Plot: A science fiction thriller that takes place in 1968’s Mexico and deals with identity in a metaphorical way, as the plot involves a mysterious condition that makes all persons locked inside a bus station on a rainy night to adopt the same face and features.

KBZ’s Take: If you’re a fan of The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits, this Mexican film from Isaac Ezban will be right up your alley. While it doesn’t deal with traditional cloning themes, it does touch upon cloning and identity.

It’s also a film with a smart and unpredictable script. Every time you think you have the film figured out, it takes a complete left turn increasing the suspense and creepiness. Rod Serling would be proud…

Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/3repcch

Plot: A former secret agent, Ki-heon, is living in seclusion due to trauma. When he meets a cloned human, Seo Bok, his restless journey begins.

KBZ’s Take: This film was on its way to a Top 3 ranking on this list until the third act. While it’s still a great film of the subgenre, it suffers from trying to juggle too many themes.

Where the film excels is from a philosophical front and tackling issues of what defines being human and how a genetically superior clone might be viewed by society. In this film, the genetically engineered clone is referred to as ‘the specimen’ by the scientists and the film is great when it explores issues of how humanity is defined.

However, where the film loses some of its luster is with Seobok’s ‘superpowers’ which are reminiscent of films like Firestarter (1984) and Midnight Special (2016). While those films were able to tie the protagonists’ psychic powers or superpowers to an emotional foundation, Seobok doesn’t fully explain the superpower itself and seems like an unnecessary element that was added. It’s used too frequently in the latter half of the film which takes away from the emotional element of Seobok questioning his role as a specimen and guinea pig for humans.

With all of that said, it is still one of the better films of the subgenre but could have been a classic if it had stayed focused on its initial philosophical and emotional themes of cloning.

Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/3KbVgED

Plot: The hottest biotech company in the world has discovered they can clone history’s most influential people from the dead. Now, they are auctioning clones of Michelangelo, Galileo, Vivaldi, and others for tens of millions of dollars to the world’s ultra-rich. But when they steal the Shroud of Turin and clone the DNA of Jesus Christ, all hell breaks loose.

KBZ’s Take: We have to admit, we were very surprised with this film. We thought it was going to be a clunker based on the plot and negative reviews. But like Seobok, this is a film we would have ranked even higher on this list if it weren’t for a very weak third act.

The film’s premise is actually an intriguing one and it’s surprising other films haven’t fully explored cloning historical figures of the past. The Boys from Brazil (1978) is the closest film we can think of that utilized a similar concept with the conspiracy to clone Hitler. The film also is reminiscent of some of the better religious ‘Apocalypse Horror’ films like The Prophecy (1995) and Legion (2010).

Even with the film’s muddled third act, we would still recommend the film. Though fans of the subgenre might like it, we have a feeling Horror fans of Lucifer and the archangel Michael will enjoy the film a bit more.

Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/3WEbxqR

Plot: A terminally ill woman opts for a cloning procedure to ease her loss on her friends and family. When she makes a miraculous recovery, her attempts to have her clone decommissioned fail and lead to a court-mandated duel to the death.

KBZ’s Take: We’re a bit surprised that this film isn’t more popular and has much lower ratings than we would have expected. We suspect that the satirical nature of the film wasn’t for everybody.

This film is a satire and explores some darker themes of the subgenre. But the film’s theme itself is very unique – what happens when your clone is preferred by friends, family and even your lover over yourself? There’s also the matter that after a certain amount of time your clone now has legal rights and only one of ‘you’ can exist in the world. That’s where the duel to the death comes in and is also approached in a dark and satirical manner.

We realize the film might not be for everybody (and there are some parts of the film that don’t work), but it’s a unique theme about cloning that subgenre fans shouldn’t miss.

Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/3O42UTw

Plot: On an uninhabitable 22nd-century Earth, the outcome of a civil war hinges on cloning the brain of an elite soldier to create a robot mercenary.

KBZ’s Take: We’re cheating a bit here with JUNG_E. While the film is about cloning, it’s much more about cloning a brain to create an artificial intelligence model. And that is the main theme of the film – a special forces android that is created based on a human brain from the past.

We’ll also admit this film is much more action-oriented than other films on the list with android on android battles throughout the film. But it does touch on some less explored aspects of the subgenre, especially with the transference of cloned memories into a new body.

Additional Lists: Best Films About Cloning #19, Best Military Sci-Fi Films #20,

Where to Stream / Buy: https://www.netflix.com/title/81465109

Plot: A woman’s consuming love forces her to bear the clone of her dead beloved. From his infancy to manhood, she faces the unavoidable complexities of her controversial decision.

KBZ’s Take: We’re not sure where to start with this film. For starters, it’s very controversial as you can probably piece together what might happen when a woman clones her dead husband, gives birth to him and then becomes his ‘mother’. Second, the pacing in this film is slooooooow. And we mean slower than Terence Malick slow.

