Is Invasion of the Body Snatchers Scary? The Verdict and the Whole Plot
Barely, 3 out of 10. It's slow paranoia about patients who swear their relatives have been replaced, with no gore.
🐱THE SCARE SIGNAL
SCARE SCORE
3 /10
🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱
DREAD LEVEL
Medium
Expect a night of wondering whether anyone you know is a little too calm.
DOG
Dog: fine
fine, no dog dies.
Ruling: Fine for a quiet evening, since there is no gore to cover your eyes for.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers runs 80 minutes and is told in flashback by a doctor who is being held at a hospital in custody. He tells a psychiatrist how he got there, and it starts with patients who say their relatives have been replaced.
The premise, briefly
A small-town doctor starts seeing patients who swear their relatives have been replaced by impostors, and then he finds a copy of his friend in a basement.
How much do you want to know?
🐱
The verdict above is spoiler-free. Everything below, including the ending, stays hidden until you pick a depth.
🐱CUT TO THE CHASE
How it ends
Miles runs from the town alone after Becky is replaced, and he screams for help at highway drivers. In the hospital, a driver pulled from under a load of pods from Santa Mira confirms his story, and the police are told to block the roads and the Federal Bureau of Investigation is called.
The scene you're dreading
Near the end, Miles kisses Becky in a mine outside town and realizes she has been replaced. She sounds the alarm so the town can chase him, and he runs.
The dog
No dog dies in Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
It is a story about neighbors turning into strangers, with no gore at all, and it is over in 80 minutes.
THE SHORT VERSION IS HIDDEN
How it ends, the scene you're dreading, what happens to the dog, and the bottom line. About twenty seconds to read.
What actually happens
The patients of Santa Mira have a very consistent story
The story is a flashback. Dr. Hill, a psychiatrist, gets summoned to a hospital in Los Angeles to see Dr. Miles Bennell, who is under guard. Miles explains how he ended up there. In Santa Mira, he has been seeing patients who insist that their relatives are impostors who look identical to the real ones. Another psychiatrist, Dr. Dan Kauffman, tells Miles it is mass hysteria. Becky Driscoll, Miles's old girlfriend, has just come back to town after her divorce, and they pick things up again. Their friend Jack Belicec calls them over because a body is lying in his basement. The body has no features or fingerprints, and as they watch it turns into a copy of Jack. Miles then finds a copy of Becky in her own father's basement. When he brings Dan back, the bodies are gone, and Dan tells Miles he has caught the hysteria too.
Pods in the greenhouse, and a phone that is always busy
Jack and his wife Teddy stay at Miles's house for the night, and they find copies of themselves growing out of pods in his greenhouse. They work out that people in town are being replaced with duplicates while they sleep. Miles tries to phone for help, but the operator says every line is busy. Jack and Teddy drive off to look for help in the next town, while Miles and Becky conclude that the whole population of Santa Mira has been swapped. They spend the night hiding in his office. They watch trucks of pods arrive downtown, and Chief Nick Grivett sends them out to other towns. Dan and Jack turn up with pods meant for Miles and Becky, and explain that they and Teddy now belong to an alien race that came to Earth as seeds. Humanity will lose its emotions and individuality after the takeover.
Screaming at a near-miss is a poor disguise
Using misdirection, Miles and Becky overpower the captors who came to the office with pods for them, knock them out and leave the building. To avoid being recaptured, they act as though Dan's plan worked and they have already become emotionless pod people. The act falls apart when a near-accident in traffic makes Becky scream, which shows the aliens that she is still human. An alarm sounds, and the couple flees into the night.
A kiss in the mine
The couple hides in an old mine on the edge of town. Once their pursuers have gone elsewhere, they hear music, and Miles goes to investigate while Becky waits. He finds a farm where hundreds of pods are being loaded onto trucks. When he returns to the mine, Becky is exhausted and falling asleep. Near the end, Miles kisses her and realizes she has been replaced. This is the scene to know about in advance: Becky sounds the alarm so the others can come for him. Miles runs, and he ends up on the highway, screaming at the drivers for help.
The ending, explained
Back in the hospital, Miles finishes telling his story. Then an injured driver is wheeled in after an accident. The attendant says the man had to be pulled out from beneath a load of strange pods that came from Santa Mira. That matches what Miles said, so Hill believes him. He tells the police to shut every road to Santa Mira, then phones the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Miles is the only one of the main group who is still himself. Jack, Teddy, Dan and Becky have all been replaced, and the pods are already on trucks headed for other towns.
The post-credits ruling
Nobody has confirmed whether there is a scene after the credits.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, no dog dies.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Invasion of the Body Snatchers scary?
Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a 3 out of 10 with medium dread. It has no gore, and the fear comes from not knowing who has been replaced.
How does Invasion of the Body Snatchers end?
Becky is replaced, and Miles ends up screaming at highway traffic and then in a hospital. A driver brought in from under a load of pods proves him right, and the police are told to close off Santa Mira.
Does the dog die in Invasion of the Body Snatchers?
No dog dies in Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
Is there a post-credits scene in Invasion of the Body Snatchers?
Nobody has confirmed whether Invasion of the Body Snatchers has a scene after the credits.
What are the pods in Invasion of the Body Snatchers?
The pods sprout from seeds that an alien race brought to Earth. They grow emotionless copies that replace people while they sleep.
BLURRED FOR YOUR PROTECTION
The whole plot of Invasion of the Body Snatchers is hidden, ending included. It stays that way until you ask.
You don't have to wonder who in Santa Mira is a pod to know how Invasion of the Body Snatchers goes. Install Scaredy Cat and it will blur horror before you see it.
