Body Snatchers (1993)

Director: Abel Ferrara
Writer(s): Stuart Gordon, Dennis Paoli, and Nicholas St. John, from a screen story by Raymond Cistheri and Larry Cohen, and a novel by Jack Finney
Starring: Gabrielle Anwar, Meg Tilly, Terry Kinney, and Billy Wirth

I have to confess that I have not seen either of the other “body snatcher” films (both of which go by the name Invasion of the Body Snatchers, rather than this abbreviated title): the 1956 original, or the 1978 remake. From what I understand, that actually makes me the target demographic for Abel Ferrara’s “modern update”, which is a term that generally means the special effects are updated, while everything else just goes to shit. In this case, that assumption would be accurate.

Marti Malone is a teenage girl, and also the unnecessary narrator of the story. She is traveling with her family to an army base in Alabama, because her father, Steve, works for the EPA, and has been sent there to run tests on the water system. Along with Steve and Marti, we have Andy, Marti’s young brother, and Carol, the required “hated stepmother” stereotype. The trip gets off to a pretty ominous start when, in the restroom of a gas station along the way, a man dressed in military fatigues holds Marti at knifepoint, and warns her that “they attack you when you’re sleeping”, to paraphrase. She screams and tells her parents about the incident, but of course the soldier is miraculously gone by the time they get there.

The rest of the trip goes without occurrence, and they arrive at the military base a short while later. While everyone else is helping to put things away, Marti goes for a little stroll—and ends up trespassing in a restricted area. She is about to turn around and go home when up rolls Jenn Platt in a fancy car. The two have never met, but true-to-movie form Jenn orders Marti into the car, she complies, and now they are automatically friends. We learn that Jenn is the daughter of the base commander, and so she can basically run around with impunity.

Andy, meanwhile, gets the feeling that something is wrong, after all of the other kids at the base fingerpaint the exact same picture during daycare. He attempts to run away from the base, but is picked up by young, attractive Tim (that will come in handy soon), a chopper pilot (that will come in handy later) who returns him to his home, and catches the eye of Marti. Things don’t get any better for that poor kid, when that night, he has the misfortune of witnessing his mother decompose right before his eyes, while a “replacement” steps out of the closet. This is how the “body snatchers” work: As the random man in the gas station bathroom told Marti, they wait until the victim is sleeping, then slip long tentacles into every facial orifice they can. That data seems to be transmitted to a pod, which then replicates an exact human clone after a few minutes, which then hatches. And once the replica is complete, the old body basically “deflates” away. The “body snatchers” are imperceptible from their human counterparts, except for one telling difference: they cannot show emotion.

This leads me to a pretty dumb flaw in the movie’s logic: in order to trick them, all you have to do is not show emotion. That’s it. You would think that such an advanced species—one that can completely create a perfect replica of a human being in just a few short minutes—would give the replicas the ability to sense whether or not someone is an actual real human, or one just suppressing their feelings, but they can’t. Then again, many zombie movies feature humans that merely have to shamble and “act dead” in order to blend in, so it must merely make an easy writing device.

I think we can all tell what’s going to happen from here: the “disease” quickly spreads, and it’s up to the remaining survivors to put a stop to it. Of course, we know Tim doesn’t die because he’s the only one that can operate a chopper, and Marti doesn’t die simply because she’s the main female lead, and they never seem to die. Other than that, I won’t reveal the many twists and turns, just in case you actually plan on sitting through this.

There are some effective ideas and sequences at play here, which prevent this from being a complete waste of time. The inhuman screams of the clones, used to alert others when humans are nearby, is actually pretty chilling. It loses its impact the more often it gets used, but the first time is especially creepy. And even though I complained about the ease with which the replicas can be fooled, I did kind of like the way they attempt to figure out who is human, by saying something incredibly mean or sad and waiting for a reaction. The way they prey on human emotion in this regard is pretty unique. The updated effects are pretty good, too, though a lot of the themes (and ideas) were put to much better use in the underrated The Hidden. The cast is also largely above average, with Forest Whitaker, in a small role as Major Collins, and Terry Kinney as the father, Steve Malone, in my opinion the best of the bunch.

The reality that a major Hollywood remake is braindead certainly comes as no shock, but what is surprising is the name attached to it: Abel Ferrara. I’ve not seen a whole lot of his filmography, but he has long been known as a director who pulls no punches (reportedly, his own wife walked out of a screening of his incredibly violent gangster epic King of New York, along with about forty others). In Ms. 45 he tells the tale of a woman who is raped twice in one day, and gets her revenge by seducing men and then shooting them to death, while The Addiction draws parallels between vampirism and drug addiction. This isn’t a man who generally takes the easy way out, so it was shocking to see that he made such a predictable, largely soulless picture.

But then again, maybe it doesn’t come as much of a surprise after all: we all need a paycheck, and I’m sure this provided Mr. Ferrara the artistic freedom to make his next few pictures. If that was his motivation, then I guess I can’t really fault him for that.

