Virtually without special effects, stage sets or make-up, Don Siegel created one of the most terrifying science fiction films of all time. The setting is all-too-recognizable-a small town in California-and so are the monsters: Mom, Dad, and little Timmy. Or rather, their clones, hatched from giant pods to whom they show an affectionless allegiance. It is an allegory of totalitarianism, not specifically governmental (although references to the McCarthy Committee as well as to communism were inevitable), but rather cultural: the totalitarianism of blind conformity. The film derives its enormous energy and relevance from Siegel's all-American, low-budget expressionism: shooting everyday locations from a low- and wide-angle perspective, he alien-ated the normal.