Just Add Stars to Ruin a Horror Film

The Invasion (2007)

The fourth movie version, based on Jack Finney’s novel ‘Invasion of the Bodysnatchers’ received a critical mauling on it’s opening. Audiences stayed away, and it was generally considered a film damaged from conception, recut to producer’s notes to add more car chases and action, pulling it away from the original focus of a mother’s love for her son, which no doubt was the concept supported by Kidman the star, and the director. While the meddling of moneymen in the narrative is obvious in the film’s random hops from scene to scene, to flashbacks to flashforwards- however stylistically done, too jarring to be on purpose, the main surprise is how entertaining the final film remains, and how no one has commented on how Kidman’s presence would always overbalance a genre film in the first place.
Stars by their very nature neuter and mainstream ideas(some may argue Kidman is an actress but the film was greenlit and sold on her star wattage), and horror/sci-fi which prides itself in breaking new ground, and pushing taboos, will always suffer at the hands of a star. Think Jack Nicholson in Wolf(1994), Tom Cruise in War of the Worlds(2005, although Speilberg’s power kept this roughly balanced), or Robert de Nero in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein(1994). All of these were pasteurized views where stars think they’re brave for stretching themselves, but actually, fear of alienating their audience means they go nowhere near as far as they should. Kidman, I’m sure signed up because of the mother angle, the director( who is far less powerful in the scheme of things) probably made a mildly sinister art film with a few flecks of sci-fi, similar to Kidman’s other movies Birth(2004), and The Others(2001), the studio panicked when they saw what they had and rather than throw gore at it, as in the case of Halloween 2(1981), The Wolfman(2010), or Exorcist 4(2004), added action to keep the certificate PG-13.

I often joke with my wife after we’ve watched a classic film that it was good but there weren’t enough car chases. The Invasion takes my bad joke seriously- there are two, numerous foot chases, gun battles and an almost Ramboish helicopter rescue. These proliferate the second half of the film and dispel the growing tension of the first. This, it must be said is the weakest of the four adaptations, and yet the concept is so strong, and the tropes so well established by now from previous versions- fear of sleep, police rounding people up, people changing while asleep, that it still works. Sadly, compared to the 70s version, which showed scarily what special effects could do with the idea, or even Abel Ferrara’s gorily messy if more cartoonish effects, we never see a full transformation or human destruction. A couple of scenes aside, there are hardly any effects and nothing to compare with the mutated dog or pod screams so memorable from the Sutherland version, or even the fear of a loved one taken over, shown by Kevin McCarthy in the original.
The acting is good, Kidman was a great choice as since the late 90s she can convey an icy presence of indifference with which she fools the aliens(not pod people- the pods are conspicuous by their absence), and also fitted well into the remake of the Stepford Wives for the same reason. Daniel Craig is solid, and displays the charisma that made him Bond( for nerds, there is an unexpected pleasure seeing him and Jeffrey Wright as a different kind of best friends). Probably the greatest fault, is that like Northam, he never feels that different once changed(the scream is missed again), but that seems to be one of the ideas that this version explodes more than its predecessors- that this is a good alternative and would improve the world, stopping rape, murder, war etc. There is also a nice cameo from professional woman in distress, Veronica Cartwright which provides some needed ties to the franchises past.
Possibly the most damning mistake that this version makes though is in its happy ending, not only do the humans win, but previously infected people are turned back with no ill effects, merely to provide Kidman with a last family shot. Even Ferrara’s version kept an ambiguous ending and to my mind the one they chose, is second only as the kiss of death to a horror movie, to ‘it was only a dream.’ John Ottman’s score deserves special mention for providing music above the material it’s supporting. This is also the first version without a decent target, if the original move could be read as a right wing fear of Communism or a left wing fear of suburban zombies, the second, of the counterculture, the third, militarism and a teenagers distrust of adults, the fourth seemingly can only come up with ‘the power of a mother’s love against all odds,’ which while sweet, doesn’t really cut it. 5/10