Program Note
This film is about villagers becoming dominated by extraterrestrial beings and losing their human nature one by one. This is a remake of the 1953 original by William Cameron Menzies. While the original is a typical Sci-fi B movie set in the Cold War era, the Hooper’s remake has added more elements of a horror movie. The aliens are stranger, and the spectacle nature of the story is reinforced. This is a clear demonstration of Hooper’s view of the world. He does not use the horror genre allegorically, but desires to focus on the pleasure born from the natural chills that the genre carries. Hooper’s horror is very bald and straightforward. It faces the audience without any implications or unnecessary explanations. Setting where daily spaces fall apart, and creatures make sudden appearances is his signature. This may be Hooper’s last ‘fine’ piece of work. The film failed in terms of box-office records and critics’ reviews at the time of the release, but it came to be revered later on as a cult classic. (KIM Hyung-seok)