Body Snatchers (1993)

Body Snatchers (1993)

Director: Abel Ferrara

Cast: Meg Tilly, R. Lee Ernie, Forest Whitaker, Gabrielle Anwar, Christine Elise, Terry Kinney, Reilly Murphy, Billy Wirth

One thing I find interesting about these Body Snatcher movies is that they are not clones of each other, they are all different somehow, which kind of goes in line with the main characters in these films who are always fighting to retain what makes them different, what makes the unique. Yeah, sure all four films are about the fear of losing our individuality, but at the same time they all have little things that make them just a little different. For example, while in Phillip Kaufman’s Invasion of the BodySnatchers (1978) we follow a Health Department official as he uncovers the horrors of the invasion, on this one we follow a teenage girl who’s moving to a military base with her family, because her dad is going to investigate a chemical spill.

The fact that this film takes place in an American military base is what sets this version apart from all others because for example, the 1956 version served as an allegory for America’s fear of communism, essentially making it a film about how we needed to fear the Russians because they were going to turn us all into communist. But on this ‘93 version, it’s the American military who are the bad guys; I thought it was interesting how the filmmakers switched things around like that. I guess they figured that times had changed and that fear of communism was no longer a relevant theme. They did a similar thing in the ’78 version which eliminated the political allegories all together. That one was just about the fear of losing our humanity, which is probably why I like it so much, it just concentrates on pure fear, pure paranoia and because of that, it’s a very effective horror film.  

Abel Ferrara is the director behind this remake, and well, Mr. Ferrara isn’t exactly known for making commercial horror sci-fi hybrids. In fact, Abel Ferrara is better known for making ultra realistic films about corrupt cops and mafia warlords. I speak of course of films like the amazing double whammy: The Bad Lieutenant (1992) and King of New York (1990), two films I highly recommend you guys watch, you won’t soon forget them.  To some, it might seem strange to see Ferrara directing a science fiction/horror film, but we can’t forget that, Ferrara’s career actually started with a no-budget, ultra gritty slasher film  known as The Driller Killer (1979); a film about an artist who is so poor and flat out frustrated with his life, that he starts killing people with his power drill! So anyhow, it’s cool seeing Ferrara returning to his horror roots. Does he succeed?

I’d say he did because the film has some genuinely chilling moments, it’s not a perfect film, but it’s not a disaster. What I enjoy about these Body Snatchers films is that they are all about people being chastised for being different, for thinking differently and so there’s this scene where a little kid is in school painting a picture with all his little student friends, problem is that when the teacher asks everyone to show what they’ve drawn, all drawings are the same, except for the one done by the little human kid. There’s another scene where someone who’s been turned into an alien tells her husband “Where are you going to run? Where are you going to hide? There’s no one like you left” A chilling scene delivered with great gusto. The one problem is that the film takes a while to really take off. Before the aliens start showing up, there’s a lot of exposition and unfortunately not a whole lot of tension. Which is something I really liked about the 1978 version, there’s this feeling of unease from the very first moments. On this one, I think they needed to augment the paranoia earlier on, in my opinion they waited too long to turn up the heat. Actually, I really didn't get that feeling of paranoia I got from the ’78 version, this one is just “let’s run from the monsters” type of film.

Another downside to this film is the banality of the main characters, who we don’t really get to know. In Phillip Kaufman’s ’78 version of Body Snatchers you get to know the main characters because you spend some time with them. There’s this scene where we see Donald Sutherland and Brooke Adams having dinner together, being silly, we get to see their human side. In fact, it’s one of the things I remember the most about that ’78 version, the special effort that was made to make the human characters really human. Not so much on this one because we’re never really given a chance to connect with them, we’re supposed to be scared that they will turned into alien drones, but how can we when we don’t get to see their human side in the first place? In Body Snatchers, what freaks us out are the aliens, but we don’t really fear for the protagonists. Some performances do stand out though, Meg Tilly does an amazing job with some of her scenes, in fact, she has the most chilling scene in the whole film. Forest Whitaker has some intense scene as well, unfortunately the rest of the cast weren’t compelling enough. This is especially the case with Gabrielle Anwar, the actress playing the teenager, she needed to be developed and portrayed much better; more so when we take in consideration that she is carrying the entire film on her shoulders.    

So what we have here is a good, but not excellent remake. Thankfully, the good outweigh the bad. For example, when Ferrara’s Body Snatchers finally takes off, and the aliens start shrieking and pointing at the humans, things get intense and freaky. I have to admit when the first alien shrieked it got to me. The last half of the film is solid in my book, the ending is kind of overtly simple and abrupt. It’s explosive, but rushed.  I was not aware of it, but Stuart Gordon the director behind Re-Animator (1985) and From Beyond (1986) partially wrote the script, so it’s cool having a great horror director doing scripting duties, it’s also great to have a distinguished director like Ferrara behind the cameras. I only wish they’d  made more of an effort to make the humans more human, as it is, the human characters on this film feel like they’ve been cloned before the aliens even laid a single tentacle on them. 

