Invasion of The Body Snatchers (1978 Film) - Comparison Between The 1956 and 1978 Versions

Comparison Between The 1956 and 1978 Versions

• In the original, the aliens are never seen in their pre-human-like form, only as emotionless human doubles. In the opening scene of the remake the aliens are formless gelatinous creatures struggling to survive on their dying home planet.
• Both films are set in the San Francisco Bay Area; in Mill Valley in 1956 and in San Francisco in 1978.
• In the original film the leading man, Miles Bennell, is a small town doctor. In the remake, Matthew Bennell is an urban health inspector.
• The remake drops the protagonist's voice-over narration.
• The 1956 film depicts Becky Driscoll as Miles's former high school girlfriend. The 1978 film portrays the relationship of Matthew and Elizabeth Driscoll as nothing more than friends (and colleagues, since they both work at the health department) until they fall in love late into the film. In both films, Becky/Elizabeth has just separated from her former relationship or is in a relationship on the edge of breaking up.
• The first film never shows what happens to the original human bodies after duplication. In the second, they are shown disintegrating and being disposed of in garbage trucks.
• In the 1978 version, Elizabeth Driscoll is startled by the mantel clock chiming in her apartment as she watches the pod duplicate of her partner Geoffrey taking a trash can filled (as she will later realize) with the decayed remains of his original body out to the garbage truck. In the 1956 original, Becky Driscoll is startled by the cuckoo clock in the Belicec's house as she watches Miles examining the developing pod duplicate of Jack Belicec.
• In the original movie, the name of the psychiatrist Bennell asks people to consult is Danny Kaufman; in the remake it's David Kibner.
• Both films depict Jack Bellicec/Belicec being duplicated early on with the partially formed duplicate being discovered by the Jack and his wife. The line, "It has no details, no character ... it's unformed" delivered by Jack in the remake is similar to the line spoken by Dr. Miles Bennell in the original. In both movies it is pointed out that the developing pod replacement has no fingerprints.
• In the original film, Jack Belicec is a moderately successful writer who lives with his wife, Teddy, in a fashionable bungalow. The 1978 film depicts Bellicec as a frustrated, hapless writer who owns a mud bath spa with his wife, Nancy.
• Both films show the four remaining human characters watch in horror as their duplicates are developing from "hatching" pods in a greenhouse or garden, respectively. Both times, Bennell destroys his duplicate, with a pitchfork in the first, with a garden hoe in the second movie.
• The scene in which Matthew, Elizabeth, Jack and Nancy are fleeing a mob of pod people down several flights of stairs is reminiscent of the scene in the first movie in which Miles and Becky are fleeing a similar mob up a long outdoor stairway.
• In the original, a pod duplicate who sensed the presence of a non-duplicated human would alert its fellow pods by simply pointing toward the human. In the remake, the pods emit a piercing, shrill scream, which resonates for great distances and alarms other pods that there is a human presence.
• Both films have the police department playing a prominent role in spreading the invasion and preventing humans from escaping.
• The 1956 movie has Miles and Becky taking refuge in Miles' doctor's office. The 1978 version has Matthew and Elizabeth taking refuge in the Health Department office where they both work. In both films a night watchman enters the office shining a flashlight and leaves without discovering the couple. Both films also have the couple taking pills to keep them awake, and share a kiss as they are hiding out. In both movies, the couple looks out the office window to discover a large crowd of duplicates carrying unhatched pods bound for surrounding cities in order to spread the invasion.
• In the first and second film a duplicated Jack and the duplicated psychiatrist corner the couple in the office. The 1956 version has Dr. Dan Kaufman remarking that going to sleep would have made things easier, in the remake the line is given to Jack. In the original Miles uses syringes filled with poison to kill the duplicates. In the 1978 film hypodermics are also used in the office setting, only this time the syringes are filled with a mild sedative and administered to Matthew and Elizabeth by the psychiatrist. In this version, Jack's double is killed when Matthew jabs a dart into the base of his skull and Kibner is locked in the lab's freezer.
• The first film has Becky alerting the pods to her and Miles' humanity when she screams in reaction to a dog almost being hit by a truck. In the second, Elizabeth similarly alerts the pod people when she screams in reaction to seeing a pod duplicate with a dog's body and a human's face, the result of a duplicating process gone wrong.
• In the original, Miles leaves Becky behind in an abandoned mine to investigate the source of music coming from over the hills. Both hope the music emanates from genuine humans. Miles discovers a huge greenhouse complex growing thousands of pods instead. The music had come from a radio, which is switched off. In the 1978 film, Matthew leaves Elizabeth behind in a field to investigate a seaship playing "Amazing Grace" over its loudspeaker. The ship is being loaded with pods, and the music is also turned off shortly thereafter. In both films, Becky/Elizabeth has transformed when he returns.
• In the original, Miles remains himself long enough to warn humanity of the pod people and is still himself at the film's end. In the remake, Matthew is not only subsumed by the end of the film without having warned humanity, but also betrays Nancy, one of the few genuine humans left.