| |||||
The Clonus Horror
DVD/APPROX. 90 MINS/1979/USA R18+
DVD/APPROX. 90 MINS/1979/USA R18+
6
| All written material is © from 2006 to Present at DVD Resurrections. This website is for informational and entertainment purposes only. The opinions which are expressed within these pages are solely those of DVD Resurrections. No copyright infringement is intended or implied. |
| ||||||
Mondo Macabro presents a really gonzo ‘70s thriller that's part political thriller, part body horror, and all on a budget of about ten dollars.
Clonus is a secret project to create clones of the rich and powerful to serve as organ banks, allowing the select few to live long lives. The clones
are raised in isolation, spending their lives in training in order to qualify to travel to “America,” a myth planted by their keepers to hold them in
check. Good clones will reach this Nirvana, a place of boundless plenty and endless joy, but only if they behave, follow orders and maintain a good,
lean, fit physique.
This brainwashing ruse keeps them compliant, but “America” is just a code for the moment that they reach perfect physical health. They are then
frozen and stored, waiting for the time when their rich owners need a heart or a kidney.
The film has echoes of Brave New World, as some of the clones are infected with a virus at conception in order to inhibit their intelligence. Other
are left to develop relatively normally. These are known as controls. It is one such control that starts to question his existence, eventually
escaping, and threatens to blow the lid off the whole enterprise.
Raising questions about the difference between the haves and have-nots, the nature of morality and who has the power over life and death, the
film sits comfortably with other socially-conscious ‘70s sci-fi fare such as Blue Sunshine or Logan's Run. It doesn't hide its low budget nature, using
recently built buildings as locations to give it a futuristic feel.
The movie was recently ripped off wholesale by the big Hollywood action shenanigans of The Island, which essentially followed the plot exactly
with extra explosions and CGI. Personally, I'll take grainy ‘70s B-pictures over soulless studio movies any day of the week. Clonus is such a goofy
little flick that only the least tolerant of viewers would raise any objections to its slightly scuffed, low-grade charms.
Despite some terrible acting, particularly from the nephew of a corrupt presidential candidate, who seems to come from the pointing a lot school of
performance, the film works well with some nice shock moments, such as a scene where our hero finds his friends suspended in plastic bags in a
large freezer that really sticks in the mind.
Worth seeking out if you don't mind bargain basement production values.
Clonus is a secret project to create clones of the rich and powerful to serve as organ banks, allowing the select few to live long lives. The clones
are raised in isolation, spending their lives in training in order to qualify to travel to “America,” a myth planted by their keepers to hold them in
check. Good clones will reach this Nirvana, a place of boundless plenty and endless joy, but only if they behave, follow orders and maintain a good,
lean, fit physique.
This brainwashing ruse keeps them compliant, but “America” is just a code for the moment that they reach perfect physical health. They are then
frozen and stored, waiting for the time when their rich owners need a heart or a kidney.
The film has echoes of Brave New World, as some of the clones are infected with a virus at conception in order to inhibit their intelligence. Other
are left to develop relatively normally. These are known as controls. It is one such control that starts to question his existence, eventually
escaping, and threatens to blow the lid off the whole enterprise.
Raising questions about the difference between the haves and have-nots, the nature of morality and who has the power over life and death, the
film sits comfortably with other socially-conscious ‘70s sci-fi fare such as Blue Sunshine or Logan's Run. It doesn't hide its low budget nature, using
recently built buildings as locations to give it a futuristic feel.
The movie was recently ripped off wholesale by the big Hollywood action shenanigans of The Island, which essentially followed the plot exactly
with extra explosions and CGI. Personally, I'll take grainy ‘70s B-pictures over soulless studio movies any day of the week. Clonus is such a goofy
little flick that only the least tolerant of viewers would raise any objections to its slightly scuffed, low-grade charms.
Despite some terrible acting, particularly from the nephew of a corrupt presidential candidate, who seems to come from the pointing a lot school of
performance, the film works well with some nice shock moments, such as a scene where our hero finds his friends suspended in plastic bags in a
large freezer that really sticks in the mind.
Worth seeking out if you don't mind bargain basement production values.
| BUY DVD @ AMAZON.COM |
|
| "WARNING: The shock and horror of this film is unusually intense. It is not a film for the faint-hearted." |
| Search Review Database: |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
