History Film / Replica2005

''Film/{{Birdemic}}'' director James Nguyen's second NoBudget film, Replica is a sci-fi romantic thriller about the dangers of human cloning as well as his "tribute" to Alfred Hitchcock's classic ''Film/{{Vertigo}}''.

Joe, the typical James Nguyen Computer/Software Salesman hero, has recently undergone an organ transplant using cutting edge nanotechnology, but is still suffering through a sales slump at work. Fortunately, all he needs to get his sales groove back is to start a relationship with an attractive blonde, in this case Dr. Evelyn Tyler, one of the co-founders of Therapeutic Technology that gave Joe the new kidney in the first place. Sadly, just as their relationship seems to be solidifying, Evelyn is killed in a hit and run accident. The bereft Joe is stunned when he comes back from Evelyn's grave to see a woman eerily similar to her, named Claudia, and he soons becomes obsessed with her as well. But Claudia has a secret that will turn Joe's world upside down...

Shot for just $7,000 and produced so cheaply he had to rely on cheap greenscreen backgrounds to stand in for all of his sets, Ngyuen was dissatisfied with the final product and shelved the film without ever intending to release it. It likely would have ''stayed'' unreleased had ''Birdemic'' not become a surprise midnight movie sensation in 2010, leading to the director developing a cult following from bad movie fans. Due to the financial success ''Podcast/RiffTrax'' experience with their alternate commentaries for both ''Birdemic'' and ''Julie and Jack'', they eventually approached Nguyen and arranged for ''Replica'' to have its first official worldwide release through their digital distribution service in January 2017, followed up by their inevitable mocking commentary version in February, 2017.

* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler: The detective at the end of the film comes in and shoots Dr. G dead before he can shoot Joe.]]

* DoppelgangerReplacementLoveInterest: Claudia is Joe's replacement love interest... except given the title of the film, it shouldn't be terribly shocking that Claudia turns out to be a clone of Evelyn. And just like in ''Vertigo'', Joe makes her over to look like Evelyn.

* DullSurprise: The actors in the film in general are a particularly wooden lot, incapable of delivering even a mildly strong reaction to the events happening around them.

* LeaveTheCameraRunning: Do you love long pointless shots of parking, walking, and the front of James Nguyen's house?! Well you're going to LOVE ''Replica!''

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler: Claudia probably wouldn't have gotten shot if idiot hero Joe hadn't decided to wrestle for the gun with Dr. G. He doesn't even succeed in getting the gun away from him, leading to him needing to be rescued anyway AND Claudia dying.]]

* MoodWhiplash: About halfway through, Evelyn Tyler dies in a sudden car accident. Ted mourns for about 10 seconds, then it's back to romance [[spoiler: until the climax]].
* MythologyGag: A rather confusing one, as early in the film Evelyn and Joe are watching Nguyen's previous film, ''Julie and Jack'' on television... except later in the film, Claudia, an aspiring actress, claims she's trying out for ''Julie and Jack'' despite the film apparently already existing.

* PoliceAreUseless: Why in the world is the detective wasting time interviewing everyone that knew Evelyn about her hit and run? Apparently the cops even did a full autopsy and reported on semen being found in the corpse to her boyfriend because... that would prove what exactly? They already know she was killed ''in a car accident.'' If they suspect she was murdered via car crash, there was no reason to find out who she was sleeping with!

* ShoutOut: More clumsy Hitchcock references abound when Claudia and Joe spend time at a wax museum exhibit of Grace Kelly.
** By now, Tippi Hedren should ''really'' get her lawyers on James Nguyen putting unauthorized footage of her in his movies.
** Kim Novak is used the same way, because again, this is a rip-off of ''Vertigo.''
** I'm sure Christopher Reeve's estate would be thrilled to know he was used posthumously without his permission.
* StalkingIsLove: Just like ''Vertigo,'' Joe stalks a duplicate of his recently deceased girlfriend and manages to get into a relationship with her. Unlike ''Vertigo,'' we are ''not'' meant to find Joe a ''supremely creepy screwed up person.''

* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Joe makes his feelings clear: cloning people is evil. Claudia agrees [[spoiler: despite being a clone herself.]]

* CreatorCameo: James Nyugen in his most autobiographical role yet, as he's playing... a software salesman!

* LoopingLines: Some rather spectacularly obvious ADR patch overs come up in Joe and Claudia's meeting on the street, as at first we can barely understand Claudia due to the ambient street noise then suddenly the background sound cut out and her voice gets MUCH louder.
** The boom box in Joe's apartment clearly has a person just standing in the same room as the boom box reading off the lines.
** In the middle of the interrogation scene, suddenly the detectives lines are all replaced by someone that sounds like a different person in a studio, while the dialog from the perp is clearly from the original audio in the scene.

* MoodWhiplash: About halfway through, [[spoiler: Evelyn Tyler dies in a sudden car accident. Ted's mourning lasts about 10 seconds.]] Then it's back to romance [[spoiler: until the climax]].

* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: The opening title card sets the film in "the near future" to try and explain the proliferation of nanotechnology in what is otherwise 2004.

Shot for just $7,000 and produced so cheaply he had to rely on cheap greenscreen backgrounds to stand in for all of his sets, Ngyuen was dissatisfied with the final product and shelved the film without ever intending to release it. It likely would have ''stayed'' unreleased had ''Birdemic'' not become a surprise midnight movie sensation in 2010, leading to the director developing a cult following from bad movie fans. Due to the financial success ''{{Rifftrax}}'' experience with their alternate commentaries for both ''Birdemic'' and ''Julie and Jack'', they eventually approached Nguyen and arranged for ''Replica'' to have its first official worldwide release through their digital distribution service in January 2017, followed up by their inevitable mocking commentary version in February, 2017.

* BigDamnHeroesMoment: [[spoiler: The detective at the end of the film comes in and shoots Dr. G dead before he can shoot Joe.]]

* PoliceAreUseless: Why in the world is the detective wasting time interviewing everyone that knew Evelyn about her hit and run? Apparently the cops even did a full autopsy and reported on semen being found in the corpse to her boyfriend because... that would prove what exactly? They already know she was killed ''in a car accident.''