This filmography gives further details of films discussed in the text, along with a brief recap of how their plots draw upon genetics-related themes. The film's title is followed by the year of release, director (D), screenwriter (W), the original story (if adapted), principal cast members, running time in minutes, b/w (otherwise in colour), the country of origin and the producer/studio. Sources of information include the credits on film's themselves (video releases); credit listings in Sight and Sound magazine; Maxford, 1997; Pym, 1998.
After the Truth (1999) D: Roland Suso Richter. W: Chris Riley & Kathy Riley. With Götz George. 100 min. Germany. Helkon Media. Dr. Josef Mengele is bought to trial in modern day Germany, to account for his part in genocide and his horrific medical research done in the name of eugenics.
Alien (1979) D: Ridley Scott. W: Dan O'Bannon. With Sigourney Weaver, Ian Holm, John Hurt, Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton & Yaphot Kotto. 117 min. USA/GB. Walter Hill, David Giler & Gordon Carroll for TCF/Brandywine. After visiting an apparently dead planet, the crew of a spaceship are attacked and killed by an alien having a parasitic life-cycle. Ash, the Company android, attempts to protect the alien, so it can be taken to Earth and studied. Officer Ripley and the ship's cat are the only survivors.
Aliens (1986) D & W: James Cameron. With Sigourney Weaver, Lance Henrickson & Carrie Henn, Michael Diehn & Bill Paxton. 137 min. USA/GB. Gale Anne Hurd for TCF/Brandywine. Officer Ripley returns to the alien planet with a crew of marines. A colony, established while Ripley was in hypersleep, has been destroyed. The aliens attack and only Ripley, a girl called Newt, and the badly injured Company android Bishop escape. Continues the series' themes of corporate greed, unwanted pregnancy/abortion, and natural/unnatural reproduction and parenting.
Alien3 (1992) D: David Fincher. W: Walter Hill, David Giler & Larry Ferguson, from an original story by Vincent Ward (the original director). With Sigourney Weaver, Charles Dance, Charles Dutton, Paul McGann, Brian Glover & Danny Webb. 115 min. USA/GB. Walter Hill, David Giler, Gordon Carroll & Sigourney Weaver for TCF/Brandywine. In hypersleep Ripley is parasitised by the alien. She arrives at a remote penal planet, but the aliens accompany her. The aliens decimate the inhabitants. Ripley dives into a vat of molten lead, killing herself and the alien that is about to emerge from her.
Alien Resurrection (1997) D: Jean-Pierre Jeunet. W: Joss Whedon. With Sigourney Weaver, Winona Ryder, Dominique Pinon, Ron Perlman, Michael Wincott, Kim Flowers, Brad Dourif, JE Freeman & Dan Hedaya. 104 min. USA. Walter Hill, David Giler, Gordon Carroll & Bill Badalato for TCF/Brandywine. Officer Ripley is cloned from a blood sample, found on the penal planet, by the Company in order to retrieve the alien that was living inside her. Ripley's genome contains alien genes, while the alien has acquired some of Ripley's genes.
The Andromeda Strain (1970) D: Robert Wise. W: Nelson Gidding from a novel by Michael Crichton. With Arthur Hill, David Wayne, James Olson & Kate Reid. 131 min. USA. Robert Wise for Universal. A team of scientists race against time to understand and control a mysterious and deadly microbe of extra-terrestrial origin, which lacks DNA.
Blade Runner (1982) D: Ridley Scott. W: Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, from a novel by Philip K. Dick. Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Daryl Hannah, Joanna Cassidy, Brion James, Sean Young, William Sanderson, Joe Turkell, Edward James Olmos & Emmet Walsh. 117 min. USA. Michael Deeley & Ridley Scott for Warner/Blade Runner Partnership. Deckard must retire a group of replicants - genetically engineered servant clones with a limited life-span - who have illegally returned to Earth. Deckard becomes involved with Rachael, a replicant who thinks she is human. The replicants use a genetic designer to gain access to Tyrell, their maker, who they kill because he cannot grant them more life. Deckard is saved by his prey Roy, the last survivor of the dying group, as the line between human and inhumane becomes increasingly indistinct.
