The theme of an alien terror taking on the faces of the people you love proves too irresistible to leave alone, as Don Siegel's classic "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" is remade once again. Producer of the 70s remake, Robert H Solo, is behind this mildly exciting Abel Ferrara 1993 update.

Compared to the 70s version, this is a far smaller enterprise. That film had an epic sense of scale, with the horror of a whole city going mad compressing a devastated Donald Sutherland. This time, the alien spores have landed on a military base that teenager Gabrielle Anwar has moved to. She's there as a result of her biologist dad, Terry Kinney, who's investigating possible chemical contamination. Along for the ride are step-mom Meg Tilly and kid Reilly Murphy.

Predictably, the step-mom is the first to be cloned into an evil double, and from there, Anwar is soon unable to trust anyone on the base. Ferrara keeps the pace fast and doesn't waste time in providing explanations, preferring instead to up the terror and max out on the icky effects.

The problem with this approach is that the characters are so bland, and the time we spend with them so little, that it's hard to care about their horrible demise. Thankfully, Gabrielle Anwar shines through with a warm performance that defies the cut-outs around her, as she teams up with love interest Billy Wirth for the final explosive showdown.