Filmy
spores from outerspace lands on Earth in
San Francisco from a rainstorm and then
turns into some sort of exotic flowers.
At first people think they are beautiful
looking but these flowers have gruesome
plans for their earthly admirers as they
slowly clone their bodies and then
dispose of the originals.
A couple named Elizabeth Driscoll (Brooke
Adams) and Dr. Geoffrey Howell (Art
Hindle) are also fascinated by the
flowers but suddenly Elizabeth is
noticing some not so nice changes in
Geoff's behavior.
She goes to the aid of health inspector
and friend Matthew Bennell (Donald
Sutherland) about this issue and they
encounter people behaving strangely.
Suddenly they are fighting for their
lives as the people they even trust are
turning into these clones.
There's an interesting opening with a
planet of things floating in space
heading to Earth and then a rain storm
happens and suddenly the particles from
outerspace forms into flowers as the flick shows
good shots of all this as well as neat
effects.
Well focused situations on kids playing at a playground as well as spotting a preacher on a swing as the moments here looked strange and mysterious. These moments looked wonderfully well done while we spot Elizabeth Driscoll walking on her way home in which all of this drew me in while watching all of this unravel.
Then I spotted an effective scene that involves
both her and Dr. Geoffrey Howell
D.D.S. when he acts strangely and Elizabeth
doesn't know how to cope with this.
This adds more mysterious moments to the plot as I got a feeling that he has been a victim to what happened from outerspace. I wanted to watch more to see what will happen later on.
Impressive scene when our main health inspector Matthew Bennell goes to a kitchen of a restaurant and has the place busted as this was well focused for whom he was talking to.
Nicely focused in moment when Elizabeth talks to Matthew Bennell abour Geoffrey and not acting himself as well as talking to strange people in which there's nice brief flashbacks on this as this looked clever for a mysterious creepy moment in which it made me think that he is a clone by what was going on.
I loved the other moments when
Matthew goes to his local drycleaner store and the owner discusses to him that his wife is not herself as this drew me in thinking that the terror is building up which works in perfectly.
We see a good discussion sequence between Matthew and Elizabeth together while driving in a car and
suddenly a man runs in front of them which
is a little startling acting paranoid
that something is coming. This moment nearly made me jump as this is a nice pointer on breaking the still moments. We also see a
great shot of others running and police
cars and amublance's charging in the
street. This for sure looked spooky to watch and a classic moment in the story.
We have a bit of an intense moment at a
bookstore that involves both Dr. David Kibner and Katherine Hendley crying acting out of control on what is
going on. This moment seemed necessary due to what she was talking about as well as him being closed minded by not believing her.
A scene that stuck in my mind was a mud bath parlour with
Nancy Bellicectdoing a body rub on a burly in which this was a scene that was hard to forget as well as some strange moments with customers hanging out there which makes you wonder if something creepy will unravel.
There's a great shot on Nancy Bellicect in a mud bath parlour
when she spots a duplicate body with
their eyes closed which looked spooky to watch as well as what this object does and a great close up shot on this as this was a nice surprising moment that will freak you out when you spot this moment.
Then we spot a good moment with Matthew sleeping in a chair and some fur suddenly
wraps around his wrist and a giant flower
is poking towards him forming several
duplicates of himself as that is one of
the scariest moments of them all and the best scene in the film too. This moment had very good special effects which still stands out in today's standards.
More spooky moments when Matthew calls the police and the person on the other line already knows his name as this almost has a Twilight Zone type of vibe to this moment knowing that he's in danger.
Perfect moment when Matthew, Elizabeth and Nancy pretend to be emotionless in order to survive but the silent moment breaks when a dog appears towards them as it's face isn't what you'd think it is as this psyched me out while spotting this too. Great bizarre horror timing. We also see great chasing scene's between Matthew and Elizabeth from the townspeople.
Perfect scenery with Matthew spying on people on a freighter with locals transporting seed pods as well as great action moments on him causing some explosions which was exciting to watch.
There's also a great scene with Elizabeth
naked in some bushes speaking emotionless
towards Matthew which also looked incredibly spooky to watch.
More suspenseful moments with Matthew trying to run and hide from the people after him as well as someone trying to shine a flashlight to see if they can find him which will make you cringe wondering if he will be found.
Niely done moment when Matthew is discovering the local town the next day with kids entering a schoolbus and sorts as well as some people carrying seed pods and things seem different which offered nice timing by making these moments look incredibly strange now that the world has changed.
Bottom line is that this remake was
considered a better classic but however
the story is a little rushed and hard to
understand at first but yet is still
enjoyable to watch for what it was. It is indeed an unsolved mystery at first
but the pieces slowly come together
towards the end of the film plus it was
dark with very little humor in it unlike
alot of horror films that you see.