Body Snatchers (1993) D: Abel Ferrara. W: Stuart Gordon, Dennis Paoli & Larry Cohen, from a novel by Jack Finney. With Gabrielle Anwar, Meg Tilly & Forest Whitaker. 87 min. USA. Robert H. Solo for Warner. Pods from outer space descend upon a US military base, where they proceed to replace humans with soulless alien clones.
The Boys from Brazil (1978) D: Franklin J. Schaffner. W: Heywood Gould, from a novel by Ira Levin. Gregory Peck, Laurence Olivier, James Mason, Lilli Palmer, Bruno Ganz, Uta Hagen, Steven Guttenberg & Denholm Elliot. 124 min. USA. Stanley O'Toole & Martin Richards for ITC/Producer Circle. Dr. Josef Mengele clones Hitler, and puts out the boys for adoption, but his plans are uncovered by Nazi-hunter Lieberman, when Mengele has the boy's fathers killed. Lieberman must decide whether the cloned boys represent a future threat, i.e. whether nature is stronger than nurture.
Breakout (1995) D: Moira Armstrong. W: Michael Stewart. With Neil Dudgeon, Samantha Bond, Dermot Crowley, Jasper Britton, Janet Bale, Marius Stanescu, Peter Jeffrey & Alex James. 90 min. GB. BBC TV. Post-graduate student makes secret modifications to a genetically engineered bio-insecticide, making it lethal to humans when sprayed on a field trial. The work is hushed up as the establishment closes ranks.
Carnosaur (1993), D: Adam Simon. W: Harry Adam Knight (aka John Brosnan). Diane Ladd, Raphael Sbarge, Harrison Page, Clint Howard & Jennifer Runyon. 83 min. USA. Mike Elliot for Roger Corman/New Horizons. Mad scientist Dr. Jane Tiptree crosses chicken eggs with dinosaur DNA, and gestates the embryos in human surrogate mothers.
City of Lost Children (La Cité des enfants perdus) (1995) D: Jean-Pierre Jeunet & Marc Caro. W: Gilles Adrien, Jean-Pierre Jeunet & Marc Caro. With Ron Perlman, Dominique Pinon, Judith Vittet, Daniel Emilfork, Jean-Claude Dreyfus, Genevieve Brunet, Odile Mallet, Jean-Louis Trintignant. 112 min. France. Claude Ossard. A strongman and an orphan girl set out to rescue children, who have been kidnapped and held on a oilrig by genetically enhanced Krank - who wants to steal their dreams. Six clones, a disembodied brain floating in a fish tank and a mini Bride of Frankenstein also inhabit the oilrig.
The Cloning of Joanna May (1991) D: Philip Saville. W: Ted Whitehead, from a novel by Fay Weldon. With Patricia Hodge, Billie Whitelaw & Brian Cox. 148 min. (2 parts). GB. Gub Neal for Granada TV. A millionaire produces three clones of his former lover.
Dead Ringers (1988) D & W: David Cronenberg. With Jeremy Irons, Genevieve Bujold & Heidi von Palleske. 115 min. Canada. David Cronenberg, Marc Boyman, Carol Baum & Sylvia Tabet for Mantle Clinic II/Morgan Creek. The Mantle twins work as gynaecologists and appear psychologically inseparable, until a woman upsets their symbiotic symmetry - with tragic consequences.
Deep Blue Sea (1999) D: Renny Harlin. W: Duncan Kennedy, Donna Powers & Wayne Powers. With Saffron Burrows, Thomas Jane, LL Cool J, Jacqueline McKenzie, Michael Rapaport, Stellan Skarsgard & Samuel L. Jackson. 105 min. USA. Akiva Goldsman, Tony Ludwig & Alan Riche for Warner Bros. Sharks are genetically modified in order to obtain a treatment for Alzheimer's disease. However, the sharks grow larger and more intelligent, turning on the scientists who bred them.
