Star Slammer: La Prison des étoiles

As a fan of Fred Olen Ray films i have to say prison ship is quite entertaining.i know it has a shoestring budget.John Carridine in one of his next to last films as a space magistrate who sends a beautiful sexy fiery blonde babe(Sandy Brooke)to a prison ship full of babes.run by a busty tough warden played by Marya Gant,and her sadistic one eyed trustee played by Dawn Wildsmith(a olen ray regular)of course there's a twisted sadistic lunatic(Ross Hagen)who wants revenge.because he lost his hand in a fight with the heroine.also on hand is Johnny Legend as a space rabbi,the great Aldo Ray as the a master of torture,and cameo by the beautiful Bobbie Bresee.there's aliens robots,Jagger rats(don't ask)and a space battle lifted from Roger Cormans;battle beyond the stars.and a good opening score that sounds like raiders of the lost ark.granted i saw this movie on ancient VHS so the picture quality is not very good.some critics will think I'm crazy for liking this and giving it 7 out of 10,but remember the critics Siskell and Ebert admitting they enjoyed;invasion of the bee girls and infra man.I'm hoping to see prison ship on a good quality DVD.prison ship is a killer-b movie,i found it enjoyable.

This is a cheesy,low budget late 80's piece of crap. The opening score is a direct rip-off from Raiders/Lost Ark but changes every few notes so as not to be sued. Awful acting, some good gore, always threats of lesbianism but nothing to show for it, some strange costumes and "little people" running around with awful speeded-up voices. A mess, but my friends and I love to get together and watch "bad" movies and we really hooted and hollered at most of this. It's No Star Crash or Space Mutiny (true low budget cheese sci-fi disaster classics) but it has some fun moments.

My review was written in May 1987 after a Cannes Film Festival Market screening.

A thorough knowledge of sci-fi B-movies pervades "Prison Ship" (alternatively titled "Star Slammer" and subtitled "The Adventures of Taura Part I"), an affectionate camp effort made in 1984 by prolific indie helmer Fred Olen Ray. Target audience is buffs who will catch the various in-jokes and elements of spoof.

Pic is styled as a serial with four chapters. First segment is set on Planet Arous (a nod to the John Agar '50s classic) and has the look of a B-Western shot in some canyon. Sandy Brooke is Taura, a tough gal miner who runs afoul of Magistrate Bantor (Ross Hagen), who represents the hated Sovereign. She brutally burns Bantor's hand in a fight and is framed and set to Star Slammer (that's Chapter 2's title), the prison ship Vehemence.

Remainder of pic, recycling sets from such films as "2010", "Galaxy of Terror" and "Android", takes place in this Outer Space women's prison, with spirited mocking of the cliches of women-in-chains features. Brooke is thrown in with some very tough babes, but quickly establishes her own fighting prowess and trustworthiness. Teaming up with the gal's leader Mike (Susan Stokey) and a beautiful doctor who is working for the underground (Jade Barrett), she helps engineer a successful jailbreak, setting up a promised sequel titled "Chain Gang Planet".

On a minuscule budget, "Prison Ship" provides okay modelwork for space battles, cute little monsters called Jagger Rats and lots of assorted silliness. Acting is way over the top, with Marya Gant as the grotesque Rubenesque warden and Dawn Wildsmith as her right hand momma taking home hambone honors. Director Ray has gone on to bigger projects since making this one so the sequel is anything but certain. Film's cheapo production values are part of its charm but certainly will limit its marketability.

There is a leech-eating scene.... need I say more? At one point, during the requisite prison cafeteria food-fight scene, several of the actresses literally crack up and start giggling during their lines.

One of the actresses, a doctor, was actually not half bad (in comparison), and I felt very sad for her; the rest of the actresses didn't seem to take the script seriously at all, and who can blame them? They were probably coeds promised free beer if they showed up and read from cue cards.

This movie is so very bad that it's actually hysterically funny.

The appealing Sandy Brooke plays Taura, an Amazonian miner who is targeted by a bad guy named Bantor (Ross Hagen), a sadistic government agent. She is sentenced by a judge (John Carradine, in a VERY quick cameo) to prison time on a spaceship, the "Star Slammer" of the title. She earns the respect of fellow inmates such as "Mike" (Suzy Stokey), and gets on the bad side of the kinky warden (Marya Gant) and her eyepatch wearing henchwoman "Muffin" (Dawn Wildsmith).

There's definitely something to be said for movies by the likes of Fred Olen Ray, the director here. There's a complete lack of pretension, as Ray seeks to do no more than entertain the viewers, albeit in a low budget, cheesy way. He's essentially doing a W.I.P. (Women In Prison) exploitation feature, transposed to a science-fiction environment. There's unfortunately no shower scene, but there are the expected catfights, and the attractive female cast shows some of the goods while dressed in stylized, skimpy costumes. The gore and creature effects are wonderfully tacky; be on the lookout for a cameo by the monster in "The Deadly Spawn". Sets, special effects and music all do a suitable job of maintaining interest for a cult-movie loving crowd. Also look for a quick shot from John Carpenters' "Dark Star" and space battle footage bodily lifted from "Battle Beyond the Stars".

Stokey (who does her own harmonica playing at one point) and Brooke are engaging heroines, while Hagen, Gant, and Wildsmith all relish the chance to tear into the scenery. Aldo Ray is kind of wasted as a mutated sadist dubbed The Inquisitor, but at least he gets more screen time than Carradine. Screenwriter Michael Sonye (a.k.a. Dukey Flyswatter) also plays the supporting role of Bantors' flunky Krago. Johnny Legend gives a positively goofy performance as the wandering priest Zaal. Director Ray and Jack H. Harris, who produced the picture with him, have voice-only cameos.

While not one of Rays' best, "Star Slammer" (a.k.a. "The Adventures of Taura: Prison Ship Star Slammer") shows fans of schlock a good time.

Seven out of 10.