History Film / InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers

* AmbiguousEnding: The [[spoiler:1993]] version. [[spoiler:The surviving characters are about to land at another military base, after bombing the pod convoy and knocking out the original base, but [[YouAreTooLate the "Where you gonna go" line]] is repeated for the audience--suggesting the pod people have already taken that base over. Marti's narration also notes how a person can only stay awake for so long--possibly suggesting she and her companion are resigned to being replaced.]]

* BreakingTheFourthWall: In the original film, [[spoiler:Bennell shouts at the camera "You're next!"]]

* DownerEnding: In the 1978 version only. It sure does pack a punch. [[spoiler: Basically, the alien invasion ''wins'', something made clear when Nancy, the only survivor, tries to meet up with Matthew, only for him to pull a horrific NightmareFace and let out the distinctive scream of a pod-person.]]

* DutchAngle: The 1978 remake features many bizarre camera angles to emphasize disorientation and isolation.

* InformedAbility: While the pod-duplicates are certainly not as emotional as Humans, their claims of emotionlessness need to be taken with several grains of salt. If they are so, then why (beyond the plot and dramatic needs) do they taunt and gloat over the uninfected about the inevitability of their victory? The stepmother and Forrest Whittaker's replaced co-workers in 1993 almost seem angry or giggling over how they can't be beat. They're all more like recent converts to a movement, which is somewhat the point, but if you have no emotions, you don't need to say it so damned often.

* ItWasHereISwear: In the original, Miles brings his psychiatrist friend to look at his and Becky's pod bodies, but they've naturally vanished.

* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: In the 1978 version you'll often see garbage men in the background and as the movie progresses they're throwing away more and more of the black end result of pod transformation.
* MythologyGag / RemakeCameo: The 1978 remake had Kevin [=McCarthy=] reprise his performance from the ending of the original, banging on the protagonists' windshield and screaming, "You're next!". [[spoiler: Shortly before being fatally hit by a car, likely driven by a pod person.]] Later on in the film, Don Siegel (director of the original) appears as an overly-suspicious cab driver.
** The 2007 version had a woman reprising the Kevin [=McCarthy=] performance, and then getting hit by a car.

* [[PretendWereDead Pretend We're Pod People]]: The 1956 version has Miles and Becky feign emotionlessness to walk through the pod-infested town safely. The other versions followed suit. [[spoiler: Thwarted in the 1978 version, where a messed up clone that has a busker's head upon the body of his dog frightens the female protagonist so badly she gives the game away.]]

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: [[spoiler:In the '93 version, Marti and her LoveInterest escape in a helicopter, which they later use to bomb a truck convoy carrying pods. Marti's narration makes it clear she's acting out of hate over what happened to her family.]]

* ZombieApocalypse: The 1978 version has shades of this. Most notably, when they are attacked at Matthew's house and the pod people are reaching around the gate.

** RemakeCameo: Kevin [=McCarthy=] (Miles Bennell in the original film) appears as a man banging on cars and yelling about the pod people.
*** DeathByCameo: ...And is then immediately hit by a car.
*** The original film's director, Don Siegel, plays a cab driver [[spoiler:who's turned]].

* StepfordSuburbia: What happens to the city as the pod people take over. There's no fighting, fuss, crime or problems... but there's no laughter, smiling, or human warmth, either. The pod people, once in control, are like zombies of the old-school Voodoo style: fleshy automatons that just robotically do their tasks without any individual thought or drives.

** The original was supposed to have one of these until ExecutiveMeddling intervened; see FramingStory below.

** While the framing device is included in nearly all showings of the film (including all home video releases and a special screening held by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2005 to honor Siegel), a re-edited version omitting it was done in 1979 and presumably exhibited somewhere at least once.

* FramingDevice: The 1956 version was given one by executives who wanted a happier ending to the film. In the added prologue, Bennell is dragged into a hospital emergency ward by the authorities, where he recounts the film to the doctor assigned to him. In the epilogue, his story is confirmed by one of the pod truck drivers being rescued from a car crash; the hospital staff immediately call the FBI in an implied happy ending. Director Don Siegel said it almost ruined his intended movie. As mentioned in the preamble, this framing device has usually been omitted, starting in 1979, but has been re-instated on several occasions, including a screening held by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2005 which honored Siegel.

** The 1956 version's director, Don Siegel, plays a [[spoiler: converted]] cab driver.

** RemakeCameo: Kevin [=McCarthy=] (Miles Bennell) appears as a man banging on cars and yelling about the pod people.

Miles Bennell (Kevin [=McKarthy=]) is a doctor in the small California town of Santa Mira whose patients start accusing their family and friends of being impostors. They can't explain their suspicions -- there are no physical or behavioral changes -- but they are still convinced that the people they suspect are [[NotHimself no longer themselves]]. Bennell and his colleague, Dan Kaufman, initially assume this is merely mass hysteria, a diagnosis which seems to be confirmed when the patients start recanting their accusations.

