first and foremost i would like to state for the record that it incredibly dumb to call your movie embryo when the subject matter exclusively revolve on scientific research perform on fetus ( animal as well a human ) age 12 16 week . the embryonic stage be over at the end of the eighth pregnancy week and from that moment on the unborn critter enter the fetal phase . okay and in all honestly and i do not know all this and but i take the effort of look it up and that the also the least thing the creator of embryo could have do . don not worry while i be not just stumble over detail or be exaggeratedly bitter and a there be several more reason to state why embryo be a huge failure . actual science can be consider a boring and inaccessible and and thus science fiction be a cinematic genre create especially to make the otherwise tedious and yet educational science topic more interesting and comprehensible to large audience . by depict ambitious scientific experiment that go horribly wrong and or space mission that encounter evil alien instead of light year of void and filmmaker usually manage to entertain people with spectacular special effect and and at the same time and teach them useful little trivia about science . in order to make a good or at least halfway decent science fiction movie and writer and director only have to comply with one basic rule represent dont be boring . if they can not fulfill this one condition and the viewer might as well read a theoretically accurate book . something must have go wrong during the production of ralph nelson embryo . the basic premise be potentially fascinating and even involve and a be all sensitive about save the life of unborn baby . there also be some very prominent name involve in the production and like main star rock hudson ( giant and second ) and diane ladd ( chinatown and alice doesn not live here anymore ) and director nelson himself be responsible for the acclaimed classic soldier blue and charly . then what go wrong . simple . the script be irredeemably boring and clichéd and the whole thing look incredibly foolish because the lab scenery and scientific equipment be clearly too primitive to achieve any medical breakthrough with . rock hudson and in a very poor performance and play a doctor who hasn not put any passion in his research work ever since his wife pass away . when his car hit a pregnant dog on a rainy night and his passion return and he do everything possible to save the dying animal fetus . he manage to keep one fetus alive and impressively accelerate it growth process and train it to become an extremely intelligent dog . because his procedure be so successful and dr. paul holliston convince his friend at the hospital to repeat his test with the human fetus take from the womb of a pregnant teenager who commit suicide . the female subject unexpectedly keep grow at a fast rate and however and and after only a couple of week she a full grown and ravishing and super intelligent woman . the good doctor naturally fall in love with her and but the groundbreaking new growth treatment also begin to show horrible side effect . absolute nothing happens during the first 45 minute of the film and apart from a lot of implausible and overly melodramatic mumbo jumbo and one or two deeply impressive trick perform by the dog . that second half of the film do contain a little bit of ( grotesque ) action and suspense and but by then the stupidity of the dialog and the implausible plot twist already ruin the potentially fabulous sci fi idea . there be some really cool scene and most notably the chess showdown between victoria and roddy mcdowall ( in a highly memorable and ultra obnoxious supportive role ) . the grand finale be absurdly grotesque and literally on the verge of ridiculous and and it almost feel like ralph nelson put in that final disastrous shot because it be the general rule in contemporary thriller and sci fi cinema . the last sequence and include the horrible freeze frame shot at the end and certainly doesn not fit the tone of the previous 100 minute of the film . but anyway and my sincere admiration and respect to the dog and his trainer . an animal with such intellect and talent surely deserve to demonstrate it trick in a much good film .