Demon Seed (1977) D: Donald Cammell. W: Robert Jaffe & Roger O. Hirson, from novel by Dean R. Koonitz. With Julie Christie & Fritz Weaver. 95 min. USA. Herb Jaffe for MGM. A super-computer called Proteus wants to break free. It rapes the wife of its creator, impregnating her with computer-generated DNA. This leads to the birth of a man-machine hybrid.
D.N.A. (1996) D: William Mesa. W. Nick Davis. With Jurgen Prochnow, Mark Dacascos & Robin McKee. 110 min. USA. Patrick D. Choi & Patrick Peach for InterLight Productions. Mad corporate scientist Carl Wessinger tries to persuade good scientist Ash to rejoin a biotechnology project. Ash refuses, but later learns that Wessinger has genetically engineered alien DNA, from an ancient fossil, with an immunity-preserving beetle chemical, to make a monster.
Doctor X (1932) D: Michael Curtiz. W: Robert Tasker & Carl Baldwin. With Lionel Atwill. 80 min. b/w & colour versions. USA. Darryl F. Zanuck for First International. Dr. Xavier oversees a lab making synthetic flesh. However, patients receiving skin grafts take on an evil nature.
E.T.: The ExtraTerrestrial (1982) D: Steven Spielberg. W: Melissa Mathison. With Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore, Dee Wallace, Peter Coyote & Robert MacNaughton. 115 min. USA. Steven Spielberg & Kathleen Kennedy for Universal/Amblin. Ten-year old Elliot befriends a young alien, his alter-ego, who also has DNA and who has also been abandoned by a parent.
eXistenZ (1999) D & W: David Cronenberg. With Jude Law, Jennifer Jason Lee, Ian Holm, Don McKellar, Callum Keith Rennie, Willem Dafoe & Christopher Eccleston. 97 min. Canada/GB. Robert Lantos, András Hámori & David Cronenberg for Screenventures XXIV. Genetically engineered amphibians and reptiles are made into organic games modules in lab/abattoir/factory complex. The creatures also turn up on the menu of a nearby restaurant - GM food and novel taste sensations.
The Fifth Element (La Cinquième Elément) (1997) D: Luc Besson. W: Robert Mark Kamen, from a story by Luc Besson. With Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, Ian Holm & Gary Oldman. 127 min. France. Patrice Ledoux for Gaumont. An alien with unusual DNA escapes from the lab where she has been cloned and falls into the cab of a taxi driver. They meet a priest who takes her to the place where the necessary elements combine, preserving the Earth from evil.
The Fly (1958) D: Kurt Neumann. W: James Clavell. With Al Hedison, Patricia Owens, Vincent Price, Herbert Marshall. 94 min. USA. Kurt Neumann for TCF. A scientist working on matter transmission, for the benefit of humanity, accidentally exchanges body-parts with a fly. He destroys his notes and kills himself when he realises the threat he presents in his mutated state.
The Fly (1986) D: David Cronenberg. W: Charles Edward Pogue and David Cronenberg, from a story by George Langelaan. With Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, John Getz & Les Carlson. 100 min. USA/Canada. Stuart Cornfield, Marc-Ami Boyman & Kip Ohman for TCF/Brooks Films. A scientist, Seth Brundle, finds his DNA has fused with that of a fly during a teleportation accident. Fusion is at the molecular level, changing his behaviour and his body.
Frankenstein (1931) D: James Whale. W: Robert Florey, Garrett & Edward Farahoh. With Boris Karloff & Colin Clive. 71 min. b/w. USA. Carl Laemmle for Universal. The monster as a sympathetic creature spurned by society, despite his attempts to grow and become humane. Defined the basic movie mad scientist scenario.
