Netflix’s They Cloned Tyrone is one of the latest entries into the sci-fi genre, combining elements of the Blaxpoitation genre to explore themes of racism and assimilation in the United States of America. The film follows Fontaine, Yo-Yo, and Slick Charles, who discover a government cloning conspiracy where Black people are being replaced with whitewashed clones of themselves to create ‘peace’. It presents an incredibly important message about the way the white Americans view Black people and culture, and the way they expect them to act in ways that make them feel comfortable while also making sure they’re still oppressed. If you enjoyed They Cloned Tyrone‘s story and underlying themes, here are some similar and amazing films to watch next.
The Stepford Wives (1975)
Bryan Forbes’ The Stepford Wives is an adaptation of Ira Levin’s book of the same name. It follows Joanna, a young woman who moves to Stepford with her husband, Walter, and their two children. While there, Joanna notices that the other women there don’t really have any hobbies or thoughts of their own, spending most of their time on their appearance or housework.
As the film progresses, it’s revealed that the women of Stepford were once strong and independent, leading Joanna and her friend Bobbie to suspect there’s something more sinister going on. The Stepford Wives is all about the ways in which men are afraid of women’s liberation, and how far they are willing to go to keep them where they think they belong.
Get Out (2017)
Get Out follows a young Black man named Chris, who goes to visit his white girlfriend’s family for the weekend. While on the trip, Chris has to face numerous microaggressions from the family, who insist they are progressive and anti-racist. Chris also begins to notice that the family’s Black housekeeper, Georgina, and groundskeeper, Walter, act in unsettling ways.
After the families annual get-together, where the guests act in disconcerting ways, Chris discovers the sinister truth behind his girlfriend’s all-American family. Not only does Get Out highlight the anxieties that Black people in interracial couples have, but also how Black people are objectified by white people through false allyship.
Oblivion (2013)
Oblivion is set on a post-apocalyptic Earth in 2077 and follows Jack, a drone repairman. As Jack comes close to finishing his mission, he finds a spaceship crash survivor named Julia. Through their relationship, Jack begins to suspect that there is more to the war he was involved in, and questions his own identity. Oblivion takes audiences on a self-reflecting journey, asking them to think about their own choices and actions. It’s about how humans can forget who they truly are when they are in a constant quest for finding freedom, and how not knowing what your place is in the world can lead to the destruction of the self.
Replicas (2018)
Like They Cloned Tyrone, Replicas is another film on this list heavily focused on human cloning. The film follows a neuroscientist called Foster, who works with his partner Whittle to transfer the minds of the dead into androids. After Foster’s family dies in a car accident, he becomes determined to bring his family back to life.
However, Foster soon learns that the U.S. government has different plans for his and Whittle’s cloning project, and he is once again at risk of losing his family. Not only does Replicas grapple with Promethean themes of the risks of playing God, but it also explores the way in which grief can push people to act irresponsibly.
Don’t Worry Darling (2022)
In Don’t Worry Darling, a young woman named Alice lives in a company town with her husband Jack in the late 1950s. Every day, the men go to work on the mysterious Victory Project that the wives aren’t allowed to know about, while they stay home and lounge around. However, Alice then begins to succumb to odd hallucinations after witnessing a plane crash in the desert. She later receives a phone call from Margaret, an outcast in the town, who claims she has experienced similar things.
After Margaret disappears, Alice begins to become more paranoid and suspicious of the Victory Project. While the premise of Don’t Worry Darling is also similar to The Stepford Wives, it focuses more on the evolution of gender roles in a modern society, as opposed to the detrimental effects of the nuclear family.
They Live (1988)
John Carpenter’s They Live follows Nada, who moves to Los Angeles to find a job. On his first night there, a hacker takes over the television broadcasts, warning civilians that the signals are enslaving the population and need to be shut off. Intrigued by this, Nada finds the hacker meeting with others in a nearby church, where there are boxes filled with varying equipment. After the church is destroyed in a raid, Nada returns the next day, when he retrieves a pair of sunglasses.
When he puts the sunglasses on, he discovers that many people in society are actually aliens, and subliminal messages are being released to manipulate humans to consume, breed, and conform to the status quo. Similarly to They Cloned Tyrone, They Live emphasizes the ways in which higher powers attempt to force humans to think and act in certain ways that they can exploit for social or economic gain.
Infinity Pool (2023)
Infinity Pool follows a couple, James and Em, who are vacationing at a resort during a local festival. While there, they befriend Gabi, a fan of James’ writing, and her husband, Alban. Despite warnings, Gabi convinces James and Em to leave the resort and venture into the local countryside with them. While there, James accidentally runs over and kills a man, and he is subsequently arrested the next day. However, James learns that for a fee, the government will clone him and kill it instead, rather than James having to face the death penalty himself.
This leads James to become involved in a dark culture of violence, committing heinous crimes and watching his clones be killed for it. Infinity Pool highlights the ways that wealth causes the rich to desire extremes, and how money allows them to live freely without having to face the consequences, even at the expense of another person’s life.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
Phillip Kaufman’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers is based on Jack Finney’s 1955 novel of the same name. The film follows a San Francisco health inspector, Matthew Bennell, and scientist Elizabeth Driscoll, who discover that humans are being replaced by alien duplicates. The film highlights not only the way in which humans fear each other, but also themselves.
Not only do people truly not know one another, but there is always the fear of society becoming infiltrated by a higher power that forces people to lose their own sense of identity. Invasion of the Body Snatchers also features heavy political themes, showing how dangerous groupthink can be in society.
Gemini Man (2019)
Gemini Man follows a retiring assassin named Henry Brogan. However, Henry soon learns that a rogue private military company called Gemini wants him dead, and they send an assassin to kill him. As Henry fights off the assassin, he realizes he bears a striking resemblance to himself, and is the adoptive son of Clay, the agency’s director. Despite it being suggested, Henry refuses to believe that the assassin, named Junior, could possibly be his own son.
Later in the film, Henry learns that Junior is actually a clone of himself, created to spare the lives of soldiers while also resulting in successful missions. Similar to most films on cloning, Gemini Man criticizes playing God with science, while also highlighting the way humans are exploited in the name of achieving world peace.
Us (2019)
Jordan Peele’s Us is a psychological horror where doppelgängers begin to appear across the world. While on vacation, Adelaide Wilson and her family are attacked by their own doppelgängers, who are called the Tethered. Adelaide’s double, Red, explains that the Tethered share a soul with their human clones, created by humans to control those on the surface. However, the project was abandoned, and the Tethered were forced to remain underground, mimicking the actions of their counterparts above.
The prominent underlying theme of Us is systemic oppression, and how there are marginalized groups abandoned by society for not fitting the quota. Us also focuses on the duality of human nature, and how, if humans were to take a deeper look at themselves, they may not like who they see.
Sorry to Bother You (2018)
Sorry to Bother You is a surrealist comedy that follows a young Black man named Cash Green, who lives in a garage with his artist girlfriend, Detroit. The pair struggle with money, leading Cash to take on a job as a telemarketer, where he is taught to use a white voice to increase sales. While working at the company, he learns that they sell cheap labor for a company called WorryFree, where contracts sign their lives away to be housed in factories.
Despite not agreeing with their ethics, Cash continues at his job in order to enjoy his success, but later learns that WorryFree plans to turn their workers into hybrids to make them stronger and more obedient. Sorry to Bother You focuses primarily on capitalistic greed, and the way in which the rich exploit workers for economic gain.