Galaxy of Terror
Encyclopedia
Galaxy of Terror is a 1981 science fiction
/horror film
produced by Roger Corman
and directed by Bruce D. Clark. It stars Edward Albert
, Erin Moran
, Robert Englund
, Ray Walston
, Zalman King
, Grace Zabriskie
and Sid Haig
. Produced by New World Pictures and distributed by United Artists
, the film has gained a cult following
of its own since the time of its release.
On another planet a very long distance away, two figures are seen playing a strange game. One, an old woman named Mitri, is identified as the controller of the game while the other, whose head is obscured by a glowing ball of red light, turns out to be an all-powerful mystic called the Planet Master. The two speak cryptically of things being put into motion, and the Master instructs one of his military commanders to send a ship to Morganthus.
Without delay, the spaceship Quest blasts off to Morganthus. Piloting the ship is Captain Trantor, a survivor from a famous space disaster that has left her psychologically scarred and unstable.
As the Quest approaches the planet’s atmosphere, it suddenly veers out of control and plunges toward the surface, crash-landing there. After recovering from the landing, the crew prepare to leave the Quest and search for survivors. The team has a psi-sensitive woman among their number named Alluma (Erin Moran). Both she and the surface team have significant problems with team leader Baelon, who is pushy and arrogant and totally unimpressed by Alluma's inability to detect any lifesigns whatsoever.
Making their way across the landscape of the planet, they eventually reach the other vessel. Entering, they find evidence of a massacre that took place. The rescue teams split into two and explore the craft. They find further evidence of something catastrophic having happened and, after disposing of the rest, take one victim back for analysis. Cos, the highly-strung youngest member of the team, despite being reassured by his seniors, becomes increasingly terrified by being on the ship and, a short time later, he is killed by a grotesque creature.
The crew discover that something from the planet pulled them down, and in order to escape, they must investigate. After some exploration, they discover a massive pyramid-shaped structure, which Alluma describes as "empty" and "dead". Their explorations of the pyramid lead to a series of exceedingly violent and deadly encounters in which a malevolent force causes several crew members to be dismembered, burned, consumed, raped or crushed to death by monsters created out of each person's unique set of fears.
Eventually, only two members of the team, Ranger (Robert Englund) and Cabren (Edward Albert), remain alive. Deep inside the pyramid, Cabren encounters the Master (Ray Walston), who has been masquerading as the cook onboard the Quest. The Master explains that the pyramid is actually an ancient toy for the children of a long-extinct race, built in order to test their ability to control fear. Cabren kills the Master for allowing his crew to die, but himself becomes the new Master.
status and the personnel involved.
, who served as Production Designer and Second Unit Director on the film. It was the second Corman film that Cameron worked as a crewman on, the first being Battle Beyond the Stars
(1980). Working on a tight budget, Cameron's innovative film-making techniques came to the fore-front. In one scene, Cameron was able to figure out a way to get maggots to wiggle on cue by developing a metal plate onto which the maggots were placed, then ran an electrical current through the plate whenever filming began, causing the maggots to move energetically about. His ability to find low-tech solutions to such problems is reportedly what found him in the favor of Corman and eventually moved him onto more prolific projects. Cameron would later direct Aliens
(1986), the sequel to Alien
of which Galaxy Of Terror was largely inspired. Optical FX Supervisor Tony Randel, who worked with Cameron on Galaxy of Terror, notes on the Shout! Factory
DVD release that Aliens, which Cameron helmed, looks a lot like Galaxy of Terror in many ways.
