Warp Speed

Another low budget sci-fi oddity from the writer/director team of Allan Sandler and Robert Emenegger. This one's an outer space drama set on board a spaceship with no aliens for a change. They couldn't afford a paycheque for Cameron Mitchell so we get his daughter Camille starring instead.

Mitchell features in a time-padding wraparound story as a psychic investigating the mysterious disappearance of a crew onboard a space ship drifting through the universe. The story plays out in flashback as we learn of the terrible fate that befell those involved. The sets and costumes are as cheap and cheerful as you'd expect, and the ever-hammy Adam West plays the ship's captain.

There's actually a decent story here waiting to be told, so it's just a shame the execution is spoilt by endless padding and long-winded dialogue scenes that drag the pacing down. I love the idea of the high stakes poker game so it's just a shame Sandler couldn't have made more of it. Emenegger merely produces and contributes the music to this one. As with CAPTIVE, a few brief gory scenes are thrown in to shock viewers.

I remember watching this on VHS one weekend around the mid to late 80's and thought it was rubbish; but, after 20 years I still remember the film, not for how rubbish it was but because of the sense of overwhelming menace that it exuded. The plot wasn't the best, the acting was full of more ham than your local butcher's shop and the effects.....well I think I could do better with a couple of broken hairdryers and a roll of sellotape! What really sticks is the mood and general eeriness of the film and the awfully executed but effectively thought out end. It's incredible that this film should have become of my own folklore but it worked in a dreadful, kind of way.

As is often the case, a good idea is not given proper chance to be realised due to too low a budget. This is a made for TV movie with token guest star Adam West hamming it up as the captain of a space mission to Saturn, that has been mysteriously cut short, and the ship and crew disappeared. An investigation sees the ship traced but empty, and a psychic - Camille Mitchell - brought on board , to try and find out what has happened to the missing crew. The film is hampered by some pretty low rent sets and model work, and the acting is perfunctory at best, but it does score a few points for its interesting plot, and it works on a more cerebral level than an action movie, which will either keep you going with it, or switching off with boredom, as it is a bit talky and slow at times.

I caught this on Talking Pictures TV, a UK freeview channel which largely shows vintage British films, along with a handful of US titles here and there. It is just the sort of channel that brings up oddities like this film, and for the tolerant, this film provides a reasonably entertaining 90 minutes.

It possible from just the titles and music at the beginning to realise how bad this film is going to be. The plot was a great idea but the execution of it was terrible, the producer and director let the writers down very badly and the actors weren't up to much either.

The acting was very wooden, except for Batman, and the sets were very cheaply made, the background spaceship engine noise went on all the way through the film and was very irritating and too loud. The spaceship miniature must have cost $10 at the most with the special effects taking up another $10 dollars in cost.

Worth watching to see how badly made a film can actually be but it is entertaining it's so bad.

Cardboard scenery, bad acting, atrocious script. Don't be misled by the fact that Adam West is in the cast. His performance leaves a lot to be desired. Only to be watched if you're having a Worst Film In The World party!