12 Best Movies About The End Of The World

Cold War paranoia is the inspiration for Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the 1956 adapted classic that was later remade in 1978. The original black-and-white version introduced viewers to the idea of 'Pod People', a term for a species of aliens that grow from plants and are capable of replicating any life form.

The life form that they are concerned with is exclusively the human life form. Our hero, Dr. Miles Bennell, played by Kevin McCarthy, stumbles upon this takeover plot after being initially tipped off by a number of patients convinced their relatives have been taken over by identical-looking imposters. A concern he once dismissed as mass hysteria now seems very real.

Conformity is one of the biggest themes in the movie. What it's a metaphor for conforming to is open to interpretation. Some see it as conformity with what the government wants you to do, how it wants you to think. The era of McCarthyism had Americans eyeing each other with suspicion, not knowing who to trust. Others may have seen it as a critique of the creeping invasion of communism into American society. Sure, they look American, but where's the patriotic twinkle in their eye, huh? What are you hiding, you pod person freak?

Director Don Siegel wanted the movie to be interpreted as a message to young people to think, to challenge what they know and what they think they know. He succeeded in making a film that sparks discussion to this day.