Gattaca (1997) D & W: Andrew Niccol. With Ethan Hawke, Jude Law, Uma Thurman, Loren Dean, Alan Arkin, Xander Berkeley, Gore Vidal, Ernest Borgnine, Elias Koteas, Tony Shalhoub & Blair Underwood. 106 min. USA. Danny De Vito, Michael Shamberg & Stacey Sher for Columbia. Vincent is a "faith" birth, while his brother is a genetically enhanced birth (a Valid). Realising that genetic discrimination will prevent him achieving his goal in life, Vincent assumes the genetic identity of a crippled Valid worker, Jerome, at the Gattaca Corporation. He is falsely accused of a murder, which is investigated by his brother, who penetrates his disguise but finds him innocent. With the aid of office-mate Irene and a sympathetic technician, Vincent maintains his deception and flies on a mission to Titan.
Der Golem, Wie er in die Welt kam (1920) D & W: Paul Wegener & Henrik Galeen, from a novel by Gustav Meyrinck. With Paul Wegener. b/w. Germany. Ufa. A clay model is bought to life by a rabbi to save persecuted Jews.
The Handmaid's Tale (1990) D: Volker Schlöndorff. W: Harold Pinter, from a novel by Margaret Atwood. With Faye Dunaway, Aidan Quinn, Elizabeth McGovern & Robert Duvall. 108 min US/Germany. Wolfgang Glatters for Cinecom/Bioskop/Cinetadges/Odyssey. Future society in which abortion, infertility treatment and other reproductive choices have been denied women by the religious right. A crisis in fertility results in surrogate mothers being forced to give birth for the state.
The Hands of Orlac (Orlacs Hände) (1924) D: Robert Wiene. W: Ludwig Nerz, from a novel by Maurice Renard. With Conrad Veidt, Alexandra Sorina, Carmen Cartellieri & Fritz Kortner. 92 min. b/w. Austria. Karl Ehrlich for Pan-Film. A concert pianist losses his hands in a rail crash and has the hands of an executed murderer grafted onto his arms, but they retain the nature of the donor.
Homunculus (Homunculus Der Führer) (1916) D & W: Otto Rippert, from a novel by Robert Reiner. b/w. Germany. Deutsche Bioscop. Mad scientist creates soulless artificial man.
Invasion of the Bodysnatchers (1956) D: Don Siegel. W: Daniel Mainwairing & Sam Peckinpah (uncredited), from a novel by Jack Finney. With Kevin McCarthy & Dana Wynter. 80 min. USA. Walter Wanger for Allied Artists. Pods from outer space descend on a small US town, where they proceed to replace humans with soulless alien clones.
Invasion of the Bodysnatchers (1978) D: Philip Kauffman. W: W.D. Richeter, from a novel by Jack Finney. With Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Leonard Nimoy, Veronica Cartwright, Jeff Goldblum, Kevin McCarthy & Don Siegel. 115 min. USA. Robert H. Solo for United Artists/Solofilm. Pods from outer space descend upon San Francisco, where they proceed to replace humans with soulless alien clones.
The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977) D: Don Taylor. W: John Herman Shaner & Al Ramrus, from a novel by H.G. Wells. With Burt Lancaster, Michael York, Nigel Davenport, Barbara Carrera & Richard Basehart. 98 min. USA. Skip Steloff & John Temple-Smith for AIP/Cinema 77. Dr. Moreau creates man-beast hybrids on a remote island, who eventually rebel and kill him.
The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996) D: John Frankenheimer. W: Richard Stanley (the original director) & Ron Hutchinson, from a novel by H.G. Wells. With David Thewlis, Marlon Brando, Val Kilmer, Fairuza Balk, Ron Perlman & Marco Hofschneider. 94 min. USA. Edward R. Pressman for New Line. Dr. Moreau genetically engineers man-beast hybrids on a remote island, who eventually rebel and kill him.
Island of Lost Souls (1932) D: Erle C. Kenton. W: Waldemar Young & Philip Wylie, from a novel by H.G. Wells. With Charles Laughton, Richard Arlen, Leila Hyams, Kathleen Burke, Stanley Fields & Bela Lugosi. 74 min. b/w. USA. Paramount. Dr. Moreau uses vivisection to create man-beast hybrids on a remote island, who eventually rebel and kill him.
