Gefangene im Weltraum

There is a leech-eating scene.... need I say more? At one point, during the requisite prison cafeteria food-fight scene, several of the actresses literally crack up and start giggling during their lines.

One of the actresses, a doctor, was actually not half bad (in comparison), and I felt very sad for her; the rest of the actresses didn't seem to take the script seriously at all, and who can blame them? They were probably coeds promised free beer if they showed up and read from cue cards.

This movie is so very bad that it's actually hysterically funny.

My review was written in May 1987 after a Cannes Film Festival Market screening.

A thorough knowledge of sci-fi B-movies pervades "Prison Ship" (alternatively titled "Star Slammer" and subtitled "The Adventures of Taura Part I"), an affectionate camp effort made in 1984 by prolific indie helmer Fred Olen Ray. Target audience is buffs who will catch the various in-jokes and elements of spoof.

Pic is styled as a serial with four chapters. First segment is set on Planet Arous (a nod to the John Agar '50s classic) and has the look of a B-Western shot in some canyon. Sandy Brooke is Taura, a tough gal miner who runs afoul of Magistrate Bantor (Ross Hagen), who represents the hated Sovereign. She brutally burns Bantor's hand in a fight and is framed and set to Star Slammer (that's Chapter 2's title), the prison ship Vehemence.

Remainder of pic, recycling sets from such films as "2010", "Galaxy of Terror" and "Android", takes place in this Outer Space women's prison, with spirited mocking of the cliches of women-in-chains features. Brooke is thrown in with some very tough babes, but quickly establishes her own fighting prowess and trustworthiness. Teaming up with the gal's leader Mike (Susan Stokey) and a beautiful doctor who is working for the underground (Jade Barrett), she helps engineer a successful jailbreak, setting up a promised sequel titled "Chain Gang Planet".

On a minuscule budget, "Prison Ship" provides okay modelwork for space battles, cute little monsters called Jagger Rats and lots of assorted silliness. Acting is way over the top, with Marya Gant as the grotesque Rubenesque warden and Dawn Wildsmith as her right hand momma taking home hambone honors. Director Ray has gone on to bigger projects since making this one so the sequel is anything but certain. Film's cheapo production values are part of its charm but certainly will limit its marketability.

The space fighting scenes are right out of Roger Cormens classic "Battle Beyond the Stars". (Like cut and paste out of it that is)Then for those of us who actually survive this epic to the end and make it to the credits, we seem to be misled, because at the beginning of the credits we are told to look for the next adventure of Tara in "Chain Gang Planet". What happened??? I realize this movie is bad, but hey, just for a good laugh I would pick up the next one on DVD. If you are a serious sci-fi fan, you might be better off to look to something else for your collection. If you are into low budget c-movies (I don't think of this as even a B movie) and are looking for a good laugh then look no further.

The beginning is awful: trying to convince us that we are on an alien planet, Fred Olen Ray shoots everything through a red filter - it worked in "The Angry Red Planet", it's a pain on the eyes here. But soon enough the action moves in the Prison Ship of the title, and the film turns into a cross between sci-fi and WIP - and furthermore, the kind of WIP I like: less focus on torture and humiliation, more on catfights (there are 2, both very good) and the final escape. The special effects are enjoyably cheesy, though I, for one, would prefer to see as a climax a hand-to-hand fight between the heroine and the female warden instead of the laser space battles we do get (some of them apparently lifted from other sources). The girls are pretty sexy and put a lot of spirit and energy into their roles, especially Sandy Brooke who should have had a longer B-movie career. (**1/2)

This is a cheesy,low budget late 80's piece of crap. The opening score is a direct rip-off from Raiders/Lost Ark but changes every few notes so as not to be sued. Awful acting, some good gore, always threats of lesbianism but nothing to show for it, some strange costumes and "little people" running around with awful speeded-up voices. A mess, but my friends and I love to get together and watch "bad" movies and we really hooted and hollered at most of this. It's No Star Crash or Space Mutiny (true low budget cheese sci-fi disaster classics) but it has some fun moments.