Sam Panico One could be cynical and point to 1981's Galaxy of Terror as a blatant cash grab, an Alien clone that pushes itself into squeamish territory that its inspiration only hinted at. You could see it as a disgusting piece of exploitation movie making, filled with faded stars. Or you could just realize that life can be a mysterious, amazing, wonderfully rewarding experience and that a movie can start off ripping something off and become its own gloriously weird and magical thing. Obviously, I'm in the latter camp. And if you aren't, jump off this ride to Morganthus right now, bub!Written and directed by Bruce D. Clark and produced by Roger Corman for around $700,000, this is no big budget affair. But it's a film that uses footage from previous Corman efforts, notably Battle Beyond the Stars, to great effect. And it's also a proving ground for the talent that would lead the science fiction genre throughout the following decade. James Cameron is the art director, providing some intriguing sets and interesting gore replete with maggots. And of all people, the late and oh so lamented Bill Paxton served as the set decorator, previous to his career as an actor.Galaxy begins by showing the last survivor of a downed ship being tracked down and killed as he tried to run away with what looks to be a car muffler. We learn that this is all part of a game played between Mitri and the Planet Master, who keeps his identity hidden. They speak of plans being set into motion and sending another ship, The Quest, to its doom.The ship's crew is led by Captain Trantor (Grace Zabriskie, Sarah Palmer of Twin Peaks, as well as The Grudge and Child's Play 2), who has survived an epic disaster which has rendered her unstable and quite possibly a danger to her entire crew. This point is hammered home as the moment the ship is close to Morganthus, it crash lands on the planet's surface.Also on board are:Alluma (Erin Moran of TV's Happy Days and Joanie Loves Chachi), a psychic sensitive.Team leader Baelon (Zalman King, who would go behind the camera to steam up the scream with his Red Shoe Diaries series, as well as production (and at times, direction) duties on films such as Two Moon Junction, Wild Orchid and 9 ½ Weeks), who is a complete dick to one and all.Quuhod, a mute crewmember and master of the throwing crystal (Sid Haig, who may be my real father. Honestly, if you're on this site and have no idea who Sid Haig is, life has led you down a dark, dismal path. I'd suggest you stop reading now and go watch Spider Baby or House of 1000 Corpses or Coffy or The Big Bird Cage and so on and so on).Cabren, the film's hero, who seems to be the coolest head (and best mustachioed) on the ship (Edward Albert, son of Green Acres star Eddie Albert).Kore, the ship's cook (Ray Walston, My Favourite Martian, Mr. Hand from Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Dr. Mnesyne from Popcorn).Dameia (Taaffe O'Connell, New Year's Evil), the technical officer.Commander Ilvar (Bernard Behrens, The Changeling), the overall team leader.Ranger, a crew member (Robert Englund, again, if you need a lesson on the importance of this fine actor, your priorities need some serious evaluation).One by one, the team faces their own fears as they explore the planet. Those fears include all manner of gory, horrific deaths. To satisfy the demands of the film's backers, one of those horrific moments includes a sex scene with the buxom O'Connell, but the results are probably not what any of those backers ever dreamed they wanted. Her fear of sexuality and fantasy of submitting to something more powerful than herself leads to a gigantic maggot having a prolonged, fully nude sex scene complete with simulated intercourse, as she gets covered in slime and enjoys an orgasm so great that it kills her. Seriously - this is either the scene where you wonder aloud about Galaxy of Terror's sheer lunacy or walk out of the room in disgust. There is no middle ground.Finally, it's revealed that this is all a cosmic child's game and the Master must be replaced by one of the crew. I'll leave it up to you to watch this film and enjoy the ending for yourself.It's worth noting: As Alien gave way to Aliens, an alum of this film, Cameron, would be at the helm. However, there would be no giant maggots or Sid Haig dancing around in a jumpsuit. If you ask me, we're all the worse for that.Also known as Planet of Terrors and Mind Warp: An Infinity of Terror, Galaxy demands to be viewed. Be warned - this is exploitation filmmaking at its most exploitative. It's a scuzzy, scummy film and may not be for all tastes.

