Coventry I've never been a fan of Fred Olen Ray, but before he went completely bonkers and started to direct approximately six or seven useless dreck movies per year, he admittedly did make a few worthwhile B-flicks during the 80s. Of those, I firmly believe that "Deep Space" is the most enjoyable one, even though it's another umpteenth and 100% unoriginal imitation of the Ridley Scott classic "Alien". Passable as it may be, "Deep Space" at least guarantees fast-paced action sequences, gooey special effects, (unintentionally) hilarious dialogues and a rare lead performance by Charles Napier as the ultimately tough macho copper. "Deep Space" sees a top-secret space capsule, developed by military scientists and containing an alien monster, crash-landing in the outskirts of a big city. Nihilistic cop Ian Macklemore (Napier) and his partner Jerry are quickly taken off the case, but Macklemore nevertheless managed to steal two rocky cocoons from the crime scene. Pretty soon, he and his female officer date are chasing miniature alien monsters in their apartment, while there's also a mature and deadlier specimen terrorizing the streets. Olen Ray clearly didn't bother to make his monsters look much different than the original designs used in the aforementioned "Alien", except perhaps that the teeth are slightly bigger. I'm surprised this didn't lead to any lawsuits? Never mind the immense plot holes, like how exactly do you create an alien monster and what's the deal with the psychic lady, since Olen Ray compensates these with gory killings and cheesy dialogues (my favorite being: "Is this rock extraterrestrial? No man, it's from outer space!"). Charles Napier is so happy with his heroic role that he even agreed to dress up in a kilt and play a lousy tune on his bag pipes! There are several more familiar faces in "Deep Space", including An Turkel, Norman Burton and Julie Newmar. Bo Svenson also receives top billing, but his role is rather insignificant.

Lee Eisenberg Fred Olen Ray's "Deep Space" is an obvious "Alien" ripoff. And a fun one at that! When a top-secret military experiment crash-lands and the monster inside goes around killing people, a pair of wisecracking cops (Charles Napier and Ron Glass) take it upon themselves to stop the thing. Totally predictable movie, but it's one that you gotta love. I should note that this flick doesn't contain very many of the things that teenage boys like in horror flicks, but otherwise it's got what you might expect. Basically a series of clichés, but it's a pretty enjoyable flick. Also starring Ann Turkel, Bo Svenson, and even Julie Newmar in a supporting role!* Fred Olen Ray also directed "Teenage Exorcist" and "Evil Toons" (a cross between "The Exorcist" and "Who Framed Roger Rabbit").PS: If you recognize Charles Napier, it's probably because Jonathan Demme frequently casts him, notably as the security guard in "The Silence of the Lambs". He also appeared as the leader of the country-western band in "The Blues Brothers".*Newmar had previously appeared in the horror flick "Evils of the Night" with Tina Louise. Yes, it was Catwoman meets Ginger Grant.

Backlash007 ~Spoiler~ Let me start by saying that I'm not a big fan of Fred Olen Ray. But I'm down with Charles Napier and Bo Svensen. So I had to give this one a spin. I was very surprised to find this film is more serious than Ray's usual outings. Deep Space (not sure about that title considering the movie does not take place in space) is a bit of an Alien rip off...if the Alien had come to earth. The creature design, which was actually really cool, had shades of Giger's own design. In fact, think "Alien" with more teeth and an overbite. It carries around a strobe light too. It's offspring are well-done also. Other than the monster's design, do you remember that scene in Alien where Harry Dean Stanton goes looking for the cat? You will see that exact scene in Deep Space involving a security guard. On the plus side of the film, the acting is top notch. Like I said, Charles Napier and Bo Svensen are carrying this one so no worries there. And the film's highlight is Napier taking a chainsaw to the creature's guts and blood spewing directly into his mouth-Evil Dead style! Yeah. So, why didn't I really like it? Well, there are a lot of characters that are not needed and there is not much closure. What was up with Julie Newmar's psychic character? And what happened to the seedy government guys? They are the guys you want to see the creature rip apart the most and nothing happens to them. It's like Ray and co-writer Lankford just forgot about them. Maybe they ran out of money or something. Oh well, it's a thousand times better than The Alien Dead.

gridoon A cut-rate imitation of "Alien" that has an air of sloppiness about it (the script could have been written over a weekend probably), but delivers the goods in the end with some good buzzsaw action and lots of slime. Problem is, it's STILL not particularly better than any other of the dozens of "Alien" ripoffs that are floating around.....(**)