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In the wake of the colossal success of "Star Wars" in the late '70s, by the early 1980s sci-fi films, which were next to nonexistent for nearly a decade after Kubrick's "2001" in 1968, were again a big business. In particular, a new crop of them emerged that combined the outer space element with suspense and horror, such as British director Norman J. Warren's "Inseminoid" (aka "Horror Planet"), Stanley Donen's "Saturn 3" (both 1980), and Peter Hyams' "Outland" (1981).
To me though, the ultimate crowning achievement of them all was the Roger Corman production "Galaxy of Terror," which was filmed in a Corman makeshift studio (former lumber yard) in Venice, California during the sultry summer of 1981, and released later on in October of that year.
A search party from the space vessel Quest warp speed to the distant, lifeless planet of Morganthus in search of survivors of the starship Remus, which crashlanded there at some point, with some or all of its occupants now presumed missing or dead. They soon uncover strange things among the ruins of the seemingly uninhabited planet surface, including various hostile alien lifeforms that are something out of their worst nightmares.
Wow! Viewing this film over 30 years on, it's inconceivable that it was produced on such a typically low Corman budget (for an estimated $700,000). But that to me is part of the fascination of Corman films and great B-movies like this in general that today's sterile megamillion computer generated CGI effects films can't touch -- the filmmakers clearly worked in the best possible way with the limited budget that they had, to astonishing results. Maybe this is due to the film crew consisting of only the most talented young prodigies in all the American movie industry at the time. Most of the special effects and production unit had worked on the previous year's successful PG-rated Corman/New World Pictures sci-fi opus "Battle Beyond the Stars," not to mention John Carpenter's "Escape from New York." One of my favorites was Aaron Lipstadt, who served as production manager on "Galaxy" and the following year's Corman take on the slasher genre, "Slumber Party Massacre," and he also went on to direct "Android" (1982) and the U.S. post-apocalyptic entry "City Limits" (1984). Perhaps the most famous member of the crew who managed to give "Galaxy" its trademark brilliant futuristic set design was a young James Cameron (of "the Terminator" fame and countless others), who served as production designer and second unit director. So it's no wonder that "Galaxy" turned out to be such a triumph; its filmmakers worked on some of the other best sci-fi and horror films of the early '80s, or perhaps of all time for that matter.
Nearly every scene is visually a feast to behold for the eyes of committed sci-fi/horror fans; some of the best bits include a rotted corpse being ignited with a laser beam, an arm being severed off by a throwing star (and consequently becoming subject to crawling, squirming maggot infestation), and the now classic highlight, when one of the maggots metamorphoses to gargantuan proportions and rapes one of the female crew members. The actress in question is the breathtakingly beautiful Taaffe O'Connell, whose performance as the sexy tech officer Dameia is one of the film's best features. If I have any complaint with the movie (and really I don't), it's only that it kills her off a little too early, but that's just a small qualm for a film as cool as this one.
"Galaxy of Terror," as explicit as it is (it just missed getting the dreaded "X" rating by the MPAA), really only saw a limited theatrical release in 1981, rarely played on late night cable TV after that, and by the early '90s even VHS copies had become scarce. So it has that cult reputation and following because of this, but in this case that following is well deserved. Other than a couple of shaggy early '80s hairstyles on some of the male crew members, the film has not dated one bit and looks at least as or even more recent and state of the art as an episode of "Star Trek: the Next Generation" or "Babylon 5" from the '90s.
Shout! Factory has really outdone themselves with this magnificent 2010 DVD reissue, which features a sterling remastered HD transfer and an 11-page collectors booklet, not to mention a fascinating and informative one hour featurette about the making of the film. This release completely blows the cheap bootleg import copies (that were mere VHS transfers) that were selling for outrageous prices on the internet in the years prior to the Shout! Factory reissue, clean out of the water.
All in all, after languishing in relative underground obscurity for almost 30 years, it was high time that "Galaxy of Terror" got such stellar DVD treatment as this one that will likely give it the rabid cult following of new fans that it justly deserves. Highly recommended to sci-fi/horror/B-movie fans, as well as a personal favorite.
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Please try again later.Top reviews from other countries
Ian Williams
Just don't expect the cover to reflect the content
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 19, 2011
T
Good time if you are in the mood for Sci-Fi schlock.
Reviewed in Canada on March 1, 2022