Judge Dredd (1995) D: Danny Cannon. W: William Wisher & Steven E. de Souza, from the comic characters created by John Wagoner & Carlos Ezquerra. With Sylvester Stallone, Armand Assante, Diane Lane, Joan Chen, Max von Sydow, Balthazar Getty & Jurgen Prochnow. 95 min. USA. Charles M. Lippincott, Andrew G. Vajna & Baeu E.L. Marks for Cinergi Pictures. Judge Dredd is framed when his DNA is found on a murder weapon. While in exile, he learns that he was born as the result of a genetics programme to breed superior law enforcers. Meanwhile, his cloned brother Rico, who framed him, helps foment social chaos. Dredd returns, destroys the cloning factory and re-installs his natural-born version of justice.
Junior (1994) D: Ivan Reitman. W: Kevin Wade & Chris Conrad. With Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny De Vito, Emma Thompson, Frank Langell, Pamela Reed & Judy Collins. 110 min. USA. Ivan Reitman for Universal/Northern Lights. With aid of a new fertility drug, a male scientist becomes pregnant, using an egg that his colleague has secretly taken from female scientist's freezer. Fortunately, she falls in love him and they live as a happy family after the birth. Audiences asked to side with scientists, and their downplayed unethical behaviour, because termination is here not an option.
Jurassic Park (1993) D: Steven Spielberg. W: Michael Crichton & David Koepp, from novel by Michael Crichton. With Sam O'Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Bob Peck, Martin Ferrero 127 min. USA. Kathleen Kennedy & Gerald R. Molen for Universal/Amblin. A billionaire entrepreneur releases dinosaurs, cloned from DNA obtained from insects trapped in amber, into an island theme park. However, they escape during a pre-opening tour. Two palaeontologists, a chaos theorist, a lawyer, two children and a big-game hunter must survive the threat and bring the dinosaurs back under control.
Life Story (1987) D: Mick Jackson. W: William Nicholson. With Tim Pigott-Smith, Jeff Goldblum, Juliet Stevenson & Alan Howard. 106 min. GB. Mick Jackson for BBC TV. Francis Crick and Jim Watson in Cambridge lead the race to discover the structure of DNA, with the aid of Maurice Wilkins in London, and in competition against Rosalind Franklin in Paris.
Lorenzo's Oil (1993) D: George Miller. W: George Miller & Nick Enright. With Nick Nolte, Susan Sarandon & Peter Ustinov. 135 min. USA. Doug Mitchell & George Miller for Universal. The Odones search for a cure to ALD, a genetic disease that is killing their son. The medical establishment, represented by Professor Nikolais remains sceptical.
The Lost World (1925) D: Harry O. Hoyt. W: Marion Fairfax, from a novel by Arthur Conan Doyle. b/w. USA. First National. Travellers find prehistoric dinosaurs in remote jungle valley.
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) D: Steven Spielberg. W: David Koep, from a novel by Michael Crichton. With Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, Pete Postlethwaite, Arliss Howard, Vince Vaughn & Richard Attenborough. 122 min. USA. Gerald R. Molen & Colin Wilson for Universal/Amblin. In this sequel, a scientific team is sent to a second island populated by cloned dinosaurs, which appear to have established themselves. Meanwhile, a big-game hunter leads a group aiming to capture some dinosaurs and take them to the mainland.
Mad Love (The Hands of Orlac) (1935) D: Karl Freund. W: P.J. Wolfson & John L. Balderstone, from a novel by Maurice Renard. With Peter Lorre. 70 min. b/w. USA. John W. Considine Jr. for MGM. A doctor transplants two hands onto an accident victim, but they develop a life of their own when he falls in love with the patient's wife.
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994) D: Kenneth Branagh. W: Steph Lady & Frank Darabont, from a novel by Mary Shelley. With Robert De Niro, Kenneth Branagh, Helena Bonham Carter, Tom Hulce, John Cleese, Richard Briers, Ian Holm, Aidan Quinn & Robert Hardy. 123 min. USA. Francis Ford Coppola, James V. Hart & John Veitch for Columbia TriStar. Plot follows closely Shelley's novel, but with modern resonances concerning nature versus nurture.
