Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone

Been waiting for this for a long time - as cult classics go it's one of my more memorable adolescent reminiscences.

I remember seeing this on the big screen when it was first released. Loved it then, for several reasons: Strauss was capable but cool as the hero Wolf, Molly Ringwald was feisty, mouthy and cheeky as the elfin Nikki, and Michael Ironsides was virtually unrecognisable under his make-up, but still gave Overdog a sinister air of menace and cruelty.

Now, 20 years later, I get to see it again, and there are flaws that time has exposed. The effects and the music are very dated. The dialogue is weak in places, and the acting from the minor characters leaves something to be desired. However, it still has a sense of excitement and adventure that many other sci-fi flicks of the 80s now lack. The action is fast-paced, the interaction between the leads is good, and the scenery is suitably dark and barren.

7/10 - it's well worth overlooking the more dated elements in order to uncover the gem underneath.

This was made during the whole 3D craze of the early 80's. To me it is actually one of the better ones as well. Is it great, no, but it is fun and never boring (well to me anyway). Notice though that in these 3D movies they are either sequels (Jaws 3D, Amityville 3D) or they have the largest titles ever conceived? Why not just call this one "Spacehunter" why add the last part? There is another one called "MetalStorm: The destruction of Jared Syn" and one called "Treasure of the Four Crowns". The only one I can think of that didn't fall into either of these two categories is "Parasite". This one focuses on this guy who has to track down these women who have landed on this planet full of a lot of weird stuff. They get captured by this sadistic weird looking machine guy. During his hunt for the women he runs into this gal who helps him a bit and they run into all these strange creatures and other rival hunters. This movie was rather entertaining and rather stood on its own. It was good without the 3D to me and is interesting to check out.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to stand in the spot where a movie crew had once worked, making a film? My watching "Spacehunter" led, over a period of about 15 years, to that sense of wonder. Here's the story...

Around 1990, I stumbled upon "Spacehunter," possibly while watching TV to kill time. The acting was not especially good and plot elements were goofy. To be diplomatic, I would classify it as "light entertainment." Its only redeeming social value was the presence of actress Andrea Marcovicci, who played Chalmers, the protagonist's android assistant: she was a vision of beauty. Sadly, her part was brief, as she was killed off during a battle near the beginning of the story.

That early-on battle scene interested me because it involved a long, sail-powered railcar (I like railroads). The thing was bizarre-looking and reminded me of the movie "Mad Max." Not only was the railcar cool, the desert environment surrounding the scene was fascinating. But in short order the movie faded from my memory.

The movie returned to my consciousness in 2004, during my first visit to Moab, Utah. Just north of Moab there is a railroad track that runs parallel to US Highway 191. Upon seeing it I thought of "Spacehunter" right away: the environment looked much like that of the battle scene mentioned above. I figured that the battle scene had been filmed on that track but wasn't sure just where.

Later I rented the movie to see the battle scene again and determine just where it had been filmed. Surprise!: the place I saw north of Moab was not the place used in the movie. However, the site of the battle scene was recognizable because I had driven right past it a few times. The scene was filmed at Potash, Utah, which is the site of a potash mine. It is about 20 miles from Moab, at the south end of State Highway 279 (also called Potash Road). In 2006 the mine was owned and operated by Intrepid Potash. It turns out that many (most?) of the exterior scenes of the film were shot on the private property of the mine.

With this knowledge I wanted to visit those sites and take pictures that attempted to duplicate camera angles used in the film. Why?---who knows? Armed with numerous poor-quality photos of TV screen shots of the movie, I returned to Moab in late 2006 and visited three places that were used in filming; this required getting permission from the mining company. Standing in those places where movie crews had once worked, I tried to imagine the presence of a lot of people and equipment and sounds like "Action!" and "Cut!" It was great fun. The result is here: http://www.pbase.com/listorama/movie_spacehunter .

It's campy. It's fun. Don't think too hard and just want some classic, cheesy scifi action. I mean you've got hot space chicks in bondage gear, mutants and a gun battles. What more can you ask for? OK so its not exactly meant for deep thinkers but neither is star wars (frankly I think people are reading way too much into what the force is). This would actually be a great movie to be on MST 3K. Why can't they bring that show back? But back to the movie at hand, there's not even that much to write about. It's not like we're talking about something with real deep meaning or subtext that needs to be closely examined. I usually tune into this movie about half way in so maybe I'm not the best person to comment on it. But the parts I saw I remember enjoying. I like shooting and stuff. It's sort of like the a scifi version of the A-Team and I think we can all agree how much fun that was.

I saw this in July, 2008 for the first time and was surprised by the amount of mechanical devices and vehicles built for this one. And the attention to detail is higher than many modern productions.

A funny thing about making movies in 1983 is your choice of either using miniature models or constructing full scale behemoths. This movie goes for the latter option, which is one of its strengths, almost everything you see is right there and not some blue screened effect or shoddy computer graphics. This investment carries very well still today some 25 years later. It is like watching Road Warrior with all of the bikes, cars and trains and it all looks authentic because its actually there. Speaking of Road Warrior, it must be said that Spacehunter has an apparent look and feel of a post-apocalyptic desert world similar to that of the Mad Max films.

Striking are the interesting locations which are thrown at the viewer at a fast pace where new environments show up around every corner during their hunt in the forbidden zone. While short scenes in themselves, they come together nicely in creating the feel of a good adventure movie reminiscent of the Indiana Jones movies.

Not sure of the budget here, many things look really nice, some space scenes are awful but very, very short. I've mentioned two series of other films in this review, don't expect to find either one of them in Spacehunter, rather expect to find elements of all of them combined.