The Human Duplicators (1965)

An alien is dispatched from a faraway galaxy to take over the Earth by "duplicating" humans and creating a race of zombies resembling animated pottery in this low-budget sci-fi film. Enjoy ... See full summary »

Director:

Hugo Grimaldi

Writer:

Arthur C. Pierce

Stars:

George Nader, Barbara Nichols, George Macready

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
George Nader	...	Glenn Martin
Barbara Nichols	...	Gale Wilson
George Macready	...	Prof. Vaughn Dornheimer
Dolores Faith	...	Lisa Dornheimer
Hugh Beaumont	...	Austin Welles
Richard Arlen	...	National Intelligence
Richard Kiel	...	Dr. Kolos
John Indrisano	...	Thor, the butler
Ted Durant	...	The Galaxy Being
Alean 'Bambi' Hamilton
Tommy Leonetti
Lonnie Sattin
Mel Ruick	...	(as Melville Ruick)
Walter Maslow
Larry Barton

Storyline

An alien is dispatched from a faraway galaxy to take over the Earth by "duplicating" humans and creating a race of zombies resembling animated pottery in this low-budget sci-fi film. Enjoy the opening and closing shots of the alien spacecraft resembling a Christmas tree bauble dancing in space, the faces of the "duplicated" humans shattering like a cheap vase when thrown to the floor, and the formative "duplicates" as they are cooked up in the lab in individual coffins. The alien's heart is softened by the persevering goodness of a beautiful blind woman, deeply conflicting his motives as the film plods to its "climactic" confrontation between the humans and their counterfeit duplicates.

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Plot Keywords:

alien | blind woman | blind | blindness | spy | 

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Taglines:

Made to Kill or Love on Command!

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Genres:

Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 March 1965 (USA)

Also Known As:

Jaws of the Alien

Filming Locations:

Bronson Canyon, Griffith Park - 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$140,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hugo Grimaldi Film Productions, Woolner Brothers Pictures Inc.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Human Duplicators (1992)

User Reviews

From the man who brought us "The Phantom Planet"

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"?).