|
APRIL 29 VHS MOVIE REVIEW : DEEP SPACE (1987)
Another one of director Fred Olen Ray's many 80's horror films, mixing a generic plot with a cast of highly capable B-movie stars. When deep space probe Centaur One, which contains a top secret experiment conducted by Dr. Forsythe (James Booth; AVENGING FORCE - 1986), crash-lands in the California forest near L.A., it unleashes creature that, according to Dr. Forsythe, was "trained to kill". The shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later detective team of Ian MacLiamor (Charles Napier; SKEETER - 1993) and Jerry Merris (Ron Glass; TV's FIREFLY - 2002) are assigned by their hotheaded boss, Captain Robertson (Bo Svenson; DEADLY IMPACT - 1984), to investigate the murders of two teenagers in the woods, who just happen to be the creature's first two victims. When they get to the scene of the crime, Ian and Jerry find the victims torn to pieces, parts of their bodies strewn all over the crash site. While the police forensics investigator, Dr. Rogers (Anthony Eisley; THE WITCHMAKER - 1969), brings a huge organic pod back to his lab for further study (a huge toothsome creature, with a vagina-like opening in it's stomach, later escapes from the pod and kills Dr. Rogers), Ian and Jerry find two smaller versions of the pod and bring them home with them (I can't begin to count how many police procedurals they just broke!). After questioning a wino who witnessed the probe's crash landing (the wino's immediately killed by the creature as soon as he stumbles out of the police station), Ian and Jerry head back to the crash site only to be refused entry by government soldiers carrying automatic weapons. Ian smells a rat (or rather, an alien) and his suspicions are confirmed when Captain Robertson informs him that the case is closed (all the deaths are classified as "accidents") and he then suspends Ian and Jerry from the force. Ian gets outside help from psychic Lady Elaine Wentworth (Julie Newmar; EVILS OF THE NIGHT - 1984), who eventually convinces Ian that she has a psychic link with the creature. When Ian's new girlfriend, female cop Carla (Ann Turkel; HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP - 1980), tells him that the pod he has looks like a giant cockroach egg, they bring it to Professor Whately (Fox Harris), who opens the pod and is killed by a miniature version of the creature. After killing the small monster, Ian realizes that Jerry has a pod at his house. Ian and Carla race over there, but they are too late. Jerry is dead and is being eaten from the inside out by the second small creature. Lady Wentworth informs Ian that if he wants to stop the infestation, he is going to have to kill the large creature, which is capable of laying many more eggs. Ian, Carla and Captain Robertson confront the creature in a warehouse in the film's finale, where a chainsaw is used to finally behead the creature. Thank goodness for gas-powered tools! Better acted than most of Fred Olen Ray's 80's frightfests, DEEP SPACE is an OK time-waster for the less discriminating horror fan. It also contains one of the most unusual seduction scenes in horror film history, where Charles Napier (who is excellent, as usual) plays the bagpipes during his first date with Ann Turkel and she agrees to take off her clothes if he stops playing! The film is full of little comical moments and dialogue and, while some of it is groan-inducing, there are some inspired scenes, like when Ian pulls the small creature off of Professor Whately and accidentally tosses it right into Carla's face. There's also some pretty good gore (the main creature has tentacles that shoot out of it's vagina-like opening that attach themselves to the victims' bodies and tear them apart) and the creature itself is a goofy, but effective, concoction (imagine part-ALIEN and part-John Carpenter's THE THING rolling on a shopping cart!). Don't fool yourself into believing you're watching anything but a quickly-made B-monster flick and you just may find yourself having a good time with this. It's quite obvious that Ray was influenced by THE BLOB (1958) (the opening crash landing mimics this film rather closely), ALIEN (1979) and 50's monsters-on-the-loose films when he made this. Ray would later recycle footage from this film for his vastly inferior HYBRID (1996). A scene from Ray's THE TOMB (1986) can be seen playing on a TV at the guard station in a warehouse. Gary Graver was Director of Photography, which is why this film looks better than it has any right to. Also starring Norman Burton, Michael Forest, Jesse Dabson, Peter Palmer and Elizabeth Brooks (THE HOWLING - 1981). Originally released on VHS by Trans World Entertainment and not yet available on DVD. Rated R. { text from critcononline.com }
|
|
