Updated on July 5, 2005! "If not for the idiotic dialogue, incompetent direction, horrific acting, non-existent budget, and relentless parade of goofy imagery, this possibly—possibly—could have been a decent movie."

Parts: The Clonus Horror, a low budget sci-fi film from 1979, tells the tale of a secret colony where clones are born and bred to be the personal organ banks for the rich and elite. In this movie, clones are told that when they're "ready", they get to go to "America", which they believe to be a "happy place". But as it turns out, "America" is really a codeword for "being put into deep freeze until your organs are harvested".

A cult favorite thanks to its appearance on Mystery Science Theater 3000 during the Sci-Fi Channel years, Parts: The Clonus Horror also happens to be one of the films reviewed in-depth on this very site. Roughly a year ago, I received an email from a reader saying I had kept him laughing deep into the night with my review of Parts. Imagine my astonishment when that reader turned out to be Robert S. Fiveson, director and co-producer of Parts: The Clonus Horror.

I was always a little apprehensive about championing the cause of Clonus as being ripped off by The Island, because basically, I hadn't seen The Island. Anyone could look at the plot outlines and see the obvious resemblance, of course, but I could never really be sure. At least, not until now.

The Island is finally out on DVD, complete with a commentary track from Michael Bay. After watching the movie twice and listening to Bay's commentary, I'm more convinced than ever that The Island is directly based on Parts: The Clonus Horror. In fact, there are several details and plot points in The Island that make absolutely no sense except as an homage to Clonus.

Despite the obvious similarities to Clonus, which I laid out pretty clearly in my review of The Island, the lawsuit itself was a contentious subject among fans of the two films. Now comes word that the issue has been put to rest, more or less, as has the lawsuit. According to an inside source, Clonus Associates v. DreamWorks was settled out of court in late 2006, reportedly for a seven-figure sum to be paid to Clonus Associates.