Point 1 - The girlfriend turning into dust was visually more grotesque but the entire scene where Bennell is on the verge of a mental breakdown only to have the last companion he can trust thrust her eyes open and you know she's been changed, well that was ultimately a more frightening scene.
Point 2 - The pod morphing scene went on for too long and actually detracted from my enjoyment of the film. I understand it was meant to make people stew in their chairs while Sutherland is slowly morphed but everyone knows that its nowhere near the end of the movie and that he's not going down at that scene. It ended up being a pointless reason to show off some of the effects. The performances of the characters huddled around seeing their bodies emerge from pods in the 50s version and being replicated right in front of their eyes actually resonated far more of an emotional impact with me.
Point 3 - In the 70s version the pods are able to take over humanity without being able to mimic their emotions, and the 50s version they take over by trying to act more human. Which is more believable? The aliens try to sow seeds of doubt into the characters minds by making them believe that nothing is wrong and that nothing has changed but themselves. People calm down in certain scenes because the pod people are manipulating them and the film actually benefits from those interactions in my opinion. During the table scene they have no idea what's going on, and they don't even know that's a pod person at that point.
Point 4 - Dialogue in films are constantly evolving and changing as the times change, and the dialogue in this film was reminiscent of the era. I didn't hear any lines in the film that were particularly grating or unrealistic. In fact, its more realistic that they would be professing love to one another as they were actually dating in the film whereas Sutherland's character was not.
Point 5 - This takes away part of the mystery which effectively destroys an important aspect of fear and that is that you always fear what you don't understand. The 70s movie made a grievous error in trying to tell us how the aliens came down and why they are here. Now that you know that the aliens are in a fight for survival you understand the motivation behind their menace and its not quite as scary. They give you a reason to become sympathetic and that's the last thing you want for a horror movie antagonist.
Point 6 - The pods look better in the 70s version but that's only because production values were much higher, and while the screaming is kind of a cool it doesn't translate as being very scary but rather a sly way to differentiate "hidden" beings from human beings. Meaning, it's neat addition but it seemed like a superfluous way to make distinctions between the two films.
Point 7 - You're right, this part of the film seems to jump the shark with it's internal logic but at the same time there was no pod around in the 70s version laying haphazardly in the field. It doesn't make sense in both versions of the film. If you criticize one movie for that mistake then you have to recognize it in another.
Counter Points
1. The aliens were far more believable as they could feign emotions and gain trust without fully understanding the feelings they were imitating hence the reason why they felt "off" to close relatives. I can't actually buy the aliens in the 70s version getting very far without at least trying to integrate themselves to some degree into society. People would have noticed that the 70s aliens weren't human pretty fast.
2. They gave the aliens an origin story and a background. I outlined why this is a negative above.
3. The performances were much stronger in the 50s version, and Kevin McCarthy believably transitions from an intelligent yet cynical man into a raving lunatic who knows his time is up. On the other hand, Donald Sutherland plays the role in a rather low-key manner and you can never really buy that he's in a situation that could spell doom for humanity.
4. Personally, I enjoyed the rapid fire pace of the original and it kept things frantic and on the edge of your seat while the 70s version kind of went at leisurely pace for much of the film. The change in pace makes the threat of the aliens seem like less of an issue than it should have been.
5. Without studio edits, the ending is simply genius as the whole film Bennell fights these aliens so that he doesn't have to suffer their through uncaring emotionless existence and when he finally meets back up with humanity he's met with the same uncaring emotionless attitude from mankind. It's the ultimate bit of irony and carries far more symbolism and impact than the 70s film.
"You're next!" - Classic
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