Directed by Don Siegel
80 minutes
In English

This flick from the 1950s is a cult favorite, based on a book by Jack Finney. It's almost up there with stories like Brave New World and 1984, with its classic dystopian vision of our world and its future. In this case it is about a virus, or perhaps alien presence, that enters our society and begins to transform human beings. Things like love, poetry, imagination and humor disappear and all that remains of a person is an empty shell that can only operate practically and efficiently. When it originally came out this flick was trashed by critics, but over the years it has gathered a huge following and has been remade at least three times. 

Director Don Siegel is one of the great hard-hitting, tough filmmakers from the 1950s, and here he does a fantastic job. A horror film largely set in full daylight, amid everyday public life. The movie begins like this: when Dr. Miles Bennell (Kevin McCarthy) turns to his hometown of Santa Mira after attending a science conference, he begins to notice that things are not quite normal. Something has changed, but it's unclear what it is. Many of his patients start coming to him claiming their friends aren't who they claim to be. The film shoots off from there. 

There are many different readings of the film, and as time goes by there are even newer ones. It can be seen in terms of America's 1950s red scare about the infiltration of soulless communists into the country and what would happen if they took over. It also can be seen as a commentary about the bland conformity of American consumer monoculture produced by advertising and marketing firms. More recently some have seen it in terms of the recent pandemic in various ways. No matter what way you interpret the film, it's a gas.

This flick remains riveting and full of mystery, even after all these years. 

+ 2 mind-boggling shorts:
DOORSTEP TO COMMUNISM (10 min)
MAGIC MYXIES (10 min)