Galaxy Of Terror

Year: 1981 Directed by: Bruce D. Clark Cast: Edward Albert (Demon Keeper, Fist Fighter) Erin Moran Ray Walston (House Arrest, Blood Salvage) Bernard Behrens (Hiroshima, Walking The Dead)

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 A crew of astronauts is searching for possible
survivors from a previous mission on the planet
Organthus. When there, they find no survivors but
soon must face their worst fears, and a bunch
of weird monsters.

This came during the horror genre's obsession
with ripping-off "Alien" but compared to others
this tries at least tries for some original
touches. Sadly though, the plot is damaged by of
heavy pre-release editing and doesn't really live
up to its premise. Instead of characters facing
their worst fears, it mostly seems like they face
various kind of monsters.

What's positive though is that these monsters -
despite the film's obvious low budget - are quite
imaginative and well-made special effects. We
get everything from a huge, slimy worm raping a
poor woman to a severed arm throwing shooting
stars at his own owner to Robert Englund battling
his evil alter ego!

With monsters like these, you've got some
fun-filled - if not masterful - entertainment in
head of you. And then I haven't even mentioned
the cast. Not only does Englund in his pre-Freddy
Krueger days play a major role, we also get
trusty veteran Ray Walston and horror icons like
Sid Haig ("House of 1000 corpses") and Grace
Zabriskie ("Twin Peaks", "The Grudge") in small
but memorable parts.

Unfortunately Edward Albert in the leading role
is less convincing, mostly reminding of some
cheesy soap opera actor and when most of the
other cast members have been knocked off the
film gets a little dry, trying to rely on Albert
as the surviving hero. But still, it's filled
with enough gore and quirky ideas to make it
worth a watch.

Some nice gore, splatter and slime, with the
most memorable effect being a head exploding.

The usual 80s, synth score.

Entertaining "Alien" rip-off is marred by a weak
leading performance and a plot damaged by
pre-release editing but gains points from a few
original touches, well-made special effects and
a memorable supporting cast.

Review By: Slicer-Dicer