I should say that the 1978 version of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS may well be my all-time favourite movie, so watching this was a real kick in the teeth. It's like a contemporary remake of that film made without a budget and just three or four cast members. Shot in the dark in a small town over one night, by the look of it. Teens have to work out what's going on when their friends are assimilated by the pod people. Sadly, this effort is totally dull and without merit.

Zach Henderson (Joel Courtney) and Randy Foster (Calum Worthy) are best friends who love doing videos and posting them online. Something strange is going on in their small town. One late night, there is a scream from a neighbor's house. The boys follow a rat-like creature to Pastor Greg who seems to be leading an odd cult. Deputy Josh Haywood (Cam Gigandet) doesn't believe the two pranksters. Zach's crush Kayla Shepard (Andi Matichak) comes to them with a disturbing idea that her father has been replaced by a double.

This is standard pod people sci-fi. There is so much standardization that the movie becomes nothing more than a factory copy with a few exceptions. It incorporates way too many standard horror tropes. The big invention for the pod creatures is turning the alien particles into the rat creature. It makes no sense and contributes nothing to anything. Zach and Randy do a few too many questionable things. I don't know why they would confront Pastor Greg directly. I don't know why the Replicates would leave them alone in the barn. The scene would make more sense if Pastor Greg is alone when he locks the barn with the boys and the father inside. The boys could kill the father and the mother Replicates. It's more logical when Kayla helps them escape if Pastor Greg is alone. There are many instances where the characters do illogical things. It's a sign of bad writing. The one interesting bit of writing is the ending. I do like that concept although I wonder how the TV is broadcasting those images. This movie is essentially a copy and not necessarily a good copy.

This is not a bad horror movie per se. It is not a good (horror) movie either though. It does try (and fails mostly) to copy a known formula. That is cliche wise but also story wise. While I do not blame or critisize the movie for copying a really good premise, the premise it steals from has been tried and worked in many other movies. Some faired better, some not so good.

The actors do their best to fight against the predictability - especially if you've seen the classics. Which really draw you in - and you know that if you've seen them. So I guess if you assimilate, you won't care ... oh wait did I just do that? I guess I did do that ... all kidding aside, I would recommend to you to watch the Originals or even the 90s made for TV remake, which had a special kind of charm (and a really good director)