Parts: The Clonus Horror

Last updated
Parts: The Clonus Horror
Parts The Clonus Horror (poster).jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRobert S. Fiveson
Screenplay byBob Sullivan
Ron Smith
Adaptation:
Myrl A. Schreibman
Robert S. Fiveson
Story byBob Sullivan
Produced byRobert S. Fiveson
Myrl A. Schreibman
Starring
CinematographyMax Beaufort
Edited byRobert Gordon
Music byHod David Schudson
Distributed byGroup 1 International Distribution Organization Ltd.
Release date
  • August 1979 (1979-08)(U.S.)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$350,000
Box office$3 million or $1,680,000 [1]

Parts: The Clonus Horror (also known as The Clonus Horror, or simply Clonus) is a 1979 science fiction horror film directed, co-written and produced by Robert S. Fiveson, and starring Peter Graves, Tim Donnelly, Dick Sargent, Keenan Wynn, Paulette Breen and Frank Ashmore. The film is about an isolated desert community where clones are bred to serve as a source of replacement organs for the wealthy and powerful.

Contents

An independent production, Parts was released in the United States in August 1979. It was nominated at the 7th Saturn Awards for "Best Film Produced for Under $1,000,000". It gained further recognition after being featured on the comedy television series Mystery Science Theater 3000 in 1997.

In 2005, the filmmakers filed a lawsuit against DreamWorks Pictures for copyright infringement, citing numerous similarities between Clonus and the Michael Bay film The Island . The two parties reached a seven-figure settlement, the terms of which were sealed by the court.

Plot

The film takes place in an isolated desert compound called Clonus, where clones are bred to be used as replacement parts for the elite, including a soon-to-be president-elect Jeffrey Knight. The clones are kept isolated from the real world by workers of the colony, but are promised to be "accepted" to move to "America" after they have completed some type of physical training. After a group of clones are chosen to go to "America", they are given a party and a farewell celebration with their fellow clones. The chosen clones are then taken to a lab where they are sedated and placed in an airtight plastic bag, and their bodies are frozen in order to preserve their organs for harvest.

A clone named Richard questions his existence and eventually escapes the colony. Pursued by compound guards, he enters a nearby city, where he is found by retired journalist Jake Noble and his wife. Jake takes him to Richard Knight, the man Richard is a cloned from, and the brother of Jeffrey Knight. The Knights argue over what to do with the clone (who is revealed to have been secretly commissioned by Jeffrey).

After a falling out, Richard's clone returns to the colony to reunite with his love interest, Lena. To his horror, the clone finds that Lena has been lobotomized by those running the colony. They had used her as bait to trap the Richard clone. Once they have him in custody, they kill and freeze him. Meanwhile, Clonus completes its cover-up by sending thugs to murder Richard Knight, his son, and the Nobles. Jeffrey Knight is stabbed through the chest in the ensuing struggle with his brother, but he appears fine the next day at a press conference, where he is stunned to find that Noble had, before his death, managed to disseminate a secret tape to the news media, exposing the Clonus project.

The final shot shows Richard's frozen corpse with an open chest and a tear coming out of his eye.

Cast

Production

Parts: The Clonus Horror was based on a screenplay by Bob Sullivan. The idea for the script came while Sullivan was taking a screenwriting class at the University of Southern California taught by Irwin Blacker, a story editor for Bonanza . [2] The film was directed by Sullivan's classmate Robert S. Fiveson, [3] his first and to-date only feature film as director.

Production began in Southern California in September 1978 with a budget of $350,000. In exchange for making a donation to the Junior Chamber of Commerce, the town of Simi Valley, California was rented for the picture. Students from a local college received class credit for working on the film. On-screen credit was given to people who offered the production crew dinner, tennis shoes, and bicycles. [4]

The original title Robert Fiveson intended was "Clonus". The film distributor meanwhile wanted it to be called "Parts", much to the protest of Fiveson. Eventually the two titles were combined to make it Parts: The Clonus Horror. [5] The Clonus compound was shot at the then new campus for Moorpark College in Moorpark, California. [6] [7] Additional outdoor shots were filmed at the California Lutheran University quad near Alumni Hall. [8] [9]

Release

Box office gross for the film in the United Kingdom at the end of 1979 ended at £1,680,000. [10] By November 1979, the film grossed nearly $3,000,000. [4]

The film has been released by Mondo Macabro under the title Clonus. [11]

