[7]

The residents of a small California town are slowly being replaced by otherworldly “pod people” and it’s up to Kevin McCarthy and Carolyn Jones to warn the rest of the world about the invasion. This original film version is a modestly-budgeted but effective sci-fi/horror flick. It’s emblematic of the ’50s for its allegorical use of the Red Scare, but it also suffers from some conventional drive-in movie setbacks, including bad narration, negative gender stereotyping, and some hammy acting. What it does best is create an atmosphere of paranoia, culminating in the famous scene where McCarthy runs around on the freeway warning passing cars of impending doom. The story should have wrapped after he looks in the camera and yells, “You’re next!” but the studio tacked on a happy ending.