{"id":4080,"date":"2012-01-11T22:17:43","date_gmt":"2012-01-12T03:17:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=4080"},"modified":"2012-01-11T23:47:37","modified_gmt":"2012-01-12T04:47:37","slug":"dvd-embryo-1976","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=4080","title":{"rendered":"DVD: Embryo (1976)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Return to: <\/strong>Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews<\/a> \/ <\/em>E<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Film: Weak\/ DVD Transfer: Wretched\/ DVD Extras: Standard<\/p>\n

Label: Diamond Entertainment\/ Region: n\/a \/\u00a0Released: January 1, 2003<\/p>\n

Genre: Science-Fiction \/ Drama<\/p>\n

Synopsis: A widower uses his genetic smarts to rapidly grow an embryo into a woman, but loses all moral ground when he begins to fall for his creation.<\/p>\n

Special Features: Text Bios \/ Trivia Facts \/ Photo Gallery<\/p>\n

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Review:<\/p>\n

In Embryo<\/strong> (1976), director Ralph Nelson weirdly returned to a storyline he explored in the humanist sci-fi drama Charly <\/a><\/strong>(1968) \u2013 the tragedy of clinically implanted, ephemeral brilliance in the mind of a human \u2013 but he expanded the concept into the realm of genetic engineering on an embryonic level, but the results are clunky due to a clumsy plot and often deadly dull scenes.<\/p>\n

Nelson had directed a fairly broad spectrum of genres, but he couldn\u2019t quite grasp how to reveal and sustain horror when his instincts kept focusing on moral and intellectual arguments of a brilliant genetic engineer and widower grows a fetus into a learned woman within weeks. It\u2019s a preposterous premise he never manages to make even marginally convincing because it presumes an adult can \u2018grow\u2019 in a giant test tube and acquire full speech and motor abilities; all it needs is some prodding by a patient doctor.<\/p>\n

New human Victoria (Barbara Carrera) isn\u2019t afraid of her benefactor Dr. Paul Holliston (Rock Hudson) at first sight, nor her reflection, nor sound, touch, food, or the big Dobermann she sees upon waking up from a medically-induced coma during which she\u2019s been fed audio lessons in human history, language, and math.<\/p>\n

Once Nelson bypasses that nonsense, the film starts to move along, and there are little portents of Victoria\u2019s primal survival instincts that soon cause a murder, and lead up to the film\u2019s surprisingly grim finale. Hudson\u2019s presence in the film \u2013 and his final scene, where he shouts in outrage \u2013 eerily recalls his role of a man with a younger body in Seconds <\/a><\/strong>(1966), except in this instance the actor plays a creator and master manipulator rather than subject.<\/p>\n

Like the eponymous character in Charly<\/strong>, Victoria becomes increasing brilliant, and aware of her own looming mortality, but her character is unintentionally schizophrenic: Nelson\u2019s scene transitions are jarring when Victoria is seen writhing in pain from her rapid cellular degeneration, yet giddy and sociable once she\u2019s taken Holliston\u2019s chemical injection. There\u2019s also a disconnect between Holliston\u2019s sudden laissez-faire attitude to the point where he not only leaves her alone in the house, but free to drive (to drive?<\/em>) his Caddie around town.<\/p>\n

His lab is only a few floors above the living room and on the same level as the bedrooms, yet Victoria\u2019s pain shrieks are never heard, and Holliston never notices the reduction of his chemical stock which Victoria\u2019s been injecting like an addict.<\/p>\n

Embryo<\/strong> may have succeeded if the script conceived by Jack Thomas (Francis of Assisi<\/strong>) and Anita Doohan (Whispers<\/strong>) had been reworked into a comic book sci-fi or more formal horror, but Nelson\u2019s decision to keep things low-key rendered the film a dud. One can argue Holliston is too smitten with his creation to see what\u2019s happening to his life and his own family, but he\u2019s also a bit of an idiot, making it impossible to really sympathize for the character whatsoever.<\/p>\n

Diamond Entertainment\u2019s DVD is a classic case of a public domain film that\u2019s been spat out on DVD using wretched source materials. Likely taken from an old full frame \u00be\u201d master, the main titles sprawl off the screen, and Gil Melle\u2019s score jitters before the playback heads lock onto the tape\u2019s control track. Artifacts and snow scatter the film, and in one low-angle shot, the boom mike pops in and out of frame.<\/p>\n

Severe digital noise reduction creates ghosting effects in high-contrast shots, and there\u2019s little evidence of Fred Koenenkamp\u2019s skills as a brilliant cinematographer (although he would soon film Islands in the Stream<\/strong> for Franklin J. Schaffner a year later). Any low-level sounds distort the overall audio mix, and a crackling sound recurs throughout the film. Tepid text bios are the DVD\u2019s sole extras, and the composer\u2019s name is grossly misspelled.<\/p>\n

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Postscript<\/strong><\/p>\n

Carrera\u2019s career would blossom soon after Embryo \u2013 notably in the underrated The Island of Moreau<\/strong> (1977), Never Say Never Again<\/strong> (1983), and Dallas<\/strong> (1985-1986) \u2013 and co-star Diane Ladd would peak with Oscar-nominated roles in Wild at Heart<\/strong> (1990) and Rambling Rose<\/strong> (1991). Hudson\u2019s career, however, was in a downswing. Embryo<\/strong> followed a 3-year absence from films, and his TV series McMillan and Wife<\/strong> was entering its final season. His remaining feature films were mediocre \u2013 Avalanche<\/strong> (1978), The Mirror Crack\u2019d<\/strong> (1980), and The Ambassador<\/strong> (1984) \u2013 but there were a few intriguing TV productions, specifically the extremely odd sci-fi mini-series The Martian Chronicles<\/a><\/strong> (1980).<\/p>\n

For character actor Jack Colvin (who plays Holliston\u2019s wary colleague who supplies the fetus that develops into Victoria), he would begin a 5-year co-starring role as Jack McGee on TV\u2019s The Incredible Hulk<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Director Nelson would direct one final feature film, A Hero Ain\u2019t Nothin\u2019 But a Sandwich<\/strong> (1978), before ending his career with a quartet of TV movies \u2013 the medium where he cut his teeth, directing live teleplays during the fifties.<\/p>\n

Embryo<\/strong> was produced by schlockmeister Sandy Howard, who achieved some measure of critical success with\u00a0 A Man Called Horse<\/strong> in 1970, but in site of the rare creative success (Island of Dr. Moreau<\/strong>) most of his output included star-studded genre duds (The Neptune Factor<\/strong>, The Devil\u2019s Rain<\/strong>, Meteor<\/strong>), cheap exploitation fodder, and several Canadian tax shelter film.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2012 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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External References<\/em>:<\/p>\n

IMDB <\/a>— \u00a0Composer Filmography<\/a><\/p>\n

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Amazon Links & KQEK.com’s Media Store:<\/em><\/p>\n

Amazon.ca<\/a> —– Amazon.com<\/a> —– Amazon.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews<\/a> <\/em>\/\u00a0E<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to: Home \/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews \/ E . Film: Weak\/ DVD Transfer: Wretched\/ DVD Extras: Standard Label: Diamond Entertainment\/ Region: n\/a \/\u00a0Released: January 1, 2003 Genre: Science-Fiction \/ Drama Synopsis: A widower uses his genetic smarts to rapidly grow an embryo into a woman, but loses all moral ground when he begins to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[147,547],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-13O","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4080"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4080"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4084,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4080\/revisions\/4084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}