Reception

Blockbuster Entertainment gave the film two stars, calling it an "Interesting suspenser". [12] Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide also gave it two stars, describing it as "Watchable, but uninspired". [13] VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever by Jim Craddock gave it one and a half stars. [14] John Kenneth Muir called it "A compelling low-budget film that despite lapses in taste and style has the sweet odor of paranoia all over it." [15] Robert C. Trussell for The Kansas City Star praised the cast and its social commentary, saying it deserved cult classic status. [16] Linda Gross from The Los Angeles Times gave praise to the film's cinematography and art direction. [17]

Fangoria gave it three stars. While criticizing the acting and writing as "awkward", praise was given for its political subtext in the film. [18] Time Out called the film a "Competent and engrossing sci-fi thriller in the Coma vein", speaking positively of its ethics. [19] TV Guide gave the movie two stars, saying it was undermined by its budget and was derivative of Coma, Logan's Run, and These Are the Damned . [7] In 1980, the film won the "Best Film Produced for Under $1,000,000" category at the 7th Saturn Awards. [20]

Mystery Science Theater 3000

Parts: The Clonus Horror was featured in an eighth-season episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K), a comedy television series whose premise is that the character Mike Nelson and his two robot friends Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo are forced to watch bad films as part of an ongoing scientific experiment. The episode aired on the Sci-Fi Channel in June 1997. In 2007, Rhino Video released the MST3K episode as part of the "Volume 12" DVD collection of the series along with The Rebel Set , Secret Agent Super Dragon , and The Starfighters . The DVD release of the MST3K episode includes an interview with Fiveson, who discusses the production of Clonus and the Island lawsuit. [21] Though hesitant about it for the first five minutes, director Robert Fiveson said that he felt "honored" that the film made it onto the show. [22] Shout! Factory re-released the boxset in 2019. [23]

The big-budget 2005 DreamWorks production The Island , also about a colony that breeds clones to harvest organs for the elite, mirrors Clonus in a number of ways. The makers of Clonus filed suit, claiming copyright infringement. [24] [25] On August 25, 2006, the court presiding over this case ruled that it could proceed to trial. [26] When asked about the similarities, former MST3K host Mike Nelson called The Island a "pale copy of Parts: The Clonus Horror." [27]

According to a 2007 interview with Clonus screenwriter Bob Sullivan, DreamWorks and Clonus Associates reached a settlement, the specific terms of which are sealed. According to Sullivan, the amount settled on was in the seven-figure range. [2]

Related Research Articles

<i>Mystery Science Theater 3000</i> American science fiction comedy television series

Mystery Science Theater 3000 is an American science fiction comedy film review television series created by Joel Hodgson. The show premiered on KTMA-TV in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 24, 1988. It then moved to nationwide broadcast, first on The Comedy Channel for two seasons, then Comedy Central for five seasons until its cancellation in 1996. Thereafter, it was picked up by The Sci-Fi Channel and aired for three more seasons until another cancellation in August 1999. A 60-episode syndication package titled The Mystery Science Theater Hour was produced in 1993 and broadcast on Comedy Central and syndicated to TV stations in 1995. In 2015, Hodgson led a crowdfunded revival of the series with 14 episodes in its eleventh season, first released on Netflix on April 14, 2017, with another six-episode season following on November 22, 2018. A second successful crowdfunding effort in 2021 produced 13 additional episodes shown on the Gizmoplex, an online platform that Hodgson developed which launched in March 2022. As of 2023, 230 episodes and a feature film have been produced as well as three live tours.

<i>Manos: The Hands of Fate</i> 1966 American film

Manos: The Hands of Fate is a 1966 American independent horror film written, directed, and produced by Harold P. Warren. It stars Tom Neyman, John Reynolds, Diane Mahree, and Warren. The film follows a family getting lost during their vacation road trip through the Texas desert and becoming stranded at the lodge of a polygynous pagan cult led by the Master who decides their fate.

<i>Project Moonbase</i> 1953 film by Richard Talmadge

Project Moonbase is a 1953 independently made black-and-white science fiction film, produced by Jack Seaman, directed by Richard Talmadge, and starring Ross Ford, Donna Martell, and Hayden Rorke. It co-stars Larry Johns, Herb Jacobs, Barbara Morrison, and Ernestine Barrier. The film was distributed by Lippert Pictures and is based on a story by Robert A. Heinlein, who shares the screenwriting credit with producer Jack Seaman.

<i>The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies</i> 1964 film by Ray Dennis Steckler

The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies is a 1964 American monster movie produced and directed by Ray Dennis Steckler. Steckler also starred in the film, billed under the pseudonym "Cash Flagg".