Miles Bennell (Kevin [=McKarthy=]) is a doctor in the small California town of Santa Mira whose patients start accusing their family and friends of being impostors. They can't explain their suspicions -- there are no physical or behavioral changes -- but they are still convinced that the people they suspect are [[NotHimself no longer themselves]]. Bennell and his colleague, Dan Kaufman (Larry Gates), initially assume this is merely mass hysteria, a diagnosis which seems to be confirmed when the patients start recanting their accusations.

Miles Bennell is a doctor in the small town of Santa Mira whose patients start accusing their family and friends of being impostors. They can't explain their suspicions -- there are no physical or behavioral changes -- but they are still convinced that the people they suspect are [[NotHimself no longer themselves]]. Bennell and his colleague, Kaufman, initially assume this is merely mass hysteria, a diagnosis which seems to be confirmed when the patients start recanting their accusations.

* ItWasHereISwear: Jack's pod body in the 1956 version disappears before the authorities can be called in.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: For the film made in TheFifties, the original has a surprising amount of sexual innuendo between Miles and Becky.

** Robert Duvall plays a priest near the beginning of the film.

* BodyHorror: The 1970s remake answers the question of what happened to the people whom the pods replaced. [[spoiler:They crumble into ash.]]

* BrickJoke: In the 1978 film, Matthew first appears giving an inspection on a French restaurant, where he finds a rat turd and plans to throw the book at the owner (but not before they throw a bottle of wine at his car). It's later revealed that Dr. Kibner wasn't too pleased.

** The 1956 version's director, Don Siegel, plays a cab driver.

** [[TheGratefulDead Jerry Garcia]] can be heard on the soundtrack playing the banjo.

* CleanupCrew: The garbage men in the 1978 movie. Garbage trucks are also glimpsed in the '93 version.

* DownerEnding: In the 1978 version only. It sure does pack a punch.

* EvilTwin: Kinda.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Early in the 1978 remake, a man is shown running through by the Health Department and a pod scream can be faintly heard.
* GivingSomeoneThePointerFinger: In the 1978 version, the pod people do this to point out unconverted humans.
* GreenAesop: The [[spoiler:1978]] version.

* InvisibleAliens

** Also in the 1978 remake. Matthew returns to Elizabeth's bedroom with the police, and finds flowerpots in a vaguely human shape where the body was.

* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: In the 1978 version you'll often see garbage men in the background and as the movie progresses they're throwing more and more of the black end result of pod transformation.
* MythologyGag / RemakeCameo: The 1978 remake had Kevin [=McCarthy=] reprise his performance from the ending of the original, banging on the protagonists' windshield and screaming, "You're next!" Later on in the film, Don Siegel (director of the original) appears as an overly-suspicious cab driver.

* [[PretendWereDead Pretend We're Pod People]]: The 1956 version has Miles and Becky feign emotionlessness to walk through the pod-infested town safely. The other versions followed suit.
* PuppeteerParasite

* StepfordSuburbia

* WeAreEverywhere

* ZombieApocalypse: The 1978 version has shades of this when they are attacked at Matthew's house and they are reaching around the gate.

* ''The Invasion'' (2007), another GenderFlip version with NicoleKidman, is regarded by most as being the worst of the lot. Amongst many other changes, they dropped the idea of alien replacements entirely, going for a simple [[spoiler:and reversible]] version of TheVirus. It also worked in TheWarOnTerror and, with it, questions regarding TheEvilsOfFreeWill.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: the 1956]] version, along with the [[spoiler: 1993 and 2007 ones]]

* OnlySaneMan: By the end of the original film, Bennell, and no one left unaffected believes him.

* INeverToldYouMyName: In the 1978 version, Matthew is [[OhCrap surprised that Washington already knows who is calling them.]]

* BrickJoke: In the 1978 film, Matthew first appears giving an inspection on a French restaurant. It's later revealed that Dr. Kibner wasn't too pleased.

* AmbiguousEnding: The [[spoiler:1993]] version. [[spoiler:The surviving characters are about to land at another military base, but [[YouAreTooLate the "Where you gonna go" line]] is repeated for the audience--suggesting the pod people have already taken that base over. Marti's narration also notes how a person can only stay awake for so long--possibly suggesting she and her companion are resigned to being replaced.]]

* HopeSpot: The "[[SoundtrackDissonance Amazing Grace]]" scene, in the 1978 version.