Moontrap - Destinazione Terra

Astronauts Jason Grant (Walter Koenig of 'Star Trek' fame) and Ray Tanner (Bruce "Ash" Campbell) discover some ancient alien artifacts in the vicinity of the moon. Among them are an alien corpse (that turns out to be 14,000 years old), and an object somewhat resembling one of the eggs from the "Alien" franchise. When the object and the corpse merge into a menacing cyborg, our heroes are motivated to make a return trip to the moon to see what else is out there. They're in for some more discoveries. This time, one of them is a very human looking female named Mera (lovely Leigh Lombardi).

Director Robert Dyke and screenwriter Tex Ragsdale try not to overstate matters. Basically, Jason has to figure out for himself what the story is, and expresses it out loud just to make sure that we get it. Dyke does a creditable job of working with an obviously very limited budget, but establishes a fairly grim atmosphere right from the start. The practical special effects are actually pretty damn good considering the constraints. Joseph LoDuca composed a decent enough score. While Dyke and Ragsdale are to be commended for creating a serious mood, they don't hesitate to insert a little levity here and there. As can be expected, the swaggering Campbell does have his moments. There's just a little bit of gore, but folks looking for exploitable elements will be pleased to see that Lombardi and an exotic dancer both bare their breasts. The dialogue isn't always so hot, but the performances are fine from the two leads, and they do create some chemistry. It IS nice to see veteran Koenig in a top billed hero role.

Be sure to wait through the closing credits for a little bit of an epilogue.

"Moontrap" is decent, deliberately paced entertainment that may have some appeal for lovers of sci-fi / horror combos.

Six out of 10.

Let me get to it,this movie was good and original, a little corny in places, but damn good non the less.

Walter Koenig and Bruce Campbell are great together and have good chemistry. I like how this is kinda like a buddy movie and a monster movie blended into one. And the space woman they find is very hot, I don't know her but she did a good job as well, especially being mute for most of it.

I think this was well made for it's time, I think what works best about this is, it's high concept story and chemistry with it's characters, having never seen the movie before I think it has aged well, I also like that the movie released the year I was born.

Overall, a well made film that is entertaining, and I hope to see more stories to this soon. Now I have seen "Moontrap: Target Earth" staring Sarah Butler, which described by the filmmakers is a stand alone sequel. I personally liked it, I seen that one first before this one and I can honestly say this movie is much better, but I still liked the sequel, it's a guilty pleasure of mine and so is this one.

I give this one a 5/10. A cool, fun B-movie. Highly recommended.

Space shuttle pilots Grant and Tanner discover a giant alien spacecraft between earth and moon. During an investigation, Grant finds a football-like thing and a corpse of a 14'000-year old astronaut! Back on Earth, in a NASA laboratory, the mentioned football-thing comes to life and combines itself with the corpse! The result can only be described as sort of a zombie-robot killing machine. It soon wreaks havoc on everything in his path, but Grant manages to destroy it. On moon, Grant and Tanner then discover the remainings of an ancient civilisation! Inside a giant palace, they find the female survivor of a war that took place there 14'000 years ago, and they have to fight against other zombie-robot creatures. They are not aware that they brought the final piece of technique (their landing capsule) to the moon that allows an army of robot-aliens (known as "Kaaliun") to finish their spacecraft in order to conquer the earth! They've been waiting for 14'000 years, and now Grant must find a way to stop them...

I really don't understand why everybody calls this a B-movie. Maybe it was not in theatres in the US, but it was in Europe. The special effects are great. Of course, they used models in several scenes, but it was good model work. The film has exactly the kind of wonderful and frightening (thanks to Joseph LoDuca's score) atmosphere that makes science-fiction movies great. And we have Walter Koenig and the incredible Bruce Campbell, what more could we ask for? Yes, the movie isn't perfect, but what movie is? Yes, it can't be taken seriously, like most other SF movies either, and yes, a higher budget would have added to the film's quality, but the budget can't have been that low either. This film is also NOT an "Alien" rip-off and NOT a "TERMINATOR" rip-off, nor a rip-off of any other movie. It's idea has absolutely nothing in common with the mentioned SF classics and is very original. Contrary, it has been ripped-off by John Bruno's "Virus" in 1999. If you really call yourself a fan of SF movies, you simply can't dislike "Moontrap".

Wacky, gory, and strangely humorous, "Moontrap" is one of those low budget films that forces its way into your heart. You just can't help but watch all of "Moontrap" once you accidentally run into it when channel surfing. Cheesy, and almost parodoxial of contemporary space action movies, "Moontrap" plays out into a required viewing B-movie for any one remotely interested in sci-fi. The plot is simple and standard issue: Walter Koenig is Col. Jason Grant (a.k.a., Pavel Chekov), a single-parent, astronaut burn-out who brings home an alien artifact. When NASA's computers find out that hostile alien life originated in the Moon's Prometheus Crater, Col. Grant is sent with a special team to eliminate an army of football-shaped alien eggs in stasis. One can pretty much guess what happens, and this basically makes "Moontrap" a space slasher film. All in all an incredibly stupid film, but well worth viewing. Very similar to "Virus" in some respects.

This isn't a classic by any means. But it is fun to watch! It has a very good SciFi premise, the acting is good, and the cinematography is good. I really thought the special effects were outstanding for a small budget flick. The dialog suffers a little/lot here and there but is passable. While the movie itself doesn't make the "A List" there are two or three scenes that are kind of classic and make the whole thing worthwhile. If you like the B flicks then this one is a must! I would love to see a big budget remake. Grab some popcorn and load it up, you'll be glad you did!