Invasion of the Body Snatchers

15A115 min

With roughly 200 credits under his belt, both big-screen and small, Donald Sutherland, was just as likely to turn up in a straight to VHS title as he was an Oscar winner. His vast filmography reveals an actor who enjoyed and was committed to his craft no matter what the project. From original director-driven works like M*A*S*H and Klute to IP-backed action franchises like the hugely successful Hunger Games series, Sutherland was a shape shifter, at home in any genre. A proud Canadian, he never forgot his roots so what better way to celebrate Canada Day (July 1st) than with a screening of one of our favourite films from his long career.

Philip Kaufman’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers starred Donald Sutherland as San Francisco health inspector Matthew Bennell, Brooke Adams as his work colleague and unrequited love interest Elizabeth Driscoll, Leonard Nimoy as celebrity shrink and self-help guru David Kibner, Jeff Goldblum as failed poet Jack Bellicec, and Veronica Cartwright as his wife Nancy.

Opening with images of the alien seeds drifting through space before landing on Earth, spawning first flowers then pods, this 1978 version of Jack Finney’s book ramped up the body horror, paranoia levels and conspiracy-theory angle, as well as telling part of the story from the pods’ point of view. Michael Chapman’s noir-inspired cinematography – deep shadows, distorted wide and Dutch angles – is used to unsettling effect, adding to the sense of dislocation, mistrust and dread. The film’s final image remains terrifying to this day.