Il cacciatore dello spazio

This is one of those movies I caught on cable TV quite a few years ago. It's not too big on brainpower but it's fun to watch. Here's the story: A space liner cruises too close to a nebula and is destroyed. Three very beautiful (but not very smart)women escape and crash land on a barren planet and are captured by a group of nomads. Meanwhile a bounty hunter named Wolff intercepts a message and sets out to rescue the women,who've been taken to OverDog, the tyrant who rules the wastelands of the planet. Along the way Wolff meets up with a young girl named Nikki and his ex-partner who happens to be on the same mission.

This movie has some well known character actors, Peter Strauss as Wolff, Molly Ringwald as Nicky, Ernie Hudson as Wolff's ex-partner,and Michael Ironside as OverDog.

i'm a big fan of portions of this film - primarily the Peter Strauss/Molly Ringwald portions - despite their 21 year age difference - their incessant battling brought out the duo's chemistry just as if this were a romantic comedy - and Molly's valley-girl-in-space remains one of my favorite scifi characters ever.

with their charisma - and a talented supporting cast including Ernie Hudson, Andrea Marcovicci, and Michael Ironside - along with some imaginative set design - and great dialog for Molly - this is more than a gimmicky scifi yarn - too bad the rest of the movie isn't up to that standard.

I make a point to catch Spacehunter every time it airs (usually after 1 a.m.). It's classic cheese, and I submit there's a place in our moral-cinematic universe for such films.

What films? Oh, having Michael Ironside as the villain is a good clue. If I had to define them...films so goofy (yet riddled with neat ideas that only the low-budget creative intellect can conjure) that we harken back to adolescence and think how cool these films would have been/were when we saw them with our junior high pals.

Yes, this is MST3K material, but lovingly so, nostalgically so. An ugly duckling that never becomes a swan--never even really gives such a transformation a shot--but one we can groove on precisely because it's so dorky.

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.

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.