Dr. Oliver is a scientist with a dream. Working for the military, he has built a revolutionary transporter device that should enable our troops to teleport behind enemy lines and infiltrate like never before. The problem is that when he tests out the transporter device on a soldier, it turns him into a woman. Well, his superiors aren’t super happy about that, and they give the project over to the weasel-y Dr. Fields who splices his brainwashing program with the transporter to create sex slave bimbos whenever someone is sent through the machine. How does this have military application? Um… to seduce the enemy or something I guess? Well, the problem is exacerbated by the fact that when the sex ladies climax, they turn into throat-ripping alligators because… something something… stretching the DNA helix…something… I dunno. Just roll with it. Also Brinke Stevens is here as a Dr. Goodbody with a device that can visualize fantasies. Also the whole thing is framed as a story being told by Dr. Kildare played by Gunnar Hansen (ol’ Leatherface himself). Does Hansen’s and Stevens’ sections have anything to do with the rest of the movie? No but I mean, this thing had to be stretched out to feature length so why not pay a couple of name actors for a day shoot to sandwich in some extra scenes? It’s that kind of movie. Also why do they keep calling the transporter a replicator? It doesn’t clone anything…
Repligator is a film that defies critical evaluation. It is relentlessly stupid and completely devoid of any kind of logic or reason. But it knows and embraces this. I’m fairly certain that Repligator’s goal is simply to get as many boobs on screen as possible in the most ridiculous ways possible. Funny enough, possibly the worst actor in the movie is Gunnar Hansen. I mean, he didn’t exactly make his career as a verbose, articulate scientist. Some of the supporting actor babes can’t help but randomly smile for no reason, but I’m assuming they weren’t hired for their acting chops. One of the funnier things about the movie (which isn’t saying much) is that it attempts to explain how all this nonsense is occurring. See, when the teleportation device breaks down the molecules of the person being transported, it stretches the DNA causing the Y chromosome to fall out or something. So that’s why they all turn into women. And they turn into alligators because the orgasm triggers a DNA distortion that reverts them to a primordial state. IT ALL MAKES SENSE.
For those expecting a gorgeous hi-def image, I’m afraid to be the bearer of bad news. This flick was shot on video and as such the best that can be done is a clean SD transfer from the original tape master. As such, it doesn’t look great, but it’s probably the best it’s going to look, like a lot of these tape transfers that have been ported to blu-ray in recent years from companies like Saturn Core and SRS. The sound is a pretty basic stereo track that reflects the low budget nature of the production. But I never had trouble making out dialogue which can definitely be a problem on these micro-budget SOV features.
Where this disc shines is in the extras. Visual Vengeance has packed this thing to the gills with lots of stuff to dig into this flick in more detail. It has, not one, but two commentary tracks, one with the director Brett McCormick and another with Sam Panico of the B&S About Movies podcast and Bill Van Ryn of the Drive-In Asylum fanzine. The latter is the more fun commentary to listen to as these guys are true cult movie nerds who like to dig into this stuff. Additionally, the disc has quite a few interviews including a couple with the director (where I learned about the reshoots with Brinke and Gunnar), one with Brinke Stevens, one with actor Carl Merritt who played one of the soldiers, one with actor Randy Clower who played the brainwashing scientist Dr. Fields and one with producer Wynn Winberg. There’s also a making-of featurette, the original deleted opening scene and some trailers. On the physical side, Visual Vengeance knows how to deliver a fun limited edition package with slipcase, a mini-poster, a set of “make your own” VHS stickers and a pair of “X-ray specs” (another invention for scoping out boobies one of the wonky scientists in the movie invented).
Repligator is a demented, crazy, stupid, fun flick that is perfectly suited for a movie party that teeters into the more unhinged, raucous side of things. It’s about as far from legitimate cinema as you can possibly get while still gaining wide distribution and yet, the movie (it’s definitely a MOVIE and not a film) is all the more enjoyable because of it. Essentially if you’ve stuck with me so far and still want to see it, then Repligator will deliver exactly what you are looking for.