Donor (1990 TV Movie) User Reviews

The Storyline of Coma Recycled

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 17 January 2016]

The patient Ben Beloit (Marc Lawrence) strangles Dr. Karen Steinbrook (Tony Lawrence) and flees from the hospital. However he is hit by a bus and the intern Dr. Kristine Lipton (Melissa Gilbert-Brinkman) brings him back to the hospital, where she learns that her friend Karen was murdered. When Ben and his also elder friend Crater (Al Scheckwitz) die, Kristine finds something strange and investigates other patients. Meanwhile Dr. Eugene Kesselman (Jack Scalia) has one night stand with her. Soon she discovers that doctors in the hospital are researching how to stop the aging process and her prime suspect is Dr. Kesselman, and she decides to disclose her findings to the Chief of Staff Dr. Simon Martingale (Pernell Roberts). Did she take the right attitude?

"Donor" is a thriller made for TV with a reasonable story. Actually it is the storyline of "Coma" recycled with a predictable conclusion. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Tráfico de Corpos" ("Body's Traffic")

If you liked Coma you will like Donor

[climbingivy · 8/10 · 7 July 2011]

I just watched this movie again after seeing the movie many years ago when the movie aired on television.If you liked the 1970 thriller called Coma with Michael Douglas and Genevieve Bujold then you will like Donor.It is pretty well the same story only in a different setting and with different characters and different actors.I am a Jack Scalia and Melissa Gilbert fan so that made this cheesy movie good to watch.You remember Jack Scalia in the movie with Kim Delaney called Tall Dark And Deadly.Talk about a cheese whiz movie,but a lot of fun.That is what Donor is,a cheese whiz movie for just escaping from your problems and getting a chuckle or two from the bad writing.I have this movie.

Pretty thrilling for a television film.

[jippy33 · 12 June 2001]

I was suprised to be this thrilled by "Donor". It was, on the other hand, a bit easy to predict the outcome, and the suprise at the end wasn't so suprising. But as I said, it's thrilling and it has some Halloween 2 spirit. Look-a-like scenes is maybe a better way to put it, but this is such a different picture, so it would be wrong to compare them.

The actors are B-stuff. Never close too anything I would be impressed by, just people to fill the names in the script. And the old/young boy doesn't make me sad, he makes me sick. He's just ugly man!

But if you're up for some cheap thrills, I would recommend this movie, should you stumble over it on daytime TV.

Melissa Gilbert tries to be a detective in Donor.

[Stanbabe · 7 June 2003]

In this forgettable murder mystery.Melissa Gilbert is a young intern at an inner city hospital.Where a cover up is taking place.Young to middle age men are being used as guenna pigs for an insane experiment.Where they are being turned into terminally ill senior citizens by two renegade doctors(One of them is played by vetrain character actor:Perinel Roberts)who are tampering with the lives of these unfortunate people.Their plans are being thwarted by Dr.Gilbert and by another intern(played by Jack Scailia).Who is really an undercover Drug enforcement agent.Who is assigned to try and check out a lead into a supposed drug peddling scam.But he stumbles onto Roberts mad experiments and he finds out that Dr.Gilbert is getting too close to the villians'plot and she is putting her life and his investigation into jeopardy.The plot is very bare and predictable.And most of the actors in this film do little more than complain about Ms.Gilbert's tampering with a situation that should be left alone.Yet..Ms.Gilbert's performance is enjoyable and she keeps the story interesting.Even if we can guess how it will turn out.