THE HUMAN DUPLICATORS (1965)
Article 1902 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 5-30-2006
Posting Date: 10-27-2006
Directed by Hugo Grimaldi and Arthur C. Pierce
Featuring George Nader, Dolores Faith, Richard Kiel

Noted scientists are going crazy and robbing vital parts from government institutions, and then they turn up dead. Meanwhile, a brilliant scientist has been visited by an alien and is now acting strangely. A government agent investigates.

You know, this is the kind of bad movie I dread covering. Bad movies usually give me ample material for writing these MOTDs; even directors such as Jerry Warren can fascinate me enough that I feel a little inspired when I write about them, and even a movie that is mind-crushingly boring gives me a good starting point.

This movie, however, is one of those that I watch without ever having any real recognizable emotion come to the fore. It’s never so awful as to inspire me to have some fun with it, but it never really engages my attention in any way. It’s one of those movies where event blandly follows event, affecting the lives of characters that never really interest me, and by the time it’s all over, I don’t feel like I’ve really watched anything. Probably the weakest thing about the movie is Richard Kiel’s performance; at this point in his career, he was most effective as a menacing physical manifestation, but this movie gives him a character that was too complex for his abilities and lots of dialogue, and the only good thing I can say about his delivery of the latter is that he’s better at it than Tor Johnson. This is a shame; Kiel has a strong screen presence, and I hate to see him miscast. Even the usually reliable George Macready doesn’t help, though he’s certainly competent in his role. All in all, this is one utterly forgettable movie. On a side note, this would be the last movie role for TV dad Hugh Beaumont.