There are great performances in this film by Eva Green and Matt Smith and the cloning concept is intriguing despite the execution. If you can get through the pacing issues (and we suggest most subgenre fans try to), it’s a film that will stick with you long after you’ve seen it.

Additional Lists: Top Sci-Fi Biotechnology Films You Haven’t Seen #8, Best Films About Cloning #16

Where to Stream / Buy: https://youtu.be/L2m-CKdjXMM

Plot: In a dystopian future, insurance fraud investigator William Gold arrives in Shanghai to investigate a forgery ring for papelles, futuristic passports that record people’s identities and genetics. Gold falls for Maria Gonzalez, the woman in charge of the forgeries. After a passionate affair, Gold returns home, having named a coworker as the culprit. But when one of Gonzalez’s customers is found dead, Gold is sent back to Shanghai to complete the investigation.

KBZ’s Take: This film also made our Top Cyberpunk Films You Haven’t Seen list and we also wanted to include it here for the film’s very unique Dystopian future centered around genetic engineering and cloning.

While the core of the film is a Romantic Drama, it’s the Cyberpunk elements that are the foundation of the film. From the Orwellian government to gene research and compatibility tests, Code 46 features quite a few Cyberpunk themes but presents them in a much different way. There’s the obvious “High Tech, Low Life” theme running throughout the film but also various futuristic elements such as a pidgin language of English, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese spoken by people, memory ‘viruses and wipes’ and a unique danger of cloning in this fictional world.

We realize quite a few people might have already seen Code 46, but on the off chance you haven’t seen the film yet, it’s definitely one of the most underappreciated films of the Cyberpunk and Dystopian films subgenres with a very unique cloning ‘twist’.

Additional Lists: Top Cyberpunk Films You Haven’t Seen #4, Top Dystopian Films You Haven’t Seen – 2000’s #4, Best Films About Cloning #12

Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/422xv7H

Plot: Hitoshi Nagano, who works at an electronics store, picks up a cellphone left behind by a customer and goes about a scam. He calls the person’s mother and pretends to be her son. He then gets the mother to transfer money to his bank account. Soon, Hitoshi gets a lot more than he bargained for.

KBZ’s Take: We’ll be the first to admit we’re not entirely show how to classify this film. It deals with clones but where are these clones that are different versions of Hitoshi coming from? The Multiverse?

The film is based on the well-known “It’s Me” scam in Japan and uses the scam as a foundation for some very original Sci-Fi and Comedy elements. As the film progresses, clones of Hitoshi (Kazuya Kamenashi) start to appear more frequently and in different variations. At first, the original Hitoshi sees the benefits to all these clones as they can work his day job for him. But as more and more clones start to appear, he slowly realizes that the world can’t support all these different versions of himself and some of them must be eliminated.

This is a really great film that shouldn’t be missed for Kamenashi’s performance as all the different variations of Hitoshi. Highly recommended for fans of the subgenre.

Additional Lists: Top Films About the Multiverse You Haven’t Seen #5, Best Films About Cloning #10

Where to Stream / Buy: https://youtu.be/UB_qfrTIQ8s

Plot: The story of the first cloned human being – told in her own words: At the age of thirty the world-famous composer Iris Sellin learns that she has an incurable illness. In order to preserve her art and also herself, beyond death, for all posterity, she has herself cloned. Her daughter Siri, whom, in this way, she turns into her virtual twin, learns as a child that she is the world’s first cloned human being. In fact, a blueprint: a blueprint of her mother. From that moment on nothing is as it was before…

KBZ’s Take: This is a very underrated film and it’s very surprising it’s so difficult to find. This German film has a great performance from Franka Potente (Run Lola Run (1998), The Bourne Identity (2002)) and it tackles a very unique theme of cloning – where does the identity of an exact clone of yourself begin and end?

The film is primarily a Drama with Sci-Fi undertones as it explores the deteriorating relationship between mother and daughter once the daughter finds out she is a clone. Highly recommended for fans of the subgenre.

Additional Lists: Best Films About Cloning #8

Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/3JHySm0

Plot: In the near future, Cameron Turner is diagnosed with a terminal illness. Presented with an experimental solution to shield his wife and son from grief, he grapples with altering their fate.

KBZ’s Take: The concept of having yourself cloned and losing your identity to the clone has been done before in the subgenre. The One I Love (2014) and Dual (2022) have also explored this concept of identity loss but neither film has done it as intelligently and emotionally as Swan Song.

This is a film about accepting your fate and making decisions not for yourself, but for the betterment of your family. And it’s not easy to watch as Cameron (Mahershala Ali) goes through every conceivable emotion as he watches his family, his life and ultimately his identity slipping away.

It’s also a very slow film that methodically explores the philosophical concepts of identity and death. It’s not easy to watch and has some very emotional themes of the subgenre, but it’s also one of the best films about clones that shouldn’t be missed.

Where to Stream / Buy: https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/swan-song/umc.cmc.2u5ulzjcxh7e50uhichjjlsv6