Robert S. Fiveson’s only feature film as director (otherwise known as Parts: The Clonus Horror or simply Clonus) is further proof, should we need it, that sometimes a good idea can overcome a paucity of resources, an underwhelming cast and some occasional longueurs. After being mocked by the lamentable Mystery Science Theatre 3000, it has developed something of a reputation as a bad film which is unfair. It’s flawed, and it’s certainly no lost classic, but it’s a frequently fascinating film chock full of intriguing ideas. Enough intriguing ideas for Dreamworks and director Michael Bay to shamelessly borrow most of them, uncredited, for The Island (2005) (Fiveson sued and the case was settled out of court), a film with a much larger budget but which swapped the more thoughtful elements of Fiveson’s film for Bay’s usual incomprehensible action scenes.
The Clonus Horror opens on what seems to be an idealised US college campus but which is quickly revealed to be a hermetically sealed desert compound known as Clonus. The residents are split between technicians, guards and a group of seemingly physically perfect young people who turn out to be clones being bred as organ donors for the rich and powerful. Kept in isolation from the outside world, the clones are promised a new life in “America” if they pass a physical examination but in fact are murdered for their body parts. One of the clones, Richard (Tim Donnelly), begins to suspect the truth and escapes from Clonus, finding his way to a nearby unidentified city. There he’s befriended by a retired journalist, Jake Noble (Keenan Wynn) who helps him track down his “father”, Richard Knight (David Hooks), the brother of presidential candidate Jeffrey Knight (Peter Graves). As Richard returns to Clonus to rescue Lena (Paulette Breen), a fellow clone he’s fallen in love with, a conspiracy to keep the Clonus project a secret swings into action, attempting to silence those who came into contact with Richard.
Opening with an eerie scene of clones hanging from hooks in plastic bags, an unsettling image that recurs throughout the film, it should go without saying that The Clonus Horror is a quieter, creepier film than Bay’s unofficial remake and it’s easy today to under estimate just how intriguing the plot really is. It may seem old hat now but though it undoubtedly owes a debt to earlier films, most notably THX 1138 (1971), Logan’s Run (1976), Coma (1978) and particularly Bob Wynn’s over-looked television film The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler (1971), it still felt relatively fresh and original in 1979 when The Clonus Horror was first released. Little touches, like the clones being marked with cattle like ear tags, resonate far more than the crash bang excitement of Bay’s re-working (which is the director’s most intellectually rewarding film, though that’s hardly saying much is it?) and it’s a shame that Fiveson’s film fell into the pernicious clutches of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 and developed an unwarranted reputation for being a turkey.
It suffers from a largely non-descript cast (Wynn and Graves being the exceptions, though they’re barely in it) whose performances rarely rise above merely adequate. And some of the casting is notably questionable – Donnelly is far too old to be playing a fresh-faced and naive young clone for example. But The Clonus Horror is a film of ideas, and it has those in abundance. It’s far from perfect (the plot drags at times and the editing is sometimes clumsy – a cut to an explosion that disposes of two of the supporting cast is particularly graceless) but it’s a much smarter and more interesting film than the MST3K association might suggest.
There are lapses in the script, written by Ron Smith and Bob Sullivan, adapted by Myrl A. Schreibman and Fiveson. It’s never really made clear, for example, why the technicians at Clonus go to such great lengths to educate their clones when it’s shown that they’re more than happy to lobotomise any that get too inquisitive. A lobotomised clone is just as useful to them and their clients as organ banks and would be far easier to control. Of course it would make for a very dull film but none of the writers really find a way around the problem
But such minor quibbles are just nit-picks. With an eerily effective choral score and one of those resolutely downbeat endings that 1970s science fiction did so well, The Clonus Horror is never less than engaging and deserves a far better reputation than simply the film that Michael Bay ripped off. It’s a good example of a film that gets by on its ideas, the strength of which make up for the low budget and shaky performances. Watch The Island for the explosive eye candy but revisit Fiveson’s film for the big ideas.
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