It's just brilliant. Just about every shot is subtly designed to keep the audience ever-so-slightly off-balance.
Indeed, one of the many pleasures of this movie is noticing just how much care, thought and preparation went into every single moment.
YES, there were no boring pointless "filler scenes". Back then movie makers really put care into the art and knew how to screw with human psychology. Modern movies often have generic actors, rely heavily on CGI and are disposable. You rarely get the care that was put into the 1978 Body Snatchers.
I read that there will be another remake of this in 2019. I hope its more than just a cgi fest with generic actors.
Well, there was plenty of carelessness and indifference in 60s and 70s movies also, but I'll admit that studio movies today leave me unfulfilled. Almost all of them play as empty spectacle.
And yeah, Kaufman's 1978 film is magnificent.
The cinematography in this film is brilliant.
Great shot framing, brilliant angling, superb utilization of lighting & shadows and some well executed disorientating movements.
The cinematographer for this film was Michael Chapman whose body of work includes;
- Taxi Driver (1976)
- Raging Bull (1980)
- The Lost Boys (1987)
- Ghostbusters II (1989)
- Kindergarten Cop (1990)
- The Fugitive (1993)
- Primal Fear (1996)
- Space Jam (1996)