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Philip Kaufman's Invasion Of The Body Snatchers

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You’re on a subway, headed to work. It’s a normal business day, the rest of the riders sporting their suits and dresses and briefcases, holding onto the handrails or reading their e-books on portable devices. You’re sitting by the window, the sun caressing your back with its early warming rays; and then you notice the man across from you staring. Perhaps he’s looking at the advertisement next to you; maybe he’s dazing off into post-dream reflection; maybe he’s studying a crumb on your cheek from breakfast. You brush your hand over your mouth and nose, quickly, so he doesn’t realize this gesture is due to his gaze. And still he stares. Your stop comes. You get up to leave the subway and exit to your platform, and turning back, you see his head swivel like a tracking device as you move. As the train departs, you see him clamber onto the subway seats, eyes focused directly on you. …show more content…

People fixate on objects without realizing it; they stare, and forget they’re staring at someone. Yet Philip Kaufman’s 1978 horror/science fiction film Invasion of the Body Snatchers – and the original 1956 film and Jack Finney’s novel The Body Snatchers on which both are based – questions whether paranoia of strangers is as crazy as it first seems. In fact, there are multiple questions posed by Kaufman’s excellent adaptation of the source material, including how much one can really know a close acquaintance; how one would know if someone has changed; and why anyone who could grow a mustache like Donald Sutherland wouldn’t do

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