The acting is
terrifically well done with great energy
involved. Donald Sutherland
(Matthew Bennell) deserves a gold star as a health
inspector and portrays his character very
believeable. He offered a nice charming and witty attitude as well as getting to the point with stuff too. He for sure shows off a nice lighthearted behavior for whenever he had to behave this way. Shows a ton of energy and adrenaline when trying to survive the madness in which he made this attitude look totally believeable.
Brooke Adams (Elizabeth Driscoll) does well playing
opposite of him as a scared victim
running away from these duplicates taking
over the town. Offers a very concerned type of behavior as well as perfectly fearful too. She knew on how to cry or act emotionally frightened. Offers a nice versatality near the end of her performance acting creepy and mysterious.
Jeff Goldblum (Jack Bellicec) had the most energy as
with his role being believeably
hyperactive trying to find out why this
madness is happening. He knew on how to behave highstrung as well as acting aggressive and at times obnoxious whenever necessary. Really drew to the point with his role that he portrayed.
Veronica Cartwright (Nancy Bellicec) shows a nice calm and mellow type of behavior in which she pulls this off pretty well as a nice type of personality. She also does a great job with her lung power after spotting something terrifying as well as showing good fearful expressions too. Shows a good fearful type of behavior in which she always did a good job while behaving this way. Shows alot of good energy and spunk into her part.
Leonard Nimoy (Dr. David Kibner) proves he can play
another type of Doctor than Spock in Star
Trek and pulls his character so
differently and is good at being
untrustworthy in his part. He knew on how to get to the point with what he was talking about as well as being short with what he does. Added alot of charisma within whatever he did here. Seemed to have a real effective supporting role.
Supporting actor Art Hindle (Dr. Geoffrey Howell
D.D.S.) was
wonderful as the mysterious one in the
film and why he behaves strangely. He shows great emotionless
actions too as you know he's not normal
anymore. He comes across as someone whom is unsafe by how he behaves and was a good horror character actor who stood out the most in his supporting role.
Brooke Adams
stands naked in a couple scene's with her
breasts briefly exposed.
A duplicates face
is chopped in half
The music by Denny
Zeitlin is very dark and spooky with
intense violin playing as well as some
music that is a little too dated for the
70's and sounded more 50's like but it's
all good regardless. Also there's some great gloomy and low sounding beats in many parts of the story almost sounding like creepy heartbeats which fits in marvellously. Plus some low music here and there which makes the story effective along with low hissings and odd metal clapping too. The odd low rumbling sounds are found in the story which has a nice feel to what is going on. Terrific fast paced piano xylophone and trombone along with some nice violin music for the near final moments packing some great action into the story. In many spots there's some nice violin screeching and other types of dark noises which fits in superbly.
Elizabeth Driscoll:
I have seen these flowers all over. They
are growing like parasites on other
plants. All of a sudden. Where are they
coming from?
Nancy Bellicec: Outer space?
Jack Bellicec: What are you
talking about? A space flower?
Nancy Bellicec: Well why not a
space flower? Why do we always expect
metal ships?
Jack Bellicec: I've NEVER expected
metal ships.
Elizabeth Driscoll:
Yep, Boccardo's pills. He eats it like
candy... or used to. Take some.
Matthew Bennell: What are they?
Elizabeth Driscoll: Speed. They'll
keep us awake.
Matthew Bennell: How many are you
suppose to take?
Elizabeth Driscoll: It says take
one.
Matthew Bennell: Take five.
Mr. Tong: No, no...
she alright. She betta now. Much betta
now.
Matthew Bennell: [dials
his phone] I'll get the police.
Telephone Operator: Police.
Matthew Bennell: Officer, I'd like
to report four bodies in my backyard.
Telephone Operator: Wait right
there Mr. Bennel.
Matthew Bennell: How do you know
my name?
Jack Bellicec: [Jack's eyes
widen with fear] Hang up, Matthew.
Matthew Bennell: [into the
phone] I didn't tell you my name.
Jack Bellicec: Hang up!
Matthew Bennell: [hangs up the
phone] I didn't tell them my name!
Nancy Bellicec: That's because
they're all part of it. They're all pods,
all of them!
Elizabeth Driscoll:
Matthew, we'll never be able to stop
them!
Matthew Bennell: Yes, we will.
Elizabeth Driscoll: We can't! Look
it, they control the whole city.
Matthew Bennell: We'll find a way
somehow.
Elizabeth Driscoll: Oh, Matthew, I
can't go on!
Elizabeth Driscoll: I wanna go to
sleep. I can't stay awake any more.
Matthew Bennell: You have to. You
have to stay awake.
Elizabeth Driscoll:
[Matthew finds that she has fallen
asleep and has become a pod] There's
nothing to be afraid of. They were right.
It's painless. It's good. Come. Sleep.
Matthew.
[Matthew begins to back away]
Elizabeth Driscoll: Matthew.
Matthew! |