Dir. Don Siegel. 1956, 80 mins. 35mm. With Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, Larry Gates. There is something amiss in all-American Santa Mira, California, as a scourge of soul-sucking pod-people begins replacing residents with zomboid replicas, driving the town to the brink of hysteria and beyond. One of the most influential science-fiction films of all time, this scarifying, low-budget shocker (shot in 23 days) has been read, variously, as anti-McCarthyist, anti-Communist, and as an allegory for Eisenhower-era conformity. The unforgettable, nightmarish ending still packs a wallop.

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