Bad Girls from Mars

For some reason, as I was perusing different bad sci-fi and fantasy movies, this would pop up occasionally, so I put it on my list of "must haves". I don't usually look up reviews or synopsis' of movies before buying them just because it kind of spoils the fun, but I would have made an exception for this one. I was expecting some 'raunchy' T&A sci-fi spoof as it IS called 'Bad Girls From Mars' and the tagline being "and you thought Earth girls were easy..." (honestly expecting some kind of 'Earth Girls Are Easy' spoof). What I ended up with was so far from what I expected that I'm not sure why I kept watching it... ok, I know at least a couple of reasons... well, more than just a couple. I mean, you can't miss them because they're in nearly every shot!

They certainly deliver on the T&A, buuut that's about it. The movie is a spoof, but of slasher flicks and it's done very poorly. Then again, you're not watching it for the plot, right? There is absolutely zero acting talent. The only one that I actually found even remotely entertaining was the detective, aside from that, it was like watching a bunch of sentient boards that just escaped the lumber yard. This probably would have worked better as a porn like it's trying to emulate rather than being a softcore "late night Cinemax" movie.

Oh well, it was ok to watch, but isn't memorable in any way.

I've enjoyed all of the other Fred Olen Ray movies I've seen - Cyclone and Warlords, for instance, are underrated classics of lowbrow fare, and even Scalps has its redeeming qualities - but Bad Girls from Mars is guilty of the worst possible charge that can be leveled against an exploitation flick: it's boring.

The self-deprecating script is bland, and everything is conducted with such self-conscious camp that no sense of reality or genuine interest is ever generated. Drab synthesized music, lame one-liners, and pointless Ed Wood references don't help matters. Brinke Stevens is underutilized, and the rest of the cast is uncharismatic, the repeatedly bared bosom of Edy Williams notwithstanding.

Only die-hard fans of Stevens or Ray, or anyone easily impressed by breasts or broad, lazy comedy, need bother with Bad Girls from Mars. The title is as funny as anything in the movie.

A C-grade murder-horror that is largely predictable and unoriginal. Production values are quite low and performances are so-so. However, it does have some funny moments and the tone of the movie is quite light, never taking itself seriously, making it not entirely unwatchable.

My review was written in January 1991 after watching the movie on Vidmark video cassette.

"Bad Girls from Mars" is a poor spoof of B movies by the men who currently make them. Lame scripting and threadbare execution leave this video strictly for t&a fans.

Fred Olen Ray has made quickies before, notably the Sybil Danning-starrer "The Phantom Empire", but this one needed more care to succeed.

Plot premise is virtually identical to another current spoof, "Hollywood Boulevard II": a serial killer is wasting the leading ladies of a B picture called "Bad Girls from Mars". As in "HB II", there's a stereotypical skinflint producer and cliched satirization shoestring film production.

Edy Williams is well-cast, and well-preserved, as the replacement bombshell - best selling tell-all authoress, reminiscent of Xaviera Hollander when she tried to break into movies 17 years ago. Her slapstick travails aren't helped any by Ray's annoying gimmick of dubbing in the amplifed sound of somebody rubbing Naugahyde whenever Edy and the other topless women fondle their own breasts.

That level of sophomoric humor permeates this cheapie. Hambone hero Jay Richardon's mugging is unfunny and other bits remain stillborn, such as prolific dirctor/lenser Gary Graver appearng as the cinematographer of the film within the film.

Ray credtis himself as co-writer with pseudonym Sherman Scott, an obscure homage to Sam Newfield who used the moniker in the '40s when he cranked out endless Bs.

There's a brief lesbian scene between Williams and the exotic Brinke Stevens and an awkward wrestling match between Williams and new bombshell Dawn Dana Bently. Jasae, a familiar face fro mcable phone sex ads, has a fun role as one of the "Bad Girls" stars/victims.

Tech credits are suitably chintzy, but Chuck Cirino's catchy music is a plus.

Spoofs of films only work a small percentage of the time. Very often the spoof is too much like the film it is trying to spoof. "Mars Attacks" is a good example of this problem. "Bad Girls from Mars" is a low budget spoof of the making of a low-budget campy film, and surprisingly it works.

Everything is hokey, but it is all making fun of the genre. It is sprinkled with some dialog gems. Academy award material it ain't, but if you put yourself in the right mood, it is a lot of fun