Body Snatchers

Arnold R. Holt, 67, an industrial designer, died Oct. 26 at a hospital in Greenwich, Conn., after a heart attack. The New York native with homes in Cos Cob, Conn., and North Haven, Maine, grew up in Baltimore, where he graduated from Gilman School and attended the Johns Hopkins University. He also attended New York University before obtaining a degree in industrial design from the Pratt Institute. He is survived by his wife, the former Eleanor Oliver Rutledge; three daughters, Olivia Cauldwell Holt of Cos Cob, Susan Middleton Holt of Rockland, Maine, and Eliza Rutledge Holt of Santa Ana, Calif; a sister, Linda M. Holz of Camden, Maine; and two granddaughters.

The best thing about Friday the 13th, in terms of TV? Being able to mark the occasion with a first-run episode of "The X-Files." The worst thing? As always, a jag of Jason movies. At least, by next week at this time, we should finally be able to see some other hockey masks on TV.* "The X-Files" (9-10 p.m., Channel 45) -- Bruce Weitz, Belker on "Hill Street Blues," portrays Agent Bocks, in a story about a serial killer whose deviant behavior isn't limited to murder. Fox.* "Homicide: Life on the Street" (10-11 p.m., Channel 11)

It's not the best bet tonight, but it's certainly the most noteworthy: Peter Falk stars in a new "Columbo" telemovie that bears less resemblance to "Columbo" than it does to "Baretta."* "Moment of Truth: Cradle of Conspiracy" (9-11 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2) -- Danica McKellar, the latest child star to attempt the transition to more mature roles, plays a 17-tear-old girl who falls .. in love with a dashing young man (Kurt Deutsch) and gets pregnant. The catch is, he only wants her for the baby, which he plans to kidnap and sell.

Like "A Christmas Carol" or "Romeo and Juliet," "Body Snatchers" almost defies ruination, even by the most enthusiastic of hacks.Jack Finney's original novella is so exactingly structured both as story telling and morphic resonance that it has now become a movie for the third time. First, it was a '50s meditation on the numbing horrors of conformism, as directed by the gifted, underrated Don Siegel; it had an echo of political meaning to it, a possible metaphoric connection to McCarthyism.

We're nearing the end of the Bush era in movies.In movies? Yes, that's right.Just as presidential administrations set the tone in such areas as education, energy and international diplomacy, they also seem to have a mysterious relationship with the national movie mood.The original "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956), for example, was a telling emblem of the paranoid Eisenhower period, while the free-spirited "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (1961) seemed to reflect the optimism of the Kennedy years.

if you can't get enough of those terrifying giant pods in the 1956 "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and the 1978 remake, don't worry. Version No. 3, titled just "Body Snatchers," is filming in Selma, Ala.Co-screenwriter Stuart Gordon ("Re-Animator") says that it's more of a remake than a sequel."We realized that it's been 14 years since the last 'Body Snatchers' movie and that there's a whole new audience that really knows nothing about the first two films," says Mr. Gordon. "This one doesn't depend on knowing about the first two movies.

W.D. Richter says there's no mystery about what's become of him in the seven years since he made "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai," an eccentric and imaginative science-fiction movie that has become a cult classic."