RECAP: It’s nowhere near great, but it’s short, and has enough cool effects, creepy scenes, and good acting to make it a decent timewaster. I’ve not seen the two previous adaptations of Jack Finney’s novel, both of which went under the longer title Invasion of the Body Snatchers, so I can’t compare this to either of them, but standing on its own merits, it’s a pretty predictable cash grab that serves as yet another curiosity in director Abel Ferrara’s abrasive filmography.

RATING: 5/10

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Q: The Winged Serpent (1981)

Director: Larry Cohen

Writer(s): Cohen

Starring: Michael Moriarty, David Carradine, Richard Roundtree, and Candy Clark

In what seems to be a recurring theme, I had a lot of good memories from watching Larry Cohen’s Q for the first time when I was in my mid-teen years.  A lot of that might have had to do with the simple notion that I had seen it after being vastly underwhelmed by both God Told Me To, and The Stuff, two additional cult movies directed by Cohen, in which he completely squandered unique premises.  I guess the fact he didn’t screw this one up was an endearing quality to me.

There’s a lot going on here, but to boil it down to the basics: Michael Moriarty plays Jimmy Quinn, a man who’s part time piano player, and part time thief.  To earn some money, he agrees to be the getaway driver for a diamond heist, but as always, things do not go as planned.  During his escape, (in which he is hit by a taxicab and loses all of the money) he ends up in the Chrysler Building, where he eventually stumbles on a shocking sight:  A large egg in a large nest at the top of the skyscraper.

Meanwhile, two cops (played by Richard Roundtree and David Carradine) are investigating a series of bizarre murders; in some, the victims are beheaded, yet in others, they appear to have been skinned alive.  Could the monster in the nest have anything to do with any of this, and if so, how?

Q starts off with a full head of steam, getting right down to it with three murders (and a set of titties!) within the first five minutes.  Unfortunately, there’s not nearly enough story here to sustain the momentum, and it eventually comes crashing back down to Earth long before it’s over.  That’s a sad thing, because this is a movie with a lot of potential; if Cohen had more time, or perhaps more money, to develop it, it’s interesting to think about all the improvements that could have been made.

More interesting than the movie itself is the story behind it.  Basically, Cohen was hired to direct a movie called I, The Jury but didn’t get along with the producers, so he was fired just a couple of days in.  Not wanting to waste the month that he had paid for to stay in a New York hotel, he quickly wrote this movie, rounded up a cast, and shot it on the cheap.  In an ultimate twist of fate, both Q and I, The Jury ended up opening on the exact same day, with Q pulling in more money on a fraction of the budget.

It’s certainly admirable what Cohen accomplished essentially off-the-cuff (he re-wrote entire scenes the night before shooting them, in some cases), but its rushed nature is also pretty evident.  The plot feels like it goes from point A to point B on a whim, with very little logic, even for the standards of a B-movie like this, and it only gets worse and worse as it drags along.  The creature effects start off charmingly dated, as Cohen barely shows it for the whole first half.  Then, inexplicably, he overuses the creature for the finale, with disastrous results; for the first time in the movie, we can see just how shoddy the special effects really are.  If he would have kept the creature visuals to a minimum, I think it really could have helped create a much better atmosphere; it might have even allowed some tension to sneak in.

I also really hated Moriarty’s character, and although his performance has been given plenty of praise, I didn’t like that, either.  I thought it was wildly uneven, and his annoying “tough guy” slur really grated on my nerves.  Cohen’s script didn’t do him many favors either, casting him as a one-dimensional smart-ass; thus, just about everything that comes out of his mouth is dry and sarcastic.  Peppering in some lines like this here and there while toning it down a bit would have given him more depth; as he is written, he comes off as little more than an annoying know-it-all.  I know, I know, that’s what Cohen seems to have been going for, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it.

The other performances are befitting of such a film, with David Carradine’s effort (playing a cop known only as “Shepard”) reminding me a lot of Larry Sanders, Garry Shandling’s long-running late night character, with his laid-back, “don’t care” attitude; this contrast with Richard Roundtree’s “sharp as nails” Powell creates a decent, if too familiar, “good cop bad cop” routine.  Candy Clark, as Quinn’s love interest, alternates between entertaining cheesiness and almost genuine authenticity; it’s clear she’s giving it her all, though, so her character remains endearing.

Q is a good B-film that manages to be entertaining overall, but it unfortunately never seems to set its sights too high.  As hinted at earlier, part of the problem is no doubt the time and budgetary constraints, but unlike its titular monster, Q the movie is never really allowed to spread its wings and be anything more than fascinating schlock.

RECAP: Q starts off with a bang, then gradually loses steam the rest of the way.  The movie is filled with one-note characters, with the worst offender being Michael Moriarty’s Jimmy Quinn; many publications have praised his performance, but I thought he was wildly uneven.  Monster effects are effective in the beginning because it is barely shown; once he becomes the focal point of several shots at the end, we see just how terribly dated the effects really are.  It’s entertaining, and considering the time and budgetary constraints involved, it’s impressive that it was even finished; but by the end, there’s the unshakable feeling that just about everyone involved was capable of so much more.

RATING: 6/10

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