Film Review: Starcrash

In 1977, Star Wars was unleashed on the world, and cinema as we know it changed forever. Even though George Lucas, seemingly pissed off that he made a good film which people loved, has been trying to ruin it ever since, at the time, the 'blockbuster' movie was truly born, knocking the auteur's like Francis For Coppolla, Martin Scorcese and Peter Bogdanovich into a cocked hat.

After 1977, if you had a film, or an idea for a film that included the word 'Star' in the titles, or was very clearly set in outer space, you could guarantee it would get made. 1979's Star Trek: The Motion Picture, based on the popular TV show, was made as a knock on effect of Star War's success, and seemingly was brought out in such a rush they barely bothered with a  plot, thinking glory shots of how cool the Enterprise ship and outer space looked was enough to keep an audiences entertained. However, it made a ton of money, but was deathly dull, so it kind of worked.

But the worst of all the films that followed has to be Starcrash. Everything about the film screams shoddy knock off. In fact the opening shot of the Death Star in A New Hope, is flat out copied at the start of Starcrash, except the ship is clearly made of Lego, or similar plastic blocks.

Instead of R2-D2 and C3PO, we have Elle, a robot who seems to have the voice of Sheriff Buford T. Justice from Smokey And The Bandit, and Princess Leia's iconic 'bun' hairdo? Well, that ends up on Count Zarth Arn (Joe Spinell) who is not the movies love interest, but the villain!

The plot, for what it's worth, concerns a mission to save the son of an Emperor (Christopher Plummer) by a pair of smugglers, Akton (Marjoe Gortner) and Stella Star (Caroline Munro), who after the rescuing the son, Simon (David Hasselhoff. Yeah, really) must stop the evil Count's plans to use a mysterious weapon. Or something.

Everything about Starcrash is pretty terrible. It's like Plan 9 From Outer Space...in outer space. For a film you can sit and watch with friends it's a total laugh riot, but as a film it's a mess. And quite how actors like Christopher Plummer and Joe Spinell (Willy Cicci in the first two Godfather films, and Tony Gazzo in Rocky) ended up in this mess is beyond me. It can't have been the money, because there doesn't look like there was any spent!

To make matters all the more embarrassing, pretty much all the main cast are dubbed, and the sets look like toys. And really cheap toys at that. The space battles are headache inducing, and the special effects include such highlights as footage of clouds being used so poorly they blur into other objects in the same shot (shockingly, mountains are not transparent.)

If you're looking for one of 'those' films, where you can sit back with friends, crack open a few beers and tear it to pieces, Starcrash is for you. If you're looking for a worthy (or even average) sci-fi film in the tradition of Star Wars, you couldn't be looking in any worse a place. Any film where you wait 50 minutes for David Hasselhoff to show up in the hope it will get good, is never going to be.

*
An utterly dire attempt to make a bit of money by surfing on the wave of Star Wars. Only redeemable for being one of those 'so bad it's good' movies. But it is still better than Phantom Menace.

Film Review: Slaughter High

Released in 1986, 'Slaughter High' was originally going to be called 'April Fools Day'. Unfortunately, the filmmakers were just beaten to the punch by the other 'April Fools Day' (reviewed here) so it was renamed 'Slaughter High'. Not the most subtle of titles, I grant you, but 'Slaughter High' is the far superior April Fools Day set film.

It's not original, and things go a bit awry at the end where as many twists as possible are chucked in the melting pot, but it doesn't try to be different and fail like 'April Fools Day'. It's the lack of originality that gives it a real 1980's goofy charm.

Marty Rantzen (Simon Scuddamore) is a high school nerd, being constantly bullied by his classmates. One April Fools Day, a prank on Marty goes horribly wrong, ending in an explosion in a science lab, leaving Marty deranged and scarred for life.

Ten years later (and still in the 80's somehow), the bullies are invited back to the now-abandoned school (which seems to be located in the middle of nowhere, a strange place for a high school) for a class reunion. It's not long till they realize something is up (actually it does take quite a while, a hilarious beer poisoning finally tips them off) and they find the jester mask wearing Marty is picking them off one by one.

Of course, we've seen this type of film before. But there's something about 'Slaughter High' that makes it hugely enjoyable. Maybe it's because it's so carefree about itself. For example, one of the students is played by Caroline Munro, who was 36 at the time of filming! And while she doesn't look her age, she does look considerably older than the rest of the cast. But it doesn't seem to matter, it's all a part of the aforementioned goofiness of the film.

The deaths are nice and gruesome for those who find that kind of thing important. The beer spiking one is a particular highlight, although you do get some rather bland kills as well.

As I mentioned earlier, the ending gets a bit messy and over populated with twists, but overall 'Slaughter High' is a must see for slasher fans who don't mind a film that doesn't take itself too seriously.

***
Stupid, OTT and corny, 'Slaughter High' has a kooky charm about it that many slashers shot in the 80's wish they had. The ending may ruin the fun slightly, but overall it's a right laugh.