Synopsis

After a space shuttle crashes in Washington, D.C., psychiatrist Carol Bennell notices that people around her are becoming strangely emotionless and compliant. As the condition spreads through the population, Carol tries to protect her young son while uncovering the alien origin of the epidemic. Her search becomes a desperate race to preserve human identity before the transformation becomes universal.

Factoids & Trivia

• The film is the fourth feature adaptation of Jack Finney's 1955 novel The Body Snatchers, following the 1956, 1978, and 1993 versions.

• Screenwriter David Kajganich reworked the story for a contemporary Washington, D.C., setting rather than presenting a straightforward remake of the earlier films.

• The project went through several title changes. It was first associated with Invasion of the Body Snatchers, then became Invasion, The Visiting, and finally The Invasion.

• The studio was dissatisfied with the original cut and brought in Lana and Lilly Wachowski for additional writing. James McTeigue supervised extensive reshoots and additional photography.

• Some visual-effects work had to be created from footage shot before the reshoots, requiring artists to adapt effects to material that was not originally intended for those sequences.

• John Ottman's score combines heavy synthesizers with a 77-piece orchestra to give the film an uneasy, otherworldly atmosphere.

• The film was released in the United States on August 17, 2007. It earned approximately $40.2 million worldwide against an estimated $80 million budget and received generally negative reviews.

• Animal actors used in the production were monitored under the American Humane Association's "No Animals Were Harmed" program. A dead dog shown in the film was a prop.