Sunday, July 11, 2010

Spacehunter: Advetures in the Forbidden Zone (1983)


One of the last gasps of the last go round with 3D this is really not a "good" movie in a conventional sense. However as a popcorn flick for curling up on a couch this movie can be a great deal of fun.

The plot has Peter Strauss as a bounty hunter in space answering a call to rescue three women who have crashed landed on a desolate planet. The women have been taken by Overdog, played by Michael Ironside, as a cyborg maniac with bad facial features caught in some steel web and having a giant lobster claw like hand. Strauss meets Niki, a young girl played by Molly Ringwald who wants out of the planet. The pair eventually make their way to the lair of Overdog and Strauss has to fight his way through a junk yard maze (it is really cool in 3D) in order to free everyone and kill Overdog...or some such nonsense.

Sigh- You know reading the written out plot I can't believe I'm actually recommending this film. I mean it reads like a really bad science fiction action film that was made in the wake of Star Wars boom and it was mixed up with elements that made it a kind of Mad Max 2(Road Warrior) in space. Actually that's exactly what the film is; but trust me the plot isn't all that much its just an excuse for heroics and wisecracks and lots of things that look okay in 2D but which looked so much better in 3D (apparently there is a 3D version floating around on the collector market).

Sigh- This really is a trash film but there is something so wrong about the film that in the right mood this film is a great deal of fun.

The key word here is that the movie is fun. Its a turn your brain off get the popcorn and beverage of choice and perhaps some friends and have a good time sort of film.

I freely admit that this film has caused people I've shown it to to ask me "You can't be serious" when the film started and they were hit by the low rent props and sets. When I got them to calm down and accept the film for what it was, an enjoyable film that's probably fun for the wrong reasons they had a good time.
I even had one of them call me up to admit that they had watched it on cable of their own choice.

I would love to say more about the film but frankly I really can't go into details. I mean what can you say about a film where a mad scientist asks "are they missing limbs? I hate it when they are missing limbs". There isn't much.

If you like movies that are fun for all the wrong reasons give it ago. Its the sort of film that given the right sort of circumstances you will enjoy.

I should probably point out that this is one of those movies that kind of is a milestone for the people involved. Its Molly Ringwald just before John Hughes pushed her into super stardom. It's Ernie Hudson just as Ghostbusters was going to crank up his career to the point where he was a NAME, not a bankable one, but a name people knew. And it has Peter Strauss taking time off from TV movies and miniseries to close out his big screen leading man status (if you check IMDB pretty much everything that followed was TV leads or a rare big screen supporting role. It even has Whose Line is it Anyway regular Colin Mochrie in his first feature film role as a guard.

Its a cheese ball film, but its fun.

Its currently out on DVD.

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