The Clonus Horror

"parts: the clonus horror" (the title uses only lower-case letters) stars Tim Donnelly as The Guy Who Played "Chet" in "Emergency", Dick Sargent as The Second Guy Who Played Darrin in "Bewitched", Paulette Breen as The Girl Who Kept Her Nose to the Grindstone, Kenan Wynn as The Grouchy Guy with the Really Really Big Scratchy Voice, and, of course, Peter "Biography" Graves.

With a cast like that, how can you fail?

Actually, although MST3K made this movie the butt of one of their funniest episodes (and make no mistake, their riffing on this movie was hilarious), I really can't say this film is that bad. The plot was interesting, with a fair number of twists and turns, and premise was fairly novel, and the acting was pretty good. (Could anyone look more completely bummed out than Emergency's Chet did throughout this movie?) The clones' vapid stupidity is consistent with the plotline, and Peter Graves projects just the right kind of blandness that you just know covers up a whole lot of evil underneath.

One thing bothers me, though; who was that really creepy looking guy with the eyepatch who appeared toward the end of the movie?

Like most other people, I saw this movie on "Mystery Science Theater 3000." Although it received some well-deserved barbs, it's one of the better films to be featured on that show.

The premise is better than even your average Hollywood blockbuster these days; it poses some interesting moral dilemmas. Although the score is sometimes obtrusive, it also provides a few lovely moments when Richard is walking by the river. Watching the movie, you can see where a lot of plot developments probably looked very good on paper. Richard's discomfort in modern society is an interesting problem to ponder, and the ending probably would have been a nice '70s-style mindfuck if the preceding affairs hadn't been so goofy.

Unfortunately, the movie is visibly cheap, making the flaws all the more obvious. The "clone farm" is very obviously a college campus, and a beer can serves as a major plot point. Lena and Richard have zero chemistry -- we are supposed to believe this is a meeting of kindred minds, but there doesn't seem to be a brain cell between them. The "cranky old couple" schtick also gets real old, real fast. There are also some mistakes that can be blamed on bad directorial choices, such as the decision to hold a climactic conversation out of reach of any audio equipment whatsoever.

In all, a noble effort, but is nonetheless best viewed on MST3K.

All the young adults live in the sort of summer-camp existence that we have come to associate with the rich in 'evil future' movies. They seem naive and rather incurious, although there is talk about America. Then one of them finds an empty beer can in the river, and is sent to America, where he gradually comes to realize what the audience has known since it saw the title: he is a clone and all is not well.

It's a foolish and obvious sort of story, but I think the five guys, credited and uncredited, who produced this did a great job. It cost less than a million dollars to get in the can, and has some actual actors who charge actual money for their appearances in it: Peter Graves; Dick Sargent; and Keenan Wynn. True, none of them were hot commodities at the time, and I doubt any of them spent more than one day shooting their roles, but neither can I see any of them needing the work.

I'm sure it didn't put many extra patrons in the theater. I suspect the producers wanted these guys, talked them into it, and paid them their day rates, and everyone went home. The result is not particularly distinguished, but I didn't start watching this thinking it would be.

This is one great little genre movie from the '70's, that features a great and original concept, though it might sound familiar to those who have seen Michael Bay's "The Island".

The movie is set at an enclosed camp were people's clones live and train themselves to be in perfect condition, while they are being oblivious to the fact that they are actually clones, who only exist in case the person they are a clone of need a new organ. Sounds familiar already? Well it should, since this movie almost entirely features the same premise as the 2005 movie "The Island". It even resulted in a law suit, which eventually got settled.

So you could say "The Clonus Horror" was a movie that was far ahead of its time. And its entire concept does play out well and originally. It's one of those typical '70's science-fiction movies that play on people's paranoia. It sets things up nicely and the movie is taking some good thriller approaches to its story as well.

Only thing that really works against the movie is its low budget. It makes the movie at times come across as being a bit clumsily, or even laughable. Also the acting isn't always of the highest order, though I liked some of its supporting cast.

It's low budget also doesn't make this the most spectacular genre film but there is plenty of other stuff to compensate for this. It's story alone is good enough to carry the entire movie through and makes this sort of a must-see as well for the lovers of '70's science-fiction.

7/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

I have seen this movie a bunch of times. I like the idea of a movie about a colony of clones being used for spare parts. The cloning and what it was used for make this a good Science Fiction movie. The innocence of the clones in contrast to what they are being used for is tragic. The story of what one of the clones does when he finds out this terrible secret kept me interested until the conclusion. Some of the characters are silly and strange but it never really gets in the way of the story.