gbofaisst This is the worst ripoff ever. It's looks like it was made by a film student who thinks he's the real deal, even though he can't crasp how light or sound really works. An idiotic remake that puts everyone involved to shame and perhaps, a place in hell! And yes, pod-people=lesbians.... I don't know how the movie can existed as a actual movie at all. Just think about it, the "movie" is an duplicate replacement from the invasion of the body snatchers films but instead of a intelligent copy, we got a very very IDIOTIC copy.It's failed at everything both as an movie and as an ripoff. And by the following next time the "movie" will get scream at by a Donald Sutherland duplicate clone.I will give it BULLSH*T out of 10

TheLittleSongbird In all honesty though that is not saying all that much. It is better than the likes of 2012: Doomsday, Alien Origin, Titanic II, Transmorphers, AVH: Alien vs. Hunter, Death Racers, War of the Worlds 2 and Universal Soldiers, but it is nowhere near tolerable(of the Asylum's movies I've seen so far their best has been I Am Omega, which was only on the decently-average side). Eric Roby is decent, but his performance is the only asset that is that. The special effects are thankfully at least not overused but they are still very artificial looking, but the dark unfocused lighting and the hopelessly choppy editing were what cheapened the film visually. The music is forgettable and repetitive, while the sound effects were even worse, there is far too much muddied noise in the background in every scene that sometimes the dialogue is incoherent. And speaking of the dialogue, it's no great shakes either, very cheesy and lacking any kind of flow, while the story is thin and predictable with scenes that either drag on or abruptly end. The characters are ones you don't learn anything about and also get on your nerves, and the rest of the acting shows no charisma or inspired line delivery whatsoever. The ladies are hot but their talent ends there. So in conclusion, really bad but The Asylum have done much worse. 2/10 Bethany Cox

manchester_england2004 INVASION OF THE POD PEOPLE (aka INVASION: THE BEGINNING) is a straight-to-DVD horror movie produced by The Asylum - a low budget producer who produce such movies regularly.The Asylum productions are generally hit and miss. Some like THE BEAST OF BRAY ROAD are great gems. But there are movies like HILLSIDE CANNIBALS that are really, really awful. It is best that you keep an open mind when viewing any of their works.The plot is essentially a clone of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS but with the setting transposed to a modeling agency. For those unaware, the story sees people being replaced by exact duplicates but who behave differently from their original selves. In this incarnation, each character concerned receive a mysterious plant. Several days later, the said character is seen to be behaving strangely with her colleagues.Because the plot of the movie is a clone of a more famous production, people will knock it and on this site they have done. If you find the idea of a clone of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS too unappealing, read no further. If however you are curious, keep reading and I will try persuading you of how it attempts to differentiate itself.With the budget of this movie being very low, The Asylum have been wise to limit special effects. There are no transformation scenes, no silly monsters, no CGI, no rubber masks or prosthetics and no excessive amounts of fake blood here.The direction throughout is very restrained, with no camera tricks or usage of angles to generate tension. Background music is also very limited. But these factors do not hold it back as I shall demonstrate.The movie starts off slow but progresses very well. It relies upon the sinister nature of the "altered" characters to drive the story. This works like a charm. Well-written, simple dialogue combined with great timing of delivery by the cast build up suspense and maintain interest in the key scenes.There is also a very sensual nature to the "altered" beings that holds interest. Without giving away too much, I can reveal that there are sex scenes here and some nudity. Having said this, the nudity is limited and does not come across as tawdry. The sex scenes are intended to be erotic. There are no "silicon babes" here. I am biased in favour of the natural female form so the nudity is appealing to me (and I am very fussy).The twists in the story are predictable but this does not make them any less interesting to watch.The script does not demand Oscar-worthy actresses but the actresses in this movie give surprisingly good performances. In a surprise but highly welcome move from The Asylum, overacting is kept to a minimum. Erica Roby is incredibly lovely and gives a particularly good performance in the lead role. And Jessica Bork plays her sensual role to perfection. I would definitely like to see other movies with these actresses in.And it pleases me to confirm that there are no - repeat no - annoying moronic teenage guys or hysterical teenage girls here. This is strictly an adult-oriented affair and would most likely not appeal to teenagers at all.There are a few unintentionally funny moments to appeal to fans of the "so-bad-it's-good" movies. As a fan of such movies myself, I did not view this movie as a whole from that perspective because it wasn't silly enough to appeal to me on that level.The short running time ensures that the movie doesn't outstay its welcome. It surprisingly didn't drag at all for me.The only major problem with this movie is the ending. It was too abrupt. I would like to have seen this story taken further.Overall, this is a great movie. It is a clone of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS but has enough qualities to differentiate itself. I recommend it to fans of straight-to-DVD horror movies or fans of other movies from The Asylum. Others would most likely be disappointed.

TdSmth5 This is Asylum's most stylish movie so far but the coloring is just a little too stale, near the end the main actress looks greenish. The filming or editing here is too episodic instead of linear or continuous. Every scene is faded in and out. I'm not crazy about the excessive close-up shots. With a cast this attractive and dressed this nice, fully body shots would help. The sound, too, is improved except in outdoor shots where the wind gets in the way or in some rooms where the HVAC is noisy. The story itself is somewhat abbreviated, which is surprising. Some Asylum movies make up for the lack of effects with a solid script. We don't get enough time with the cast to get to know them or get to like them, which makes us indifferent to their fate. The ending is somewhat surprising but again, we are missing story here that would shed some light on the pod beings. In turn, the effect of such a bare bones script is that it ads a feel of strangeness to the movie which fits well with the idea of alien creatures. I take it they had little budget so there is no entire transformation scene. There should have been at least one, preferable with a nude female emerging from her plant. The one similar scene has no nudity though! While there is some mild nudity here and an all-girl threesome, it's nothing too explicit or shocking, as some reviewers here claim whose standard of "decency" is apparently Disney approved or they've never seen "music" videos. In fact, the erotic scenes lack some eroticism as if the director doesn't appreciate what he could have done or is just not interested in such things and is trying to get it over with. I appreciate Asylum including more nudity in their movies, it makes these movies more enjoyable, and after all they are a B-movie company. The cast does a good job here. Erica Roby is excellent as always and it's a pleasure to see her- she's such a beauty. There is also some good acting by the supporting cast. This movie should have deserved more money, time and effort by Asylum. It's still a very enjoyable little flick.