Rating: 3 out of 5

The Driller Killer (1979)

Title: The Driller Killer (1979)

Director: Abel Ferrara

Review:

Abel Ferrara has always been and apparently will always be an underground filmmaker. His films get wide recognition amongst film critics and movie buffs, but they are never big commercial films. His themes are always way too controversial to go big, yet he continues making them. I have to respect that about the guy, he continues making his films no matter what. He is the true definition of what an independent filmmaker should be. He makes the movies he wants to make, nothing stops him. He is responsible for some of the most shocking films that this Film Connoisseur has ever seen. Films like The Bad Lieutenant or King of New York felt like somebody threw a bucket of ice down my back when I saw them for the first time. He gets down to the nitty gritty of things, the dark side of human nature. The greedy, selfish side. The side without any moral values. The film I will be reviewing today is where this gifted filmmaker got started. Oddly enough, it’s a gore fest! A slasher!

The Driller Killer tells the story of Reno Miller (played by Abel Ferrara himself) a struggling artist living in New York City. Reno lives off his girlfriend who has to pay the rent month after month because Reno just isn’t bringing in the cash with his art. The phone bill is ever escalating because Reno’s two girlfriends (that’s right they live as a threesome) make long distance phone calls like there’s no tomorrow. Reno’s girl friend is constantly doubting his work, his manager isn’t helping matters any either. Reno’s salvation comes if he manages to sell the painting he is currently working on. Will all his financial and psychological woes get to Reno? How much more of this will he take before he completely snaps?

So the first thing I thought of when I saw The Driller Killer was how similar it is to American Psycho. Don’t know if Bret Easton Ellis was inspired somehow by The Driller Killer, but wow, the similarities are numerous. Let’s see, a guy is pissed with society, so he goes out on a killing spree eliminating whoever he thinks is detrimental somehow to society, including -but not limited to- the homeless, homosexuals, drunkards, drug addicts and evil bosses. There is one scene in particular in which Reno walks up to a homeless person and begins to ask him why he is there, why he isn’t looking for a job or why he isn’t at home with his wife. There’s a scene exactly like that one in American Psycho! The main character slowly dives into the deepest levels of insanity, until by the end of the movie he is a full blast psychotic killer, just like in American Psycho. So the similarities between these two movies are too obvious to ignore.

What I enjoyed the most about this movie was how grimy it looks and feels. Ferrara has always been a director infatuated with the city of New York. While directors like Woody Allen showcase the upper high class of New York, Ferrara has always gone the other way. He always focuses on the scum, the low lives, the criminals, in this way commenting on the realities New York was living in during those times. The main character in the movie is a struggling actor on the border of insanity, living with two women at the same time. He lives in the most poverty stricken parts of New York. This movie is so grimy, it feels like something Frank Henenlotter (Brain Damage, Basket Case) might have cooked up. Reno’s living conditions aren’t the best, he has a punk band as neighbors, he lives with a junky. Its no wonder the guy goes insane!

It’s certainly interesting to see where a fine director like Abel Ferrara started at. The film does have a few short comings on the technical department, but I think these faults actually go with the type of story that Ferrara is telling. It feels more real somehow, like a documentary of these suffering individuals. Had the film had elevated production values; maybe it would not have been the same kind of experience. As it stands, the film has a certain rawness to it, a certain electricity that only a hungry director looking to call attention onto himself can conjure up. This film does have its fare share of violence and blood. But it is not as gory as one might think. This film was banned both in Germany and England because it was deemed “too violent”. In reality, most of the gore happens off screen. The movie only has one truly gory moment, which unfortunately they decided to use as the cover for the VHS release of the film. This is probably the one and only reason why this film was banned and considered a “video nasty” in England. But that notoriety it got by being on this list of films deemed to violent, is probably what helped the movie survive through all these years.

This is the cover for the VHS release that got this film banned

The film in my opinion is worth checking out for various reasons. One of the main reasons is because the film is an excellent character study of a psychotic mind. It is very similar thematically and aesthetically to films like William Lustig’s Maniac (1980), Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986) and as I mentioned earlier, American Psycho. It also has similarities with Falling Down (1993), with its attacks on society. At its core though, its a film about a guy who is afraid to end up a homeless person, like his father before him. That fear of being so close to being out on the streets, just like any other bum, plus the frustrations of living in a society that doesnt allow him to survive, push Reno to the limits. It’s also interesting to see where Abel Ferrara got started before going on to bigger things, and even more interesting to see him acting as the main character on his own film. A word of warning though: the film does appear to be edited; some scenes are completely blacked out, especially towards the ending. I’m not sure if there’s an unedited version of this movie out there. Also worthy of mentioning is that the DVD has a director’s commentary. Most of the time, these commentaries include the director commenting on his film, saying as many positive things about it as he can, but not on this commentary! On this audio commentary Abel Ferrara appears to be completely wasted while giving it! Its funny to hear him criticizing the film like crazy, he is his own worst critic. But good luck trying to understand or make sense of some of the things Ferrara says on the commentary. He appears to be almost as high as some of the actors on the film were.

Rating: 3 ½ out of 5