galaxyofterror

I rented this Roger Corman production on a freinds recommendation, and I have to say I was impressed ! The plot of this movie concerns a crew who are sent to another planet on a rescue mission. It seems that another ship has crash landed there, and can't be contacted. The crew includes Bio-sensor Alluma ( played by Erin Moran of Happy Days fame) , Robert Englund ( A Nightmare on Elm Street) , Ray Walston ( Fast Times At Ridgemont High) , and Sid Haig (Spider Baby, House of 1000 Corpses). As soon as they get there, strange things begin to happen. Strange forces begin eminating from a huge pyramid, and begin to make all of their deepest fears ( which for some reason are all similar looking slimy creatures) reality.

Corman as usual, has been able to turn a low budget into a fairly high budget looking finished product. Some of the miniatures, and the sets in this are incredible. A lot of the sets look like things that Hollywood are only just beginning to do now, albeit cheating by using CGI. A few of the monsters look rubbery, but a lot of them look very convincing. James Cameron built a lot of the miniatures, and anyone who's seen Titanic can rest assured that he is a much better modelmaker than a director.

The cast of this was pretty fun too. I kept expecting Erin Moran to scream "Fonzie, help me!" every time she was in trouble. Ray Walston was in his element as the un-trustworthy cook Kore, as was Robert Englund in playing a character a lot like Gilligan. This movie also had some convincing gore scenes. My favorite involved Quuhad ( Sid Haig) the Crystal thrower. He despises laser guns, and instead uses two crystal death stars. One of these shatters, somehow gets possessed, and a piece lodges in his arm, sickeningly working its way up his vein. He amputates it, and the amputated arm kills him. This whole scene was pretty incredible. Probably the funniest scene had a female crewmember raped by a huge, slimy alien. This scene alone has cemented Galaxy Of Terror's cult status. This movie has something for everyone : washed up t.v stars, sci-fi , great stop motion, gore, and unpredictability. I'd recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen a decent sci-fi movie in years.