Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
When: Friday 6th February 2026, 8pm – 9:30pm
Hosted by: WMIP Analytic Film Group
We meet regularly online (once every couple of months) and bring analytic thinking to discussions on a range of films. Group members suggest film and at the end of each session we draw the title for our next session. Films are introduced by the proposer who invites the group members into an exploration from a psychological perspective.
This film is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video £3.99, Apple TV £3.49, Sky Store £3.99 You Tube £3.49, Google Play Movies £3.49
Starring: Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Veronica Cartwright, Jeff Goldblum and Leonard Nimoy.
Moonlight: PLOT
INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1978 version)
“They’re coming”
This sci-fi classic is a remaking of the eponymous 1956 film and is now considered a cult within its genre.
Alien life arrives on earth in the form of small seed pods which take over human bodies erasing all character and emotion. This parasitic life force disguised in plain sight, threatens to take over humanity as its clones and destroy its human counterparts.
The themes of the film speak to the fundamentals of identity and the need for thinking minds that can challenge authority in the face of group mind. In one reading it is seen as a lamentation for the end of the counter-culture movement of the 1960s and developing conformity of the generation that sought alternatives. The cloned version of the character of Dr Kibner offers the eerie assurance to those facing their destruction ‘You’ll be born again into an untroubled world. Free of anxiety, fear, hate’
Links were made at the time of release with the Jonestown massacre where cult leader Jim Jones murdered his followers in the final act of manipulation which relied on the brainwashing of his followers.
From a psychoanalytic perspective we can view the film as an allegory of what Bion’s identified as one of the basic assumption groups in which we give up individuality to take up residence within a powerful group. The film evokes primary fears of being overtaken, betrayal and states of paranoia in the navigation of our desire to be part of and apart from the group.
If you would like to be part of the analytic film WhatsApp group, then please text Laura on 07588 777163. There are a number of papers written in relation to this film some of which are available on PEP Web and have been made available on the WhatsApp group.
This is a FREE event open to WMIP members only
BOOKING
Booking is required. Please email
to register your details by Friday 6th February. Joining instructions will be sent out just after 5pm on the day.
For more information about joining us, please visit https://wmip.org/join-us/