In 2026, Don Siegel's 1956 B-movie classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers turns 70 years old. That means 70 years of "pod people" influencing the science fiction and horror media we've grown to love, stories that reflect our deepest fears and paranoia to this day.
The film was based on Jack Finney's 1954 novel of the same name (originally published as The Body Snatchers) which tells the story of a small town being invaded by seeds from outer space. The seeds grow into large pods which produce perfect physical duplicates--and eerie replacements--of sleeping people. The film wasn't exactly a critical success upon its initial release. In fact, a reviewer for the Chicago Tribune said they were "far more bored than horrified." As time passed, however, the movie gained a reputation as not just an entertaining watch, but a film that is of such influence and cultural value that it was placed in the National Film Registry.
Many see the alien pod people as an allegory for a communist invasion of the United States or, alternatively, the conformity and oppression of the McCarthy era. The 1978 remake Invasion of the Body Snatchers builds upon these interpretations of paranoia and distrust but this time in a post-Watergate and post-Vietnam era when faith in authority and the status quo was reaching a new low. The 1978 version is often called one of the rare great remakes and stands alone as a beloved horror/sci-fi classic.
It feels safe to say that not knowing who you can trust or losing control over your own body are nearly universal fears, and the enemy doesn't always come from another world. Ira Levin's novels The Stepford Wives and Rosemary's Baby (also adapted into now-classic films) explored this type of body horror from a woman's perspective (even though both the books and the films were written and directed by men). Levin's work blends satire, horror, science fiction and elements of domestic thrillers that remain popular with today's fiction readers.
It's impossible to talk about paranoid alien invasion films and not mention John Carpenter's The Thing. While The Thing is based on a totally different short story ("Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell) and technically is a remake of another film altogether (The Thing From Another World), the oppressive Antarctic isolation and paranoia caused by a shapeshifting alien presence feels heavily influenced by Body Snatchers.
Speculative fiction lovers can find plenty of newer titles that have modern spins on body snatcher themes. In Mira Grant's Parasite (Book 1 in the Parasitology trilogy), biomedically engineered tapeworms meant to protect human life become too powerful, leading to zombie-like host bodies.
Gretchen Felker-Martin's 2024 dark and gory Cuckoo is not for the faint of heart. Set in the already horrific world of a conversion camp for queer and trans youth, the teens realize they are being stalked by something even more sinister, giving a literal meaning to queer erasure.
Do you have a favorite alien invasion movie or novel? Any other body takeover stories we should know about? From aliens to sentient machines and of course demonic possession, the possibilities are endless. Let us know in the comments!
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