A 47-minute long video essay written, edited and narrated by Peet Gelderblom on the four movie adaptations of Jack Finney's INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. Produced by Directorama for Imagine Film Festival in association with RogerEbert.com.

Nothing puts fear into people like a good story and INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS has proven to be one of the best. For over half a century pod people have been plotting against humanity and they never stay hidden for long. Since the original novel was published in 1954, Jack Finney’s classic paranoid fable has spawned an endless series of imitations and no less than four official movie adaptations. Every 15 to 20 years audiences around the world were faced with a different invading terror, tailored to address ever-changing social anxieties. Time after time, filmmakers invented new ways for people to fear the unknown, mistrust authority and oppose uniformity.

These films together not only demonstrate the dangers that may befall us, but also epitomize the evolution of cinematic storytelling. To study them is to take a crash course in fabricating fear.

This video was made solely for educational purposes and makes "fair use" of copyrighted material. Fair use is codified at Section 107 of the Copyright Act: Under the fair use doctrine, it is not an infringement to use the copyrighted works of another in some circumstances, such as for commentary, criticism, news reporting, or educational use.

Featured footage:

INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS
Director: Don Siegel
©1956 Allied Artists Pictures

INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS
Director: Philip Kaufman
©1978 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.

BODY SNATCHERS
Director: Abel Ferrara
©1993 Warner Bros.

THE INVASION
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
©2007 Warner Bros.

Music by Carmen Dragon, Denny Zeitlin, Joe Delia, John Ottman and Man After Midnight.

Special thanks to Chris Oosterom, Phil van Tongeren, James M. Moran and Robert C. Cumbow.

A video essay that gives a side-by-side comparison between Hitchcock's famous shower scene and similar shots taken from a whole string of movies directed by Brian De Palma. First published at RogertEbert.com and selected as one of Fandor's best video essays of 2016. Featured on Filmmaker, No Film School, The Film Stage and Studio Daily.

Edited by Peet Gelderblom
Produced by Directorama
Music: Bernard Herrmann

This video was made solely for educational purposes and makes "fair use" of copyrighted material. Fair use is codified at Section 107 of the Copyright Act: Under the fair use doctrine, it is not an infringement to use the copyrighted works of another in some circumstances, such as for commentary, criticism, news reporting, or educational use.

A short documentary about the man who photographed the last nude of Marilyn Monroe. Directed and edited by Peet Gelderblom, produced by Dahl TV. This film originally aired on Dutch television as part of VPRO's Fotostudio de Jong.

A video essay that compares Martin Scorsese's After Hours to John Landis' Into The Night, arguing they are West Coast and East Coast chronicles of the very same night in 1985.

Written, edited and narrated by Peet Gelderblom, who earlier made a side-by-side montage that pitted Hitchcock against De Palma in a Split Screen Bloodbath (listed as one of the best video essays of 2016 by Sight & Sound and Fandor) and a groundbreaking series of conceptual movie mash-ups for Filmscalpel called Pretty Messed Up. Peet's re-cut of the cult classic Raising Cain was recently released on Blu-ray as the official Director's Cut, approved by Brian De Palma.

Visit directorama.net/essays for more.

Brace yourself for the ultimate showdown between good and evil. In this truly epic mash-up, compiled from no less than 24 different movies, our Lord and Savior meets the Prince of Darkness. And it won’t be a friendly confrontation.

God vs. Satan is the divine finale of Pretty Messed Up, a limited weekly series of conceptual movie mash-ups by Peet Gelderblom, the guy behind the De Palma-approved director’s cut of Raising Cain and Hitchcock & De Palma Split Screen Bloodbath.

Please visit filmscalpel.com for detailed credits.
This video was made solely for educational purposes and makes "fair use" of copyrighted material. Fair use is codified at Section 107 of the Copyright Act: Under the fair use doctrine, it is not an infringement to use the copyrighted works of another in some circumstances, such as for commentary, criticism, news reporting, or educational use.