183 - The Faculty (1998) & Cooties (2014) →

CW: Animal Harm

The Best of 2021 - #7 (Tied) The Faculty

It’s "Elijah Wood Goes to School" Week on Pod Sematary! Chris & Kelsey grow from anti-establishment to pro-teacher between two movies. It's age, man. That stuff just happens over time.

Read our afterthoughts for this episode here!

The Classic Film: The Faculty (1998)
"When Casey Connor, Herrington High School's newspaper photographer, witnesses the murder of a nurse and sees her alive again, [he] decides to investigate the bizarre happenings” (IMDb.com). Kelsey can basically recite this movie from memory, but is it just nostalgia, or does this late-90s, teen horror actually hold up?

The Modern Film: Cooties (2014)
"A mysterious virus hits an isolated elementary school, transforming the kids into a feral swarm of mass savages. An unlikely hero must lead a motley band of teachers in the fight of their lives” (IMDb.com). Cooties has all the hallmarks of a silly horror comedy and it seems content to leave it at that. Not bad but... not good, either?

Audio Sources:
"Cooties" produced by SpectreVision & Glacier Films
"The Faculty" produced by Dimension Films  Los Hooligans Productions
"The Kids Aren't Alright" written by Dexter Holland and performed by The Offspring
"Pet Sematary" written by Dee Dee Ramone & Daniel Rey and performed by The Ramones

157 - Double Feature - Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) & The Invasion (2007) →

Best of 2020 - #3 Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

It’s a pod people double feature on Pod Sematary! Chris & Kelsey shed all emotion and join the collective in peace!

Read our afterthoughts for this episode here!

The Second Adaptation: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
"When strange seeds drift to earth from space, mysterious pods begin to grow and invade San Francisco, California, where they replicate the residents into emotionless automatons one body at a time” (IMDb.com). Less reactionary that it's '56 predecessor and the Jack Finney novel on which it's based, the '78 version's slow boil and creeping terror are exactly as effective as the film's modern-day hype would suggest.

The Fourth Adaptation: The Invasion (2007)
"As a Washington, D.C. psychiatrist unearths the origin of an alien epidemic, she also discovers her son might be the only way it can be stopped” (IMDb.com). Take the 1978 classic, remove the character building and charm, and add some mildly effective personal tension and mindless action scenes and you'll have this fourth attempt at reinventing the wheel. The Invasion seems like it might be worth watching until it just gives up about halfway through and drowns in its own genericism.

Audio Sources:
"Alien" produced by Brandywine Productions
"Amazing Grace" performed by the Royal Scots Dragoon Guard
"The Invasion" produced by Warner Bros., et al.
"Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956) produced by Walter Wanger Productions
"Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1978) produced by Solofilm
"Monster in the Closet" (Brooklyn Nine-Nine S04E06) produced by Fremulon, et al.
"Pet Sematary" written by Dee Dee Ramone & Daniel Rey and performed by The Ramones
"Pod People" (Mystery Science Theater 3000 S04E03) produced by Best Brains
"S&M Present" (Robot Chicken S01E09) produced by Stoopid Monkey, et al.
"Science Fiction/Double Feature" written by Richard O'Brien & Richard Hartley and performed by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
"Split" produced by Universal Pictures, et al.