Benedito Dias Rodrigues Fantastic dark visual,great sets,creepy monsters,sexy scenes,clever plot amazing special effects,nice casting...anyway it's an example how make a perfect B-Sci-Fi movie should be....all elements are here...Zalman King as always a bad temper,Sid Haig a Crystal's guy is great...Ray Walston in a convincing acting and Taaffe O'Connell sexy than never...fantastic picture from the master of horror Roger Corman and James Cameron still ignored!!Resume:First watch: 1990 / How many: 2 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 7

speakers I love watching bad 80s science-fiction and this fits the bill. The special effects are shoddy, even for the time; the actors all take turns at chewing the scenery, apart from Robert Englund who has a natural charm throughout the film.The story is that a ship with a crew entirely chosen by the Master (whose head glows bright red for no accountable reason), have been sent to rescue the crew from another ship that has crashed on a remote planet. Each one is introduced with a sketchy characterisation which is pretty much all the background you get; there's the weirdly manic, driven captain (with terrible ageing make-up), the commander who is obviously "too old for this s**t", the sullen leader who hates the jovial moustache man, the pretty psychic the moustache loves, the buxom blonde, the cook with secrets, the semi-mute who carries some plastic throwing stars, the coward, the cheery tech guy.The moment they land and investigate the crashed ship, things start to go wrong. They also do odd things, like incinerating the bodies in the crashed ship or splitting up for no good reason which leads to the death of the coward. The ones left behind in the ship fare no better; the Captain begins to hallucinate she is facing an old enemy from a previous disaster where she was the only survivor. After firing the ships weaponry, she picks up an enormous gun and dies in a completely unexplained way.At this point, the plot and the character motivations go out of the window and everybody turns their acting up to 11; the mute is killed by his own plastic stars and the poor blonde is raped to death by a giant slimy maggot, in a scene that is as uncomfortable to watch as it must have been to act.After killing almost everyone else, the plot then takes a metaphysical left turn which would have been a masterstroke had it not been setup so badly at the beginning and rushed at the end.Try this film as a basis for a drinking game (a shot every time someone does something really stupid or a character dies or the dialogue makes you cringe) and you'll have a great, if rather drunk, time.

bowmanblue Okay, I'm writing this review less than twenty-four hours since I watched this film. Or at least I think I did. I've had to look up the plot and the cast to remind myself whether this was the film I saw or not. Apparently, I did.I do like bad films, or rather I like 'so-bad-they're-good' films. This is definitely one of them. For, as far as I can remember, I did actually enjoy it for the ninety minutes or so that I sat through it. It's just a pity it hasn't left much of a lasting impression. Then I read someone else's review and it mentions 'maggot rape.' Then it all came flooding back to me.After the colossal hit of 'Alien' it seems that 'monster-in-space' movies were all the rage, or at least they were in the bins of VHS stores you saw in your local rental shops. 'Galaxy of Terror' – like so many others of its kind – never made it to the cinema and certainly never achieved as much praise as Sigourney Weaver's epic outing.If you don't like Alien, you'll hate this film. If you like good films, you'll hate this film. In fact, most people will hate this film. It is pretty easy to detest. However, if you generally like bad films, there's a small chance you'll get something out of this. However, if you like bad films and want to see just how much one film can rip off Alien without getting totally sued, then you do stand a chance of enjoying this (this was me, by the way).Crew of spaceship, blah, blah, blah, lands on planet, blah, blah, blah, monster on the loose, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, it's pretty run-of-the-mill. However, like I said, if you know that it's a blatant Alien rip-off you'll be okay with it. Despite the awful blue-screen scenes where the spaceship flies through the galaxy (which are generally a measure of the film's special effects budget), the sets and general atmosphere are actually quite good. They're dark, foreboding and generally claustrophobically mood-inducing, but that might have something to do with the man behind the sets being none other than James (Aliens/Terminator/Avatar) Cameron.There are a few bits that are actually quite memorable (you recall my comment on the 'maggot rape?') and these may stick with you slightly longer than the twenty-four hours it's taken me to forget everything apart from that bit and apparently the man with the glowing head.Know what you're in for. It's a classic, but only in the sense that it's so bad that you'll find yourself not being able to turn it off simply because you can't believe just how bad it's actually getting.Oh, and Freddy Kruger's in it too – or that guy who plays him, only not half as well as he did with Freddy.