Review: The Invasion 4K UHD

4K UHD Blu-ray: The Invasion (2007)

In the near future, the Space Shuttle crashes on Earth and its fragments are scattered all over America. A weird sci-fi fungus is found on these parts and the population becomes infected with it.

This ‘infection’ springs to life once the human falls asleep, turning them into… more serious versions of themselves?

One of the first people infected is Tucker Kaufman (Jeremy Northman) , who’s investigating the crash. Tucker’s ex-wife, the psychiatrist Carol Bennell (Nicole Kidman), starts to notice people  – including her patients  – are behaving strangely,  that they have changed, and this change is – they just look really serious and puke green goo into your mouth to change you into ‘one of them’.

Yep, The Invasion is essentially The Body Snatchers, without pod people. You are not replaced in this film, you ‘change’. It’s a straight-forward remake of the 1956 film Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but the story has been updated with mobile phones and to reflect contemporary times. The paranoia is the same though, and even the inclusion of Daniel Craig as the love interest for Nicole doesn’t make this as good as the Donald Sutherland Body Snatchers.

This 4k UHD release from Arrow looks lovely, but seems to be an odd choice to add to their catalogue.

4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS

• 4K (2160p) Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
• Original lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Brand new audio commentary by film critics Andrea Subisati and Alexandra West, co-hosts of The Faculty of Horror podcast
• Body Snatchers and Beyond, a new visual essay by film scholar Alexandra Heller Nicholas
• That Bug That’s Going Around, a new visual essay exploring The Invasion as pandemic prophecy by film scholar Josh Nelson
• We’ve Been Snatched Before, an archival featurette from 2007
• The Invasion: A New Story, an archival featurette from 2007
• The Invasion: On the Set, an archival featurette from 2007
• The Invasion: Snatched, an archival featurette from 2007
• Theatrical trailer
• Image gallery
• Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by film critics William Bibbiani and Sally Christie
• Reversible sleeve with original and newly commissioned artwork by Tommy Pocket
• Double-sided fold out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tommy Pocket

Released 11th November 2024.

Review by Tina from a disc kindly supplied by Arrow Films.