Monster of the Day #995

They say dogs and their owners grow to look more alike, but c’mon.

  • bgbear_rnh

    Nightmare fuel.

    Presumably lots of folks were sleeping together when they were “snatched”. Why did this only happen to the old man and his dog?

  • sandra

    “You’re Next !”

  • Gamera977

    Yeah, that thing gave me nightmares back when I first saw it as a kid.

  • Eric Hinkle

    What movie was this? It looks very vaguely familiar.

  • bgbear_rnh

    I assumed it was “Invasion of the Body Snatcher” 1978 version.

  • Acethepug

    The dog looks, from markings, like a boxer (have one at home with similar markings, but NOT an old man face — kinda jowly, though)

  • bgbear_rnh

    What is the old insult? “If my dog looked like you, I would shave his butt and teach him to walk backwards”

  • Flangepart

    Ah. And I’m sure an adult version using the word ‘booty’ is lurking on the IMDB like a cockroach waiting for the light to go off.

  • bgbear_rnh

    You could probably get two titles: “Invasion of the Booty” and . . . I’ll just leave it at that ;)

  • Ericb

    There’s actually a book called “The Booty Call of Cthulhu” out there.

  • bgbear_rnh

    Thinking about it, that would make a good creepy scene in the next re-make. An obvious hermaphrodite clone mix of a married couple trying to act normal while interacting with the hero and the hero trying to pretend to not to notice.

  • Marsden

    This makes me think of Abe Simpson’s friend with the cane, I can’t remember his name, but they did a riff on this in some episode I can’t remember.

  • Ken_Begg

    Beings with a higher mental state wouldn’t merge? Perhaps this case was aided not only by the dog, but the fact that the human was brain damaged from chronic alcohol abuse?

  • bgbear_rnh

    hmmm, I could see that. Also, what if they only had one pod? Most couples (or young siblings) would get two or more pods but, the wino only one and then the dog cuddled up when he was sleeping.

  • Rock Baker

    If you’ll recall, the pod performing this take-over was damaged. This was a side-effect.

  • Rock Baker

    The thing the movie had me wondering was, what was that thing Leonard Nimoy was wearing on his hand?

  • bgbear_rnh

    Thanks, that was kinda of my 3rd theory, defective pod. Been awhile since I have seen all of this one in one sitting.

    Still a big fan of the original even though there are a number of plot holes.

    I have never seen the other two and I assume that I have not missed much.

  • bgbear_rnh

    You wonder if it was some sort of magnet-based arthritis thingy that Nimoy wore on the set and forgot to take off during the shoot and they simply left it in.

  • Wow. Would not have gotten this one. Been too long, I guess.

  • zombiewhacker

    That was the Simpsons Treehouse of Horror ep where Bart had psychic powers. He turns Abe’s friend into the dog man and then Homer into a jack in the box.

  • zombiewhacker

    There were so many unanswered questions in that movie, like if alien-clone Nimoy was so good at pretending he WASN’T a pod person, smiling and acting friendly and normal, how come NONE of the other pod people were clever enough to do the same thing? They could have spared themselves a lot of unwanted scrutiny from their increasingly suspicious loved ones.

  • zombiewhacker

    The third Body Snatchers remake (with Gabrielle Anwar) was pretty good, although Lee Ermey was completely wasted in a smallish role as a (what else?) military commander. However, I’ve heard nothing but bad things about The Invasion (Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig).

  • Eric Hinkle

    Ah. Only ever saw the original B&W version myself, mostly because I was told that the others were horrible.

  • Eric Hinkle

    Maybe in the next remake the leader of the Pod People could be played by Keanu Reeves? After he gets changed and smiles and laughs and acts friendly, we can have people get suspicious at his new display of emotions.

    Sorry, I’m a bad man.

  • bgbear_rnh

    I read somewhere that if you pretend that Donald Sutherland’s character really was psychotic and there were no aliens, it makes more sense.

  • The Rev.

    I believe the ’70s version is generally considered on par with the original, or at least within sniffing distance. I haven’t seen any versions later than that, so I can’t speak to those. Along with zw up there, I recall Ms. Kingsley saying the version with Gabrielle Anwar was all right, if not nearly as good as the first two.

  • The Rev.

    Same here. I haven’t seen it since my youth. Worse, I’ve not seen the original in its entirety.

    Hmmmm…this may be a job for the Roku this weekend.

  • zombiewhacker

    My favorite beef comes courtesy of Mad Magazine: “How come Sutherland’s character can spot tiny rat turds in a vat of soup, but he can’t spot giant alien pods growing in his backyard?”

  • Ken_Begg

    Yes, this version is actually quite good. It was directed by the guy who helmed The Right Stuff, perhaps my favorite movie of the ’80s.

  • Ken_Begg

    Interesting. Who would play the ‘after’ part? Or you are thinking they would just use CGI?

  • Beckoning Chasm

    I’ve seen the first and second versions, and have actually read the book. None of the filmed versions I’ve seen have used the book’s ending. Not to be spoiling, but both movie endings are better than the book’s.

  • Rock Baker

    I can’t remember the title, but I did read in Leonard Maltin’s video guide of a 70’s TV movie which followed a reverse Body Snatcher course in which people were replaced by overly-emotional duplicates. (Sort of like what happened in Washington D.C. -rimshot!)

  • Marsden

    Thank you, sir. But then you saw the resemblance? Or only me?

  • Marsden

    Well, they may have a 2×4 left over from building the set, that could work.

  • zombiewhacker

    Yes. I always assumed it was a shout-out to the ’78 Body Snatchers remake.