Body Snatchers (1993) Movie Review
Written by: ML
Edited by: Grave Reviews Staff
Film Information
Director: Abel Ferrara
Producers: Robert H. Solo
Writers: Stuart Gordon, Dennis Paoli, Nicholas St. John
Date Released: May 15, 1993
Cast:
Gabrielle Anwar as Marti Malone
Terry Kinney as Steve Malone
Billy Wirth as Tim Young
Meg Tilly as Carol Malone
Reilly Murphy as Andy Malone
Christine Elise as Jenn Platt
R. Lee Ermey as General Platt
Forest Whitaker as Major Matthew Collins
Rating = 2.5/5 Graves
***May contain some spoilers***
Synopsis
The story is narrated by a girl, Marti, who went with her family to a military base where her scientist father was called to examine environmental hazards of the operations. In a quick turn of events, they discover the alien invasion happening in the area after her stepmother turned out to be an alien duplicate. Marti, together with her father and half brother managed to escape their house and into the night where more alien duplicates started running after them. After asking for help, the father eventually became an alien duplicate, as well as her half brother after being held captive. Marti managed to escape with her pilot friend, but what awaits them is a mystery as to what happened with the rest of the human race.
Gore Factor
This is one alien movie with very few gory scenes. These scenes, however, are unlike any other. The most notable ones include the shrinking of the human body after aliens take over, the alien tentacles slithering from the alien eggs then entering the face, the fetus growing in the alien egg, and the melting of the alien body when killed. Another scary factor is the way the aliens scream whenever they point to an escaping human being.
The Grave Review
This is an alien movie that will keep you thinking where did the aliens come from, how they entered earth, why are they invading, and what they will do after the takeover.
Although they had very short exposures in the movie, the best acting went to the characters of Carol Malone and Major Collins. Meg Tilly was able to portray how an alien duplicate moves and talks emotionless. Forest Whitaker was good in portraying a paranoid and mentally unstable human who is deathly afraid of the alien invasion.
The best part was how the aliens were able to suck the life out of the humans and show the process of the rebirth. The montage where it showed how the alien egg released tentacles and entered the nose, mouth, and ears, until the part where the fetus is quickly growing into its adult form is a bit freaky.
Another shocking moment was the part where the alien screamed to point at an escaping human being. It sounded so scary and happened unexpectedly a few times in the movie. The alien chase even looked like a zombie chase.
The only problem was the lack of explanation and backstory about the alien invasion. The movie also failed to show what was really happening at the military base and how they were infiltrated. It was so fast-paced that it lacked proper character introduction and development, so much so that audiences might feel disconnected to them.
The ending was also abrupt after a series of explosions to destroy the military base and the trucks with alien eggs, right up to the moment where the mystery awaits if the world was actually invaded already.
Overall, Body Snatchers (1993) is recommended if you like creepy alien invasions and the end of humanity.
For the foregoing reasons, Grave Reviews gives Body Snatchers (1993) two and a half graves out of five graves.
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