The Body Snatchers was published during the height of McCarthyism.
However, its rather inconspicuous author largely dispelled notions that it was an allegory on communism or the importance of individuality. Nevertheless, considering the times, it wasn’t exactly irrational to propose such an analysis. Even if it was unconscious on the author’s behalf, the story’s proposed political undertones have subsequently allowed generations of filmmakers to creatively reinterpret it to reflect their individual eras. Finney had tapped into the paranoia of an era and a very primal fear concerning the loss of human identity.
This is the crux of Don Siegel’s still chilling small-town set 1956 original adaptation