The Human Duplicators

The funniest thing about this film is star Richard Kiel's attempt to have an emotionless, alien voice. He sounds like a bored Valley Boy. Also, the fxs are awful. The duplicated humans break into little pieces like broken glass. Definitely fun to watch and laugh at.

Hugo Grimaldi's directorial work will not win him any awards from mainstream Hollywood, but he has made his niche on the world of B-Movies.

This effort was a step up in some ways from his classic, "The Phantom Planet", where he teamed up with production designer and associate producer Robert Kinoshita (the designer of "Forbidden Planet"'s Robbie the Robot and the B9 bot from "Lost In Space"). For openers, this movie was filmed in color, a small process that could have perhaps helped lift "Phantom Planet" out of it's near obscurity today.

However, for all his efforts, "The Human Duplicators" was saddled with the same problems that sank it's predecessor: poor scripting, cheap sets and effects, borrowed soundtrack music and audio effects, even using "Phantom Planet" veteran bad guy, Richard Kiel (Jaws of "Moonraker" and "The Spy Who Loved Me")as an android with a heart, as well as other questionable casting, such as Hugh Beaumont ("Leave It To Beaver"), which hindered the credibility of the characters, ergo so went the plot and any chance of suspense (This debate still rages when you ask the question "What if Hitchcock knew that Ted Knight would be forever associated with the egotistical, clueless TV anchorman Ted Baxter? Would he have removed him from the closing scenes of "Psycho"?).

An alien (Dr. Kolos, Richard Kiel) is transported to Earth to prepare for an invasion by perfecting human duplication, with which an unlimited supply of obedient slaves and soldiers could be created. Written by the usually imaginative Alfred C. Pierce, the plot is a throwback to the numerous 'alien duplicate' films of the 50s and early 60s with a minor plot twist before the otherwise cheap and predictable ending. The towering Kiel is amusingly robotic as the alien who becomes infatuated with Lisa, Delores Faith's short and extremely unconvincing blind girl, 'Leave It to Beaver's Hugh Beaumont shows up as a cop while 'Robot Monster's George Nader is the stalwart secret-agent hero Glenn Martin, complete with a superfluous, brassy New Yawker girlfriend (Barbara Nichols). The story doesn't make a lot of sense, especially the inconsistent duplication process, which seems to result in super-strong, bullet-proof yet oddly fragile mannequins. Other than an early scene of Kolos being sent to Earth via "teletrasporter" (a process remarkably similar to the transporters in 'Star Trek', which debuted more than a year after this film came out), the special effects are cheap and laughable (especially the climactic "pulse laser beam"). Pierce's low-budget science-fiction films are usually better than they should be (such as 1966's 'Cyborg 2087') but this one isn't, and beyond an undeniable appeal to camp and/or genre fans (primarily due to the cast) has little to offer to justify sitting through 80 minutes of boring bargain-basement 'spy-fi'.

A movie where aliens try to take over the world. Been there, seen that....

Wait, this one stars "Jaws" from the James Bond films, Beaver Cleaver's dad and some actress who name is actually credited as "Bambi".

Unique pedigree, at least.

Okay, here's the situation: "The Human Duplicators" is a film where an alien (Kiel) must destroy humanity and replace them with extremely fragile androids so his people may conquer Earth. If it were me, I would have just destroyed the world population outright but these guys look like they're waiting for some parts to come in.

Naturally, it's up to stalwart citizens like Nader and Faith to save the day and the planet, with a hefty assist from Beaumont (I expected Barbara Billingsley to come around the corner any second and tell him, "Now just hang loose, blood...."). The whole thing is a product of the early to mid-'60s, sure enough, and is the perfect movie to watch if you want a good, wholesome night of derisive laughter at other peoples' expense.

The movie ends on a semi-tragic note but you'll be crying already at the tragedy that you spent time out of your life to watch this mess. That is, if you go in expecting greatness.

Five stars for good intentions, plus one star more for seeing Kiel without the metal teeth for once. Oh, the "Human"ity!

This silly and incredibly cheap b-movie finds Richard Kiel as a giant alien intent on turning the population of America into ceramic figurines. Watch late at night in a state of alcoholic excess. Fun but stupid.