In the past, movie magic was not as advanced as today and the special effects we’ve become so accustomed were absent from the imaginative screenplays and plots of earlier movies dealing with the science fiction and horror genre. In this article, we will take a look at the plot, trivia and facts concerning a cult classic , “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” , a 1956 gem.
The Plot
Something isn’t quite right in the community of Santa Mira, California, as some of it residents are not acting as usual. Strange isn’t even the word to describe their actions, as they don’t even seem human anymore. In fact, they aren’t. The plot centers on Dr. Miles Binnell, who is the first person to actually notice that something is disturbing wrong. Slowly, he starts to investigate and get closer to the truth of the latest happenings within his town. Can we say ‘ giant plant-like pods’ are involved? Are aliens coming to destroy Earth?
“Invasion of the Body Snatchers” Trivia and Facts
When it came to the tunnel scene, you will see the hero of the movie choosing to hide from the townspeople in a cave, which was filmed at Bronson Cave in Griffith Park, a famous location that residents call the ‘Bat Cave.’
Can you imagine that the production company only had $15,000 to work with as a budget for the special effects of the film?
The National Film Preservation Board entered “Invasion of the Body Snatchers into the National Film Registry in 1994.
Alternate titles and working titles of this movie included “Sleep No More,” “They Came from Another World,” and “Walter Wanger’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers.”
A great deal of locations about the Los Angeles, California area served as places where the movie was filmed, including Beachwood Canyon, Beechwood Drive, Bronson Canyon (Griffith Park), Bronson Caves, Chandler Estate (2330 Hillhurst Avenue) in Los Feliz, Glendale, Goya’s Nursery (600 Wilcox Street) in Sierra Madre, Griffith Park, Hollywood Hills, Monogram/Allied Artists Studios, Mulholland Drive, Railroad Station (in Chatsworth), San Fernando Country Club (in Woodland Hills), Sierra Madre Boulevard, Sierra Madre Hotel, Woodshire Drive, Westshire Drive, and Woodland Hills.
The movie was classified as a horror, science fiction piece, and a thriller.
Over time, Sam Peckinpah (who makes a quick appearance as a meter reader in the movie), made the claim that he was responsible for tweaking the script, which included major changes to slight modifications. Others believe that if he had anything to do with the script, it was only a couple of lines that he would have had anything to do with. His claims started to get under the skin of the true writer, Daniel Mainwaring, who threatened to make an official complaint with the Writers Guild of America. This caused Peckinpah to shy away from making any more claims. When Peckinpah passed away in 1984, a great number of his obituaries stated that he had rewritten the screenplay for “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.”
When taking a look at the American Film Institute’s list of the 10 greatest films in the category of Sci-Fi, you will find that in June of 2008, “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” ranked #9.