“Invasion of the Body Snatchers” remakes have a checkered history, to say the least. Here at The Playlist, we suggested that Philip Kaufman‘s 1978 remake “[surpassed] the original in sheer terror and execution,” that Kaufman “[cranked] up the fear factor,” and that the film boasts “one of the bleakest and most terrifying endings in sci-fi history.” Conversely, we referred to Oliver Hirschbiegel’s 2007 “The Invasion” as a “rather lifeless hybrid of two halves of a movie that just didn’t sync up,” further writing that the film sported a “diluted political message coupled with half-baked performances in which no one involved comes out a winner.”
And yet, it looks as though Warner Bros. is ready to give the franchise another go (these days, it’s never too soon to reboot a potentially lucrative IP). The studio has tapped screenwriter David Leslie Johnson to write yet another ‘Body Snatchers’ remake.
The ‘Body Snatchers’ films posit a future alien invasion wherein aliens come to Earth and begin to take the form of, and replace, individual human beings. The series has long aspired to be seen as sharp political satire, and Johnson’s reboot will likely take on some “issues of the day.” See, remaking “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” for the third or fourth time is timely as well as a cynical and unabashed cash-grab.
Johnson’s track record could be worse — he wrote the spooky 2009 horror film “Orphan,” “The Conjuring 2,” and the upcoming “The Conjuring 3.” Then again, he also wrote “Wrath of the Titans,” the 2011 film “Red Riding Hood,” and has been announced as the writer of the upcoming “Dungeons & Dragons.” So. Let’s hope for the best? [Deadline]