but when the main character's logic only promotes the takeover (and therefore pushing the movie forward) all of the tension goes right out the window.  Eventually McCarthy realizes what's going on, but even then he just does a bunch of stupid shit that ends up getting people killed.

Despite the main actor's stupidity and the illogical way the pods made it to the earth, I still enjoyed the movie.  Cheap gas prices, quick pace, interesting supporting cast including Sam Peckinpah and Morticia Addams, nice photography.  Interesting idea that doesn't pan out, but still a fun watch as long as you don't take it too seriously.  I would absolutely love to watch a well-made, slow-burn, creepy as fook retelling of this story idea.  Like a miniseries on HBO.

Remake 1 - Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
Reboot 1 - Body Snatchers (1993)
Reboot 2 - The Invasion (2007)

DOMINION: PREQUEL TO THE EXORCIST (2005)

Now this is pretty strange.  From what I can tell, when the first director turned in his Exorcist prequel to Morgan Creek they didn't care for it and had somebody else remake it.  That was the "The Beginning" version I reviewed yesterday.  That movie was kinda lame and probably didn't make any money, so then Morgan Creek decided to dust off the rejected version and release that also!  That's this version.  Weird huh?  What they should have done it use the budget to both of these films and just make another version of the first film with a teenage girl screaming all kinds of foul filth flarn filth flarn filth with green vomit shooting out of every orifice since that's what audiences have been waiting on in an Exorcist sequel for forty friggin years now and still hasn't received.

Naturally, at the beginning of the film I was more than a little bit confused as to why this film seemed so much like the last film, but once I figured out it was just another version of the same story I actually liked this version better even despite the fact the special effects were quite terrible.  Once again, Stellan Skarsgard plays Father Merrin who after a traumatizing event during WWII leaves the priesthood and focuses on being an archeologist.  Blah, blah, blah there's a buried church in Africa and he has a showdown with Pazuzu, except that the demon is never called Pazuzu in this version.  He's just a nameless demon.  Anyway, much like the last film there isn't much demon action and what there is is pretty tame.

Honestly, even though I liked this film better than The Beginning I still can't see any reason to run out and watch it if you've already seen The Beginning.  Yeah, it looks better, the story makes more sense and the acting is even better but still it doesn't add enough to the overall Father Merrin story to justify wasting two hours on it.  For hardcore Exorcist fans only.  If you haven't seen either version though, this one is the one to watch.


Original trilogy
Part 1 - The Exorcist (1973)
Part 2 - Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)
Part 3 - Exorcist III (1990)

Prequel films
Exorcist: The Beginning (2004)

Sequel trilogy
Sequel 1 - The Exorcist: Believer (2023)