Mutant - Das Grauen aus dem All

Producer Roger Corman was kind of like the Italians in his propensity for doing low-budget knock-offs of Hollywood hits. But one kind of film neither he nor the Italians (I saw this back-to-back with the similar Italian movie "Escape from Galaxy 3") probably should have attempted were these sci-fi extravaganzas. This movie is less notorious than Corman's previous space film "Galaxy of Terror" (where a female character is raped by a huge, slimy space worm and Erin "Happy Days" Moran's head explodes), but it's about the same quality.

Corman probably should have, at least, stuck to ripping off EITHER "Star Wars" or "Alien", but instead he wastes most of his meager budget in a pointless and risible spaceship battle scene at the beginning before settling into a fairly creative "Alien"-type story where a space crew in a remote outpost are menaced by a horrible creature. But the twist is it's not an alien, but a spontaneously mutating monster they created in a misbegotten experiment to deal with a food shortage back on Earth.

Jesse Vint is kind of an odd leading man for one of these kind of movies as he's mostly famous for 70's "hicksploitation" films like "Macon County Line" and "Black Oak Conspiracy". My favorite performances though come about an hour in when June Chadwick (as a scientist) and Dawn Dunlap (as a lab technician) take a shower together for some reason. This is a scene that was definitely missing from "Alien" (at no point did Sigourney Weaver and Veronica Cartwright take a shower together). Dunlap is especially appealing in this movie, even when she's not taking a shower (or otherwise getting naked). She's wasn't much of an actress, but in her short career she managed to work with both Roger Corman and the French photographer/director/pervert David Hamilton (she appeared as the title character in his notorious nubile nudie movie "Laura" when she was all of about 17). She's a few years older here, and, oh man, is she cute!.. But where was I? Yeah, this is OK I guess. It's definitely not "Alien", but. . .

Look. Don't expect top notch quality here. This is your typical straight to VHS shlock. I used to eat this kind of film up as a kid on Cinemax. To be honest, this type of filmmaking is hard to come by these days. The VHS/Rental store era was a special time. Shame that this isn't a thing anymore, and streaming sites are more concerned with ensuring top quality (or close to it) film fare. Do yourself a favor. If you come across these old Roger Corman productions, watch it. It may be tough sometimes, but the payoff is worth it.

The story concerns the efforts of Mike and his sidekick, SAM-104, an android(or robot, if you will) and their investigation of an experiment gone wrong on planet Xarbia. A group of scientists stationed on this planet are conducting experiments involving gene splicing in order to come up with a solution for a "galactic food crisis", that will supply the hungry masses(hey, it's a big galaxy out there!) Their solution? "Meet Subject 20..." Only Subject 20 is not in an inviting mood, as we are about to find out... What is the secret being kept from Mike by the scientists? What is Subject 20? How many times will Mike "get some"? (Couldn't resist!) To find out, see the film... If you are looking for cheese or horrible acting, see the latest films that take place in a galaxy far, far away. But if you are looking for a film where most of the actors seem to be having a great time with their tongues planted firmly in their cheeks(and Mike's planted in other places), not worrying about the pressures of a gazzillion dollar budget that still yields garbage, see this film. And yes, I do love this film. Enough to own multiple copies.... Did I mention that this film has two very sexy(June Chadwick and Dawn Dunlap) female scientists in it, hey, that ups the score right there! :)

Take note all you horrible makers of today's movies. This is how you make a bad movie. You do not bring in a stupid 80's mall queen, make a film with monsters that are clearly not there, and you do not skimp on the gore and nudity! No, you make a monster out of stuff just laying around, you have young gals that look like they would be more at home in an adult film, and you have lots of gore and nudity like this film does! Is it a good movie, absolutely not, but it is certainly very enjoyable to watch. Though saying this one is absolutely not good may be being a bit to harsh as I actually enjoyed the story here a bit more than other "Alien" knock off movies of this era. Heck, I enjoyed watching his film more than "Alien 3", though that film was clearly better done this one was more entertaining and I was never bored. The film starts out kind of weakly though as dude and his robot pal have a pointless space battle. I do not know who or why they are fighting these people, I don't think it is our business. Once they go to the planet of Xarbia though things really pick up. The guy in the ship is some sort of problem solver and the problem they are having on this planet is that an experiment has gotten a bit out of hand. Killed a bunch of animals and has now retreated to a cocoon. Well it is not to long before it gets out and of course some idiot could have easily ended the entire movie by being a bit more careful, but then the movie would have ended even sooner than its very short running time of 77 minutes. Lots of gore ensues as the creature mutates forms from time to time and its purpose is soon to be known. During this time you get the typical scientist that does not want to harm the creature, but capture it and an even more laughable attempt at communicating with the beast. You also get lots of boobies from the two females at this little research place. Like I said it was a fun watch, the monster looks okay in some scenes and in others it looks bad, kind of like a blown up garbage bag. However, even when it looks bad it is there unlike so many computer generated monsters of today. The film could actually use a bit more time as they could have added ten minutes and had even more deaths and the death of the one guy trying to fix something was weak compared to others. The cast is all right, the lead guy being rather good. One of the females was super hot, the other with the more blond hair was just okay. Just wished they would make cheap movies like this instead of the boring stuff they do now. I am betting this is actually cheaper to make and a lot more fun to watch.

FORBIDDEN WORLD shows us what Ridley Scott's ALIEN could have been, if only it had included: #1- A robot named Sam! #2- STAR WARS-like space dogfights! #3- Blazing hot, female space scientists! In dangerously tight pants and high heels! #4- A wacky, chain-smoking mad scientist in a perpetually bloody lab coat! #5- A maniacally mutating metamorph, spreading goo and strawberry jam! #6- Idiot victims! #7- Blazing hot, female scientists who decide that their clothing is far too confining! Except for sunglasses! #8- Monster attacks intercut with love scenes! #9- Blazing hot, female scientists brushing each other's hair! In a super-mod shower! #10- Heaps of pulsating glop! #11- Meatball surgery! #12- Sizzling hot, female scientists in mini-bathrobes!

Yes, if only ALIEN had used cool gimmicks like this, then it would have been..., well, this movie!

EXTRA POINTS FOR: #1- Slimy, dripping practical effects! #2- Tracy Baxter's (Dawn Dunlap) incessant screaming! No, really! Once she gets going, she wails on and on like a tea kettle on the boil!...