<i>Eegah</i> 1962 film by Arch Hall Sr. (as Nicholas Merriwether)

Eegah is a 1962 American horror film directed by Arch Hall Sr. and starring Arch Hall Jr., Marilyn Manning and Richard Kiel.

<i>Zaat</i> 1971 American film

Zaat is a 1971 American independent science fiction horror film produced and directed by Don Barton, and co-written by Barton, Lee O. Larew and Ron Kivett. Produced on a $50,000 budget, the film stars Marshall Grauer as a mad scientist who aims to transform himself into a mutation to seek revenge on those who spurned him.

<i>The Brain That Wouldnt Die</i> 1962 film by Joseph Green

The Brain That Wouldn't Die is a 1962 American science fiction horror film directed by Joseph Green and written by Green and Rex Carlton. The film was completed in 1959 under the working title The Black Door but was not theatrically released until May 3, 1962, under its new title as a double feature with Invasion of the Star Creatures.

<i>Quest of the Delta Knights</i> 1993 American film

Quest of the Delta Knights is a 1993 fantasy/adventure sword and sorcery film that was featured in a September 1998 episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. It is one of only a few movies shown on MST3K that were made in the 1990s.

<i>The Giant Spider Invasion</i> 1975 horror/sci-fi film by Bill Rebane

The Giant Spider Invasion is a 1975 American independent science fiction action horror film produced, composed and directed by Bill Rebane, and follows giant spiders that terrorize the town of Merrill, Wisconsin and its surrounding area. The film was theatrically released in 1975 by Group 1 Films and enjoyed a considerable run to become one of the 50 top-grossing films of that year.

<i>Hobgoblins</i> (film) 1988 film by Rick Sloane

Hobgoblins is a 1988 American low-budget independent comedy horror film directed, written, and produced by Rick Sloane, who also served as cinematographer and editor. The plot concerns small, often considered cheaply designed and made hobgoblins.

<i>The Corpse Vanishes</i> 1942 film by Wallace Fox

The Corpse Vanishes is a 1942 American mystery horror film starring Bela Lugosi, directed by Wallace Fox, and written by Harvey Gates. Lugosi portrays a mad scientist who injects his aging wife with fluids from virginal young brides in order to preserve her beauty. Luana Walters as a journalist and Tristram Coffin as a small-town doctor investigate and solve the disappearances of the brides. The film was produced and distributed by Monogram Pictures, and was reissued in 1949 by Favorite Films Corporation.

<i>Time Walker</i> 1982 film by Tom Kennedy

Time Walker is a 1982 American science fiction horror film directed by Tom Kennedy.

<i>The Starfighters</i> 1964 film by Will Zens

The Starfighters is a 1964 American Cold War film written, produced and directed by Will Zens, and starring Bob Dornan, Richard Jordahl and Richard Masters. In an unusual twist based on the storyline of a pilot and his congressman father, pilot and actor Dornan would seek and win election as a U.S. congressman in California.

<i>Zombie Nightmare</i> 1987 Canadian horror film

Zombie Nightmare is a 1987 Canadian zombie film produced and directed by Jack Bravman, written by John Fasano, and starring Adam West, Tia Carrere, Jon Mikl Thor, and Shawn Levy. The film centres around a baseball player who is killed by a group of teenagers and is resurrected as a zombie by a Haitian voodoo priestess. The zombie goes on to kill the teens, whose deaths are investigated by the police. The film was shot in the suburbs of Montreal, Canada. It was originally written to star mostly black actors but, at the request of investors, the characters' names were changed to more typically white names. While Bravman was credited as director, Fasano directed the majority of the film. Problems occurred between Fasano and the production crew, who believed him to be assistant director and ignored his directions.

Juan Piquer Simón was a Spanish film director best known for directing two cult classic horror exploitation films, Pieces (1982) and Slugs: The Movie (1988).

<i>Soultaker</i> (film) 1990 horror fantasy film

Soultaker is a 1990 American fantasy horror film written by Vivian Schilling and directed by Michael Rissi. It stars Joe Estevez in the title role, alongside Vivian Schilling, Gregg Thomsen, Chuck Williams, Robert Z'Dar, and David "Shark" Fralick. The film follows a group of young adults who try to flee from the titular "Soultaker" when their souls are ejected from their bodies after a car accident. Inspired by discussions with Action International Pictures producer Eric Parkinson, the script was based on a real-life car accident which Schilling was involved in.