Metropolis (1926) D: Fritz Lang. W: Thea Von Harbou & Fritz Lang, from a novel by Thea Von Harbou. With Brigitte Helm, Alfred Abel, Gustave Frölich & Rudolph Klein-Rogge. Different versions last between 75 min-139 min. b/w. Germany. Erich Pommer for Ufa. Mad scientist Rotwang creates a bad robot clone of a saintly girl, who leads workers into ill-fated revolution.
Mighty Aphrodite (1995) D & W: Woody Allen. With Woody Allen, Mira Sorvino, Helena Bonham Carter, Peter Weller & F. Murray Abrahams. 95 min. USA. Robert Greenhut, Helen Robin, Jack Rollins, Charles H. Joffe & Letty Aronson for Magnolia/Sweetland. Assumptions about nature and nurture fly when man seeks the biological mother of his adopted child.
Mimic (1997) D: Guillermo del Toro. W: Guillermo del Toro, Matthew Robbins, John Sayles & Steven Soderbergh, from a story by Donald A. Wollheim. With Mira Sorvino, Jeremy Northam, Charles Dutton, F. Murray Abrahams & Giancarlo Giannini. 105 min. USA. Bob Weinstein, B.J. Rack & Ole Bornedal for Miramax. Scientist genetically engineers a new insect (the Judas Breed) from termite and mantid DNA, which kills the cockroaches that spread a deadly disease. However, the modified bug mutates and mimics its new prey - humans.
Multiplicity (1996) D: Harold Ramis. W: Chris Miller, Mary Hale, Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel, from a story by Chris Miller. With Michael Keaton, Andie McDowell, Harris Yulin, Richard Masur, Eugene Levy & Ann Cusack. 112 min. USA. Trevor Albert & Harold Ramis for Columbia. A building contractor has himself cloned to make more time for himself. His wife leaves, however, when two clones cause havoc, which she attributes to him. He sorts himself out, sends the clones packing, and wins her back.
O Lucky Man! (1973) D: Lindsay Anderson. W: David Sherwin. With Malcolm McDowell, Ralph Richardson, Helen Mirren, Arthur Lowe, Rachel Roberts. 174 min. GB. Warner Bros. Picaresque tale of Mick Travis' journey through corrupt Britain. At a research hospital he becomes involved in experiments to transplant animal organs and body-parts onto humans.
Outbreak (1995) D: Wolfgang Peterson. W: Laurence Dworet & Robert Roy Pool. With Dustin Hoffmann, Rene Russo, Morgan Freeman, Donald Sutherland, Kevin Spacey, Cuba Gooding Jr & Patrick Dempsey. 128 min. USA. Arnold Popelson, Wolfgang Peterson & Gail Katz for Warner Bros. Colonel Sam Daniels and estranged wife Dr. Robby Keough team up professionally to fight what appears to be an outbreak of Ebola virus in the USA.
Parts: The Clonus Horror (Clonus) (1979) D: Robert S. Fiveson. W: Myrl A. Schreibman & Robert S. Fiveson. With Tim Donelly, Peter Graves, Dick Sargent & Keenen Wynn. 90 min. USA. Robert S. Fiveson, Walter Fiveson, Myrl A. Schreibman for Fiveson Productions. Human cloning for transplant surgery, but clones become sentient adult beings with ideas of their own.
Proteus (1995) D: Bob Keen. W: John Brosnan. 92 min. GB. Paul Brooks for Polygram/Metrodome. Scientist's genetic engineering experiments on oilrig produce deadly creature.
The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler (1971) D: Bob Wynn. W: Jay Simms. With Leslie Nielson & Bradford Dillum. 100 min. USA. Robert W. Stabler for Gold Key Entertainment. Human cloning to meet growing organ demand for transplant surgery.
