Not Only 'The Thing': 8 Most Intriguing Movies About Body Snatchers, Ranked by IMDb
The enemy could be much closer than you think.
The fear of being replaced – of losing one's individuality and control over one's life – is one of the oldest fears in human culture.
In cinema, this fear has found its perfect embodiment in body snatcher films. The idea of strangers among us, body snatching, and loved ones being replaced by faceless copies still sends shivers down our spines.
8. 'The Hole in the Ground', 2019
IMDb Score: 5.7/10
Sarah, a single mother, moves with her son, Chris, to a small village. One day, after an argument, Chris runs off into the woods. Sarah finds him near a huge crater of unknown origin.
After this incident, Chris' behavior changed dramatically as if someone had replaced him: he didn't remember his usual games, wasn't afraid of spiders anymore, and ate food he had never touched.
Sarah attributes these changes to stress, but her friends soon tell her the story of Noreen, an elderly neighbor who killed her own child because she believed him to be a changeling.
7. 'The Puppet Masters', 1994
IMDb Score: 5.9/10
Media reports surfaced about an unidentified flying object that landed in rural Iowa. CIA agent Andrew Nivens, a specialist in extraterrestrial civilizations, arrived at the scene with his assistants and Dr. Mary Sefton from NASA.
They noticed that the locals seemed emotionless, and their unusual reactions suggested that they were not who they claimed to be.
Specialists soon discovered the cause of the strange behavior: a being of extraterrestrial origin capable of infiltrating and controlling people's minds was on the back of one of the locals.
6. 'The Visit', 2015
IMDb Score: 6.3/10
Teenagers Becca and Tyler are going on vacation to visit their grandparents for the first time. Their mother had a falling out with her parents when she was young and cut off all ties with them.
After much persuasion from her children, she finally allowed them to meet their relatives while she went on a cruise with a new boyfriend. The meeting went smoothly, but the more Becca and Tyler got to know their grandparents, the more uneasy they felt.
Initially, the children rationalized their relatives' behavior, attributing it to the eccentricities of old age. However, that turned out to be far from the truth.
5. 'The Faculty', 1998
IMDb Score: 6.6/10
High school student Casey finds an unusual larva and decides to show it to his biology teacher, Mr. Furlong. After the creature bites Mr. Furlong, the teacher begins to behave unusually, as do the students.
Unaffected by the general madness, the teenagers band together to figure out what's happening. Stokely draws parallels with sci-fi stories about alien invasions that take over people's minds and bodies.
The teens quickly find confirmation of Stokely's theory. They must find a way not only to deal with the invasion, but also to ensure that they remain themselves.
4. 'Goodnight Mommy', 2014
IMDb Score: 6.7/10
The mother of twins Lukas and Elias, an unnamed woman, returns home after a serious surgery. She acts distantly and ignores one of the twins and also imposes strange rules.
During her rehabilitation, she is forced to wear bandages on her face. The boys begin to fear that it is not their mother who has returned from the hospital. The brothers decide to test their hypothesis in an extremely exotic and cruel manner.
3. 'Angel Heart', 1987
IMDb Score: 7.2/10
The story takes place in postwar New York. Private detective Harry Angel is approached by a mysterious client named Louis Cyphre.
Cyphre is looking for his debtor, Johnny Favorite, and asks Angel to find out if Favorite is really being held in a sanitarium or if the hospital staff is falsifying documents to cover for him. Unable to find Favorite at the hospital, Angel follows his trail to New Orleans.
The deeper Angel delves into the mysteries surrounding Favorite, the more bizarre events befall him and his informants, most of whom die in terrifying circumstances.
2. 'They Live', 1988
IMDb Score: 7.2/10
Nada joins an underground group and discovers that the ruling elites are actually aliens. The aliens view Earth as a third-world planet from which they can extract resources and exploit the population.
The aliens control people through television, the media, and advertising. Nada receives special glasses through which he can see the world as it truly is.
Behind attractive ads and newspaper headlines, he sees calls for submission and mindless consumption. Together with the activists, Nada devises a plan to help people wake up and see the truth.
1. 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers', 1956
IMDb Score: 7.7/10
Dr. Miles Bennell keeps receiving strange calls. Townspeople claim that their relatives have been replaced – although the replacements look normal, something elusive marks them as strangers.
The doctor's skepticism quickly fades when a mysterious body without fingerprints or distinctive facial features is found in a basement.
To everyone's horror, the body transforms into an exact replica of one of the townspeople before their eyes. Miles must uncover the force behind this human replication.
