1979's 'Clonus' predicts medical-ethics nightmare

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An isolated clone farm provides the antisepti- cally sinister setting for Clonus ($19.95), a distressingly prescient 1979 sci-fi gem rescued from obscurity by the international specialists at Mondo Macabro (www.mondomacabrodvd.com). It's our ...

DVD pick of the week

Secretly financed by government honchos who harvest unwitting victims for organ replacements, Clonus is run like an Olympic training camp, where the brain-washed young-adult clones hone their bodies to athletic perfection, all in the hopes of an eventual graduation to "America."

But when smarter-than-your-average-clone Richard (Tim Donnelly) happens upon a stray Old Milwaukee beer can, that random discovery kick-starts a quest that threatens to expose the wide-ranging conspiracy.

"Clonus" (originally "Parts: The Clonus Horror," which is still the on-screen title) works best when focusing on the chilling clone farm and its poignant, doomed residents. The film's third act seems a bit rushed after the brilliant buildup, but "Clonus" recovers in time to reach a disturbing climax.

In addition to fine turns by Mr. Donnelly and his clone squeeze, Paulette Breen, "Clonus" benefits from a veteran cast that includes Peter Graves; Keenan Wynn; and "Bewitched" alum Dick Sargent, uncharacteristically cast as Dr. Jamison, Clonus' coldblooded commandant.

Mondo Macabro's pristine widescreen transfer represents a vast improvement over Lightning Video's long-vanished VHS version. A revealing audio commentary by, and separate lengthy interview with, debuting feature-film director Robert S. Fiveson round out the extras. Though largely overlooked in its time, this low-budget labor of love receives a much-deserved second life here.

Collectors' corner

• Hollywood's premier swashbuckler swashes and buckles anew in Warner Home Video's six-disc The Errol Flynn Signature Collection ($59.92). The dashing matinee idol takes to the high seas in 1935's Captain Blood and 1940's The Sea Hawk, romances Bette Davis' Queen Elizabeth I in 1939's The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, and rides the prairie as a reluctant lawman in 1939's rousing Dodge City and as Gen. Custer in 1941's They Died With Their Boots On. The feature-length documentary The Adventures of Errol Flynn completes this essential sextet. The titles are also available individually ($19.97 each).

• MGM Home Entertainment goes to war with a six-pack of combat titles priced at $14.95 each: Hugh O'Brian and Mickey Rooney in Ambush Bay (1966); Lloyd Bridges in Attack on the Iron Coast (1968); actor-director Cornel Wilde's devastating antiwar parable Beach Red (1967); Zoltan Korda's peerless classic Four Feathers, set in Sudan (1939); Gregory Peck in The Purple Plain (1954); and James Caan in Submarine X-1 (1968).