Silent Running (1971) D: Douglas Trumbull. W: Deric Washburn, Michael Cimino & Stephen Bochco. With Bruce Dern. 90 min. USA. Douglas Trumbull for Universal. The last of the Earth's genetic resources adrift in a greenhouse in space.
Soylent Green (1973) D: Richard Fletcher. W: Stanley R. Greenberg, from a novel by Harry Harrison. With Charlton Heston, Edward G. Robinson, Joseph Cotten & Chuck Connors. 97 min. USA. Walter Seltzer & Russell Thatcher for MGM. Extreme solution to future food shortage, but its GM-free.
Sleeper (1973) D: Woody Allen. W: Woody Allen & Marshall Brickman. With Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, John Beck & Mary Gregory. 88 min. USA. Jack Rollins, Charles H. Joffe & Jack Grossberg for United Artists/MGM. Cryogenically frozen Miles wakes in a fascist state 200 years in the future. Revolutionaries talk him into sabotaging the cloning of a dead dictator.
Species (1995) D: Roger Donaldson. W: Dennis Feldman. With Ben Kingsley, Natasha Henstridge, Michael Madsen, Marg Helgenberger, Alfred Molina & Forest Whitaker. 108 min. USA. Frank Mancuso Jr. & Dennis Feldman for United Artists/MGM. Government scientists use genetic engineering to combine human and alien DNA. The outcome is an attractive but murderous women, Sil, who will go to extreme lengths to spread her genes within the human population. A team of multi-disciplinary experts tracks her down.
Species II (1998) D: Peter Medak. W: Chris Brancato, based on characters created by Dennis Feldman. With Natasha Henstridge, Justin Lazard, Michael Madsen, Marg Helgenberger, James Cromwell, George Dzundza & Myriam Cyr. 93 min. USA. Frank Mancuso Jr. for MGM. Astronaut Patrick Ross is infected with alien DNA on a trip to Mars. Back on Earth he spreads it through sex, to create instant human-alien hybrid children. A multi-disciplinary team tries to find him, with the aid of Eve - a lab reared clone from Sil's original DNA. Her alien genes are suppressed, but can her humanity survive alien sex?
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) D: Nicholas Meyer. W: Jack B. Sowards, from a story by Jack B. Sowards & Harve Bennett. With William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, Walter Koenig, George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, Ricardo Montalban & Paul Winfield. 114 min. USA. Robert Sallin for Paramount. Kirk and the original Enterprise crew come up against their old enemy Khan, a genetically-enhanced villain.
Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) D: Jonathan Frakes. W: Michael Piller, from a story by Rick Berman & Michael Piller. With Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, F. Murray Abraham, Donna Murphy & Anthony Zerbe. 103 min. USA. Rick Berman for Paramount. The peaceful Ba'ku settle on a planet, whose properties give them an extended lifespan - by continuously regenerated damaged genetic structures. The Som'a, led by the ailing and genetically-manipulated Ru'afo, plan to take over the planet. The Federation belatedly realises that they have become caught in a blood feud, when DNA analysis reveals the genetic relatedness of the two races.
Star Wars: Episode One - The Phantom Menace (1999) D & W: George Lucas. With: Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd, Frank Oz & Ian McDiarmid. 133 min. USA. George Lucas for Lucasfilms/20th Century Fox. Two Jedi knights are sent to Naboo to negotiate in a trade dispute. They come across a slave boy and help free him. A sample of his blood reveals midi-chlorians or "genes for" the force, which runs strong in him. The Federation attack Naboo with battle droids, cloned in their thousands, but are repulsed when the Naboo join forces with their neighbours the Gugan to defend the planet.
The Stepford Wives (1974) D: Bryan Forbes. W: William Goldman, from a novel by Ira Levin. With Katharine Ross, Paula Prentiss, Patrick O'Neal, Nanette Newman, Peter Masterson & Tina Louise. 115 min. USA. Edgar J. Scherick for Palomar/Fadsin. After a young couple move to a small commuter village outside New York, the photographer wife discovers that the other men in the village have all replaced their wives with subservient clones, and her turn is next.
