A doctor returns to town to find something strange is going on. Relations look, sound and act just like always but there is something different, no feelings.

"Oh I don't know, you think I'm crazy don't you? Well I'm not I tell you, oh no."

"You see, I've seen these things growing in the cellar, or on the pool table. They grow from pods, they have no identity until the person they change into falls to sleep and then they take over their minds."

"Oh, why won't you believe me? I'm not crazy it's everyone else."

"Anyone got a comb? My hair's all over the place."

"A veritable horticultural green fingered bubbly monster from pods of a movie. I will never look at a growbag in the same way again!"

"That orchestra is going to injure someone if it goes on like that much longer."

"So, they snatch bodies as well as the clothes and hats? There is a sexual dimension this movie is missing."

"I just cannot get the tomatoey taste of this movie out of my mouth."

"I just don't get it. They make a replica and then take over your body when you sleep? What do they do with the old body? It just makes no sense at all. But I did like the bubbles."

"Bitch - Those pods look inflatable to me."

"Now, had they wanted to save money, they could have made the body snatchers a non visible, spiritual thing. That would have been more scary and could have saved a good chunk of the special effects (foam) budget at the same time. Did they know anything about movie accountancy in those days?"

"I have always wanted to smack a tranquilizer syringe in someone's back, it looks fun. I am convinced it is the next paint-balling."

"That woman is so 1950's I wanted to give her a bitch slap. I am convinced such an impact could have dislodged those boobs to be on the wonk for the rest of the day. There was nothing as bad as a bad boob day in the 1950's."

"Podtastic!"

"Bubbletricious!

A smorgasbord of sinister, emotionless, people who walk slowly, like old people but without the cane. A brooding, claustrophobic melee of 'trust nobody or you will be pulped sonny Jim!' And 'Don't go into the cellar! Your father is preparing an identical replica of you to replace you into 'one of them'.

The nightmares will come back to you like a fast moving train and you are powerless to move as you have been tied to the tracks.

Whilst some of the bits are a little dated, the whole effect of the movie is consummate, if the ending a little tortuous.

"There's no need for love."

Do not go into the kitchen when this movie is on. Keep your loved ones within eye shot or they could become, one of them. Arrgh!

In the look behind you every 5 minutes position.

We recommend a firm wall behind you as people coming into the room are liable to grab you around the head from behind during this movie which could be disconcerting at the least

Women are defiantly from the 1950's (i.e. the shrieking type). There is one memorable moment when the woman drives the car for about 5 feet and then moves over into the passenger seat for her man to drive again.

Any dissenting woman in this movie would be marginalized and possibly be made fat and frumpy. Go girls. Just join in when you're ready... "I am woman hear me roar...."

This is 1950's-style lip placing rather than any form of lip moving when pressed together (and then it fades out after 1 second). No nakedness (other than off the shoulder female nakedness which was a little saucy in its time.)

Brilliantly understated humor. The orchestra plays its part nicely. As does a cuckoo clock in the scene where they find the body growing on the pool table.

You'll never be able to look at the head of a pint of Guinness in the same way ever again.

It all seems plausible, apart from the terrible waste with having to dispose of the old body.

This has all of the great expodition-level walks up dusty hills that most dogs dream about. Hide the lead, your dog will go fetch it and whimper uncontrollably during the last half of this movie.

Cats could start collecting large leaves, filling them with larvae they find in the woods.

Ducks will determinedly face the wrong direction for much of this movie.

When you have a story to tell people that you believe is unbelievable, try to not look mad. Take a deep breath, comb your hair and calmly tell the story. They still won't believe you, but they won't lock you up afterwards, or if they do you might not get forced to wear a straitjacket which is annoying if you have an itchy nose.

Under one million.

Twenty-five books of Green stamps from the 1950's.

Nope. We look forward to any of the inevitable remakes where the f-word could be screamed hysterically.

Yes. The young doctor attempts to rationalize everything. He avoids the obvious (that he is caught up in a sinister story from which there is no escape) and almost goes mad at the end. This is all pretty much typical office politics of the new millennium, just sit back and enjoy their pain in 1950's fashions.

A scary outing, as it unravels, but the ending leaves one asking 'so what?', 'what is the point of it all'?

On the whole the journey is very fine. It remains gripping throughout and, whilst the ending is pretty standard, it is worth the effort.

August 3 , 2002