Invasion Of The Body Snatchers

The 1956 original (and still the best) Body Snatchers, where folks in smalltown America are steadily taken over by ‘pod people’ – emotionless alien replicas of them, seemingly spawned from outer space.

The modest budget and B-list stars (Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter) – enhance the movie’s impact, and Don Siegel’s taut management makes the sheer ordinariness of the setting all the more scary. It’s a Cold War allegory, sure; but Siegel was always too canny to reveal whether the pod people were meant to be Commies – or Commie-hunters.