Dead Space

So let me get this straight, Roger Corman for reasons only he himself knows decided to remake the film "Forbidden World". Not only did he remake it, he apparently decided to take out most of the nudity, make it less gory and make it a bit more talkative. Why? I am sure everyone out there would like an answer to this, but I am guessing he wanted to make a more serious version or something. This one is basically a lot less fun version, you have Marc Singer and his robot pal going to a planet cause an experiment has gone array. So yes, like "Forbidden World" only with all the fun stripped from it. It was not all bad as there was one rather good jump moment I was not expecting and there was a couple of good gore effects, but overall "Forbidden World" has this one beat in nearly every possible way. I mean the effects were even better in that one, as was the music. In that one it was a really nifty 80's sounding set of tracks while this was very forgettable. Stupid twists and the ending was not as cool either. That and another thing that made this film kind of hard to watch was the fact it featured more creature in the air vent scenes. I have watched a lot of horror movies the past few weeks and this theme is getting old. The monster does not look as good, the robot looks dreadful (though it did not look great in the original) just not enough here. Even the girls were more attractive in the other film. Though this film features one of the most unheroic moments I have ever seen near the end that had me chuckling too. Still, if I did not get this on a double feature set of movies along with "The Terror Within" I would be a bit more ticked off.

From the Roger Corman factory comes this extremely forgettable remake of his 1982 production "Forbidden World". The Beastmaster himself, Marc Singer, stars as Commander Steve Krieger. Exactly what he's a commander of, I don't know, but he picks up a distress signal from the scientists on the planet Phaebon. These morons have been monkeying around with genetics and viruses and they've managed to create a mutating, evolving life form. It's up to Steve to save the day, with some occasional assistance from the doofuses around him.

If people seek out "Dead Space" for any reason, it's likely because they learned that it was a very early credit for the Emmy winning actor Bryan Cranston. Because of him, the acting is a hair better than you'd usually be subject to in a LOW rent production like this one. Directed (not so well) by Fred Gallo, it's routine through and through, and highly uninspired. The makeup and creature effects are actually not that bad, thanks to the efforts of Gabe Bartalos, an old pro at this sort of thing. If one is already familiar with "Forbidden World", they'll experience a fair bit of deja vu, as this version sticks pretty close to the original plot.

Singer is passable as the hero, and the ladies (Laura Mae Tate, Judith Chapman, Lori Lively) are pretty. Randy Reinholz delivers a useless performance as an equally useless character named Tim. Cranston does his best given the circumstances.

"Forbidden World" wasn't exactly a movie crying out to be redone, and "Dead Space" itself isn't a movie crying out to be watched very often - if indeed one watches it more than once.

Four out of 10.

DEAD SPACE (1991) is your garden variety ALIEN rip-off about a remote research laboratory on a distant planet trying to find a virus to destroy another even more deadly contagion decimating mankind. They succeed, only to inadvertently create a xenomorph-style monster that quickly works its way through the assembled scientists. Right from the outset you get an outer space battle lifted from BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS so you know this one's going to be cheap and cheerful, and it certainly is.

Muscle star Marc Singer (THE BEASTMASTER) is the hero come to save the day, complete with android sidekick, and amusingly enough BREAKING BAD star Bryan Cranston also features right at the outset of his career. There's a bit of sex, a bit of nudity, some gore and a rather stiff monster that's only seen briefly. Don't go expecting much from this one.

The filmmakers apparently had enough money to be able to afford decent makeup effects, but not enough for a creature that would move around and attack convincingly. We never get a chance to see the "monster" move from one place to another - whenever that happens (supposedly), the camera focuses on the "terrified" reactions of the humans that are nearby. And when a man is attacked by it, he simply seems to be holding an inanimate object against himself so that it won't fall to the ground. This is still not the worst "Alien" rip-off around (the two "Xtro" films are even worse, for example); it's actually sufficiently entertaining if you've got 68 (!!) minutes to spare. (*1/2)

If I am to remember correctly this movie is not half bad until the alien 'hatches' then it goes so far downhill it'll make you feel like your on a rollercoaster.

One particular point sits in my memory, the 'alien' has just escaped and the scientists need to go to the surface for some reason. They make a big deal about how hostile the surface is and how no one could survive on it, but damn it he has to go out and fight the alien. Then they override the computer and open a hatch to ... the south western US! Now we get to see some dude in a suit walk around for like 5 minutes while they blow smoke infront of the camera to make you feel like your in an alien landscape. I believe you can even spot tire tracks on the ground and a rv in the back ground. Then we get a close up of the actor's face looking surprised, a close up of some purple weird dragon head going 'ROAAR' and then the scene of the dude running back to the hatch.

My friends in I had to break down and start laughing, it was one of the most inexplicatble sequences in film since the burlesque scene in Glenn or Glenda.