<i>Teen-Age Strangler</i> 1964 film directed by Ben Parker

Teen-Age Strangler is a 1964 American independent crime drama film directed by Ben Parker. It was made in Huntington, West Virginia. It was re-released in black & white in 1990, resulting in local screenings, newspaper write-ups, and cast reunions. It has become a cult film ever since it was featured on an episode of the TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000.

<i>Gunslinger</i> (film) 1956 film by Roger Corman

Gunslinger is a 1956 American Western film directed by Roger Corman and starring John Ireland, Beverly Garland and Allison Hayes. The screenplay was written by Mark Hanna and Charles B. Griffith.

<i>The Brute Man</i> 1946 film

The Brute Man is a 1946 American horror thriller film starring Rondo Hatton as the Creeper, a murderer seeking revenge against the people he holds responsible for the disfigurement of his face. Directed by Jean Yarbrough, the film features Tom Neal and Jan Wiley as a married pair of friends the Creeper blames for his deformities. Jane Adams also stars as a blind pianist for whom the Creeper tries to raise money for an operation to restore her vision. The film is a prequel to House of Horrors (1946).

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Donahue, Suzanne Mary (1987). American film distribution : the changing marketplace. UMI Research Press. p. 296. Please note figures are for rentals in US and Canada
  2. 1 2 Walker, Albert (May 17, 2007). "An Interview with Bob Sullivan, Clonus screenwriter". AgonyBooth. Archived from the original on October 12, 2007. Retrieved June 6, 2007.
  3. ↑ Greto, Victor (June 25, 2007). "Of clones and other copies". The News Journal . p. E1 – via ProQuest.
  4. 1 2 Taylor, Robert (November 24, 1979). "How to clone a low-budget film". Oakland Tribune . pp. A8–A9 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ Walker, Albert (January 8, 2006). "An Interview with Robert Fiveson". The Agony Booth. Archived from the original on October 12, 2007.
  6. ↑ Ward, Mike (October 3, 2004). "The Silent Future". Popmatters . Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  7. 1 2 "The Clonus Horror - Movie Review". TV Guide . Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  8. ↑ Hathaway, Spencer (2014). MOORPARK: A 30 Year Glance. Page 126.
  9. ↑ "With California Lutheran College (Sorted by Popularity Ascending)". IMDb .
  10. ↑ Crawley, Tony (June 1980). "Top Fantasy Films of 1979". Starburst . No. 22. pp. 24–25.
  11. ↑ Newman 2008, p. 346.
  12. ↑ Blockbuster Entertainment 1994, p. 820.
  13. ↑ Maltin 2006, p. 1009.
  14. ↑ Craddock 1995, p. 268.
  15. ↑ Muir 2002, p. 590.
  16. ↑ Trussell, Robert (August 8, 1979). "'Parts': It's More Than a Graft of 'Coma'". The Kansas City Star . p. 9A – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ↑ Gross, Linda (November 10, 1979). "Brave Old World in 'Clonus Horror'". The Los Angeles Times . p. 9 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ↑ Gingold, Michael; Kieran, Matthew (April 2005). "DVD Dungeon". Fangoria . No. 242. pp. 65–66.
  19. ↑ "Parts: the Clonus Horror". Time Out . Retrieved August 21, 2019.
  20. ↑ "Skywalker Meets Stella Star!". Famous Monsters of Filmland . No. 170. January 1981. pp. 26–29.
  21. ↑ Sinnott, John (October 30, 2007). "Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Vol. 12". DVD Talk. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  22. ↑ "Interview with Director Robert Fiveson", "Special Features", Parts: The Clonus Horror disc, Mystery Science Theater 3000 DVD Collection, Volume 12, October 2007.
  23. ↑ Sheehan, Gavin (November 23, 2019). "Review: Mystery Science Theater 3000 – Volume XII". Bleeding Cool . Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  24. ↑ Arched, Army; Snyder, Gabriel (August 9, 2005). "Was 'The Island' cloned?". Variety . Archived from the original on April 24, 2009.
  25. ↑ Rahner, Mark (August 10, 2005). "Cloning scuffle between "Island," "Clonus"". The Seattle Times . Retrieved July 8, 2020.
  26. ↑ "CLONUS ASSOCIATES v. DREAMWORKS, LLC | 457 F.Supp.2d 432 (2006)". Leagle.com. 2006-08-25. Retrieved 2017-05-10.
  27. ↑ Berger, Arion (July 26, 2005). "Did Bay Say 'Copy That'?". The Washington Post .

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.