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May 29, 2009 10:59 AM   Subscribe

What are some examples of this (I think at least) sci-fi/horror cliche?

The hero and his sidekick/best friend/love interest are running from the bodysnatchers or the brainslugs or whatever. People who have been compromised by this thing are identical to normal people, but you can tell when it has them. The hero and this other person have been running from the brainslugs all movie long, and then the hero turns to the other person and the other person says in this brainwashed voice "Come on hero. Join the brainslugs. It's great." and the hero is all like "Noooo! Other Person. Not you too!" I feel like this is a very common scene, but I can't think of any examples of it and it is kind of driving me crazy. Naming examples would be helpful, but video of this type of scene would be even better. Thanks.
posted by ND¢ to Media & Arts (33 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Response by poster: I should note that I have never actually seen Invasion of the Bodysnatchers.
posted by ND¢ at 11:00 AM on May 29, 2009


Best answer: The did this on Star Trek: The Next Generation in the episode The Game.
posted by FishBike at 11:02 AM on May 29, 2009


Best answer: What about in The Stepford Wives, when Joanna comes to visit Bobbie and Bobbie's been Stepfordized? Sorry, I can't find a clip, but this was the first movie that came to mind.
posted by harperpitt at 11:06 AM on May 29, 2009


I should note that I have never actually seen Invasion of the Bodysnatchers.

That's pretty amazing because your describing a scene from the original one perfectly.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 11:06 AM on May 29, 2009 [2 favorites]


Puppetmasters?
posted by krisak at 11:08 AM on May 29, 2009


I'm thinking of zombie movies where one of the sidekicks gets bitten and zombified at an unexpected moment. I am pretty sure Shaun of the Dead had a scene like this.
posted by JohnFredra at 11:11 AM on May 29, 2009


Not exactly like your example, and it's been years since I've seen this film so I may be remembering it incorrectly, but in Total Recall, the character Benny turned out to be a traitor in the end (not necessarily a brainslug, but he was working for the bad guys and it wasn't found out until after lots of damage was done.) Here's a clip of the character in question.
posted by Rewind at 11:12 AM on May 29, 2009


Best answer: Mo describing reNeducation to Homer in a Simpsons Halloween episode.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 11:15 AM on May 29, 2009


Futurama in the "Beast with 10,000 Backs"
posted by leotrotsky at 11:17 AM on May 29, 2009


They Live features this, but in the form of moral corruption:

"What's wrong with having it good for a change? Now they're gonna let us have it good if we just help 'em. They're gonna leave us alone, let us make some money. You can have a little taste of that good life too. Now, I know you want it. Hell, everybody does."

"You'd do it to your own kind."

"What's the threat? We all sell out every day, might as well be on the winning team."
posted by adipocere at 11:19 AM on May 29, 2009


The Faculty
posted by djb at 11:20 AM on May 29, 2009


This is similar to a double-cross, but occurs mid-story.
posted by leotrotsky at 11:22 AM on May 29, 2009


From Dusk 'Til Dawn has Seth Gekko and his brother Gordon Gekko and the brother gets bit and tries to entice the other to join.

Invaders from Mars uses this a lot
posted by arniec at 11:28 AM on May 29, 2009


The reveal you are describing happens at the same plot point as "the traitor is revealed" twist, near the end of Act 2, the "we are now truly fucked" moment when things have grown too complicated to deal with. It usually leads right into The Final Crisis.

So you can add in many, many more films that do the same thing sans brianslugs.
posted by rokusan at 11:29 AM on May 29, 2009


Best answer: The Thing is not quite this, but the survivors sitting around with flamethrowers waiting to freeze to death or for the other guy to reveal themselves as The Thing (are they? We'll never know) is just awesome.
posted by Artw at 11:38 AM on May 29, 2009


Best answer: One of the classics of this subgenre is John Carpenter's best film—The Thing. I watched it again last week, and while it doesn't contain a scene where a hero finds himself encouraged to join the alien parasites by someone he thought was a friend, it is a great example of a film based on the premise that you don't know who is an alien, you have no way of really telling, and they are gradually taking over. And, unlike most of Carpenter's films, it has a really good ending.

Besides, it's worth it just to watch Wilford Brimley maniacally smashing shit whilst muttering incoherently under his breath about aliens coming to get us.