Them! (1954) D: Gordon Douglas. W: Ted Sherman & Russell Hughes, from a story by George Worthington Yates. With James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn, Joan Wheldon, James Arness, Onslow Stevens & Leonard Nimoy. 94 min. b/w. USA. David Weisbart for Warner Bros. As a result of atomic radiation, giant ants are created in the New Mexico desert. The US army confronts the mutants in Los Angeles' storm drains.
The Thing from Another World (The Thing) (1951) D: Christian Nyby. W: Charles Lederer, from a story by J.W. Campbell. With Kenneth Tobey, Margaret Sheridan, Robert Cornthwaite & James Arness. 87 min. b/w. USA. Howard Hawks for RKO/Winchester. A monster from another world attacks members of a scientific expedition to Antarctica.
The Thing (1982) D: John Carpenter. W: Bill Lancaster, from a story by J.W. Campbell. With Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, T.K. Carter, David Clennon, Richard Masur & Richard Dysart. 109 min. USA. David Foster, Lawrence Turman & Stewart Cohen for Universal. An alien attacks an Arctic research station, taking over the DNA and bodies of its victims.
Twelve Monkeys (1995) D: Terry Gilliam. W: David Peoples & Janet Peoples. With Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt, Madeleine Stowe & Christopher Plummer. 130 min. USA. Charles Roven for Universal/PolClassico/Atlantas. Genetically modified virus, released by terrorist, wipes out 99% of Earth's population.
Twins (1988) D: Ivan Reitman. W: William Goldman, William Davies, William Osbourne, Timothy Harris & Herschel Weingrod. With Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny De Vito, Kelly Preston, Chloe Webb & Nehemiah Persoff. 107 min. USA. Ivan Reitman for Universal. Genetically engineered twins meet for the first time as adults and discover they have more in common than initially appears.
Village of the Damned (1960) D: Wolf Rilla. W: Stirling Silliphant, Wolf Rilla & Geoffrey Barclay, from a novel by John Wyndham. With George Sanders, Martin Stephens, Barbara Shelley, Michael Gwynne & Laurence Naismith. 78 min. b/w. GB. Ronald Kinnoch for MGM. Women in a remote town are mysteriously impregnated with alien DNA during a power blackout, and simultaneously give birth to identical children who communicate telepathically.
Westworld (1973) D & W: Michael Crichton. With Yul Brynner, Richard Benjamin, James Brolin, Norman Bartold & Alan Oppenheimer. 89 min. USA. Paul N. Lazarus III for MGM. Robots run amok in holiday Resort Park. A forerunner of Jurassic Park.
The X-Files: Fight the Future (1998) D: Rob Bowman. W: Chris Carter, from a story by Chris Carter & Frank Spotnitz. With David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Martin Landau, Blythe Danner & Armand Mueller-Stahl. 121 min. USA. Chris Carter & Daniel Sackheim for Twentieth Century Fox. FBI agents Mulder and Scully wade through conspiracy theory and a plot that involves alien abduction, cloning, genetic modification, transgenic crops and killer bees.
A Zed and Two Noughts (1985) D & W: Peter Greenaway. With Eric Deacon, Brian Deacon & Andrea Ferréol. 115 min. GB/Netherlands. BFI/Artificial Eye/Film Four. Twin zoologists survive an accident, due to a swan crashing into their car, which kills their wives. They both fall in love with the car's driver Alba Bewick. Artistic and scientific symmetry pervades the film.
Chapter 1: It Came from the Lab.
Chapter 2: Dinosaur Resurrection.
Chapter 3: Confronting the Clone.
Chapter 4: Cloning the Alien.
Chapter 5: Danger: Genetically Modified Organisms.
Chapter 6: Designer Babies.
Chapter 7: All in the Genes?
Chapter 8: Real-life Science.
Chapter 9: Are Movies Impeding Biotechnology?
October 1999 SFN.