Another example is the recent film The Invasion, a Nicole Kidman picture which was mediocre at best. A remake of the old Bodysnatchers movie, it's wholly unremarkable aside from a single interesting subtext which nobody seems to have picked up as far as I can tell. During one of the scenes wherein the alien imposters are trying to convince Nicole Kidman to “become one of them,” an alien makes the argument that Kidman's character, who is a psychiatrist, is worse than the aliens anyhow, since psychiatry as a practice is a vast global conspiracy that turns people into zombies by deadening their souls and drawing them into mindless conformity. As I say, the movie is generally crap, but that one subtext made the whole idea somewhat interesting to me: Kidman was, after all, only a few years past a divorce from a husband of ten years who was a member of a shadowy organization that makes the claim that psychiatry is an abusive and cruel practice which originated in Hitler's Germany. The idea that the film is actually about Scientologists in the guise of bodysnatchers trying to assimilate Nicole Kidman and her child is interesting, anyhow, and while it obviously isn't consciously pursuing that line of thought, I don't believe Kidman herself at least could have missed the parallel.
posted by koeselitz at 11:41 AM on May 29, 2009 [4 favorites]


The Arrival does this.

Rosemary's Baby is essentially this plot point on repeat.
posted by mkultra at 11:43 AM on May 29, 2009


Lost Boys.
posted by Frasermoo at 11:50 AM on May 29, 2009


Screamers is a pretty textbook example.
posted by Dmenet at 12:03 PM on May 29, 2009


slither
screamers
every iteration of the body snatchers
the invasion
The Thing
the faculty
posted by orville sash at 12:11 PM on May 29, 2009


Best answer: Sort of, in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Joel and Clementine are running through an already-deleted memory where everyone has creepy messed up faces. At one point Joel turns to look at Clementine and her face is like that too. He yells and shuts the door on her.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 12:17 PM on May 29, 2009


Thriller video (except for the "Not YOU!" part).
posted by coolguymichael at 12:17 PM on May 29, 2009


leotrotsky: that's The Beast with a Billion Backs.
posted by HumuloneRanger at 12:21 PM on May 29, 2009


Shawn of the Dead
posted by supermedusa at 12:35 PM on May 29, 2009


Best answer: Relevant b-movie musing from 1972 Roger Ebert, back in the pre-cheap-CGI days:

"Quarry knows all the tricks by now. He can even do this thing with his face so you can't tell he's wearing his false vampire fangs. That's important, because it maintains the element of surprise. Vampire movies all have one thing in common: the people you think you can trust - your best friends - turn out to be vampires at the critical moment. They've already been bitten.... A moment's thought will reveal this kind of scene won't work unless the actors involved can conceal their fangs. If they can't, all the hero can shout is "Susan! Got the mumps?""
posted by ormondsacker at 12:38 PM on May 29, 2009 [4 favorites]


ST:TNG episode "Conspiracy" is also in a similar vein.

"Dial Z for Zombies" from the Simpsons is notable for Homer's reaction to Flanders...
posted by GhostintheMachine at 12:46 PM on May 29, 2009


Best answer: Alluded to in your question, but not explicitly shown: the Sutherland Invasion of the Bodysnatchers (spoiler so massive it's a cliche?) is just awesome. Veronica Cartwright has the best horrified reactions of any actress ever. See also, Alien.
posted by dirtdirt at 12:51 PM on May 29, 2009


There may be earlier iterations of this theme, but the earliest one I know of (on film) is The Brain Eaters, a B movie from 1958, notably mostly for a young pre-Trek appearance by Leonard Nimoy.
posted by mrbarrett.com at 1:01 PM on May 29, 2009


The recent Invasion also has it (the one with Kidman). Also various zombie movies, 28 Days Later and Shaun of the Dead have a variation on the theme where they reveal not their "otherness" but that they have been bitten.
posted by Iteki at 1:10 PM on May 29, 2009


A slight variation is Ash turning out to be a 'goddamn robot' and not on the side of the good guys in Alien

And another spin crops up quite often in World War II films where one of the Resistance fighters turns out to have been working for the Nazis or was one all along (Guns Of Navarone comes up mind)
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 2:14 PM on May 29, 2009


Semi-related is what happens shortly afterward: the recruitment pitch. This seems common, but I can't think of many examples.

Basically, the assimilated person explains how being assimilated is euphoric and profound and empowering, and she feels kind of mortified for having missed out on it all this time; while the protagonist is saying no no no, I wasn't born yesterday, I'd rather not change phyla and/or plug into your mindhive, thanks. And then the negotiation escalates into something more aggressive.
posted by kurumi at 2:16 PM on May 29, 2009


I am Legend.
The dog
posted by Methylviolet at 8:14 PM on May 29, 2009 [1 favorite]


Shaun of the Dead? After running with his mother, keeping her safe from zombies and thinking all is well once they've reached the pub / fortress, it's revealed that she was bitten all along. Her eyes change, so Shaun shoots her in the head.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 1:56 AM on May 30, 2009


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