After MPAA's initial X-rating, Kizer had to make several tiny clips to the scene to get it released in the U.S. as R-rated. These mostly involved removing some of the more "rhapsodic, ecstatic" looks on O'Connell's face to de-emphasize her sexual submission, as well as some motions made by the monster that too realistically simulated sexual intercourse. Despite these small changes, most of the scene's sexually lewd intent remained intact and was too much to avoid being censored by some countries, who either required the scene be deleted or denied the film a release entirely. Later VHS and DVD releases in Europe and elsewhere contained the scene in its final, R-rated version. The clipped materials themselves were lost over time and are not included as part of the new DVD/blu-ray release.
and Laserdisc
by Nelson Entertainment. Up until 2010, Galaxy of Terror did not have an authorized region 1 (North America) DVD release. There was a remastered and authorized Region 2 (Europe) Italian disc available from Mondo Home Entertainment released in 2006 which is now out-of-print. The lack of authorized discs for so many years has led to numerous unauthorized copies of the movie being sold online and elsewhere.
On July 20, 2010, Shout! Factory
released Galaxy of Terror on Region 1 DVD and, for the first time, on Blu-ray Disc. The release also contains cast interviews and behind-the-scenes information on a variety of aspects.
Science fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
/horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
produced by Roger Corman
Roger Corman
Roger William Corman is an American film producer, director and actor. He has mostly worked on low-budget B movies. Some of Corman's work has an established critical reputation, such as his cycle of films adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, and in 2009 he won an Honorary Academy Award for...
and directed by Bruce D. Clark. It stars Edward Albert
Edward Albert
Edward Albert was an American film and television actor. He was also known as Edward Laurence Albert, Laurence Edward Albert and occasionally Eddie Albert, Jr.-Early life:Albert was born Edward Laurence Heimberger in Los Angeles, California, to actor Eddie...
, Erin Moran
Erin Moran
Erin Marie Moran is an American actress, best known for the role of Joanie Cunningham on Happy Days and its spinoff Joanie Loves Chachi.-Early life:...
, Robert Englund
Robert Englund
Robert Barton Englund is an American actor, voice-actor and director, best known for playing the fictional serial killer Freddy Krueger, in the Nightmare on Elm Street film series. He received a Saturn Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors in...
, Ray Walston
Ray Walston
Ray Walston was an American stage, television and film actor best known as the title character on the 1960s situation comedy My Favorite Martian. In addition, he is also remembered for his roles as Luther Billis in South Pacific , Mr. Applegate in Damn Yankees , J.J...
, Zalman King
Zalman King
Zalman King is an American film director, writer, actor and producer. His directing and writing productions are known for incorporating erotica as a centerpiece to plots which are nevertheless about greater issues.-Acting:As a young man in 1963 he played a gang member on Alfred Hitchcock Presents...
, Grace Zabriskie
Grace Zabriskie
Grace Zabriskie is an American actress. She has appeared in many popular American films but, she is best known for her work in television. She is perhaps best known for her roles in the television series Twin Peaks, Seinfeld, and Big Love.-Early life:Zabriskie was born in New Orleans, Louisiana...
and Sid Haig
Sid Haig
Sid Haig is a American actor. His roles have included acting in Jack Hill's blaxploitation films of the 1970s as well as his role as Captain Spaulding in Rob Zombie's horror films House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects...
. Produced by New World Pictures and distributed by United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
, the film has gained a cult following
Cult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
of its own since the time of its release.
Plot
On a desolate, storm-lashed planet called Morganthus, the last survivor of a crashed spaceship is attacked and killed by an unseen force.On another planet a very long distance away, two figures are seen playing a strange game. One, an old woman named Mitri, is identified as the controller of the game while the other, whose head is obscured by a glowing ball of red light, turns out to be an all-powerful mystic called the Planet Master. The two speak cryptically of things being put into motion, and the Master instructs one of his military commanders to send a ship to Morganthus.
Without delay, the spaceship Quest blasts off to Morganthus. Piloting the ship is Captain Trantor, a survivor from a famous space disaster that has left her psychologically scarred and unstable.
As the Quest approaches the planet’s atmosphere, it suddenly veers out of control and plunges toward the surface, crash-landing there. After recovering from the landing, the crew prepare to leave the Quest and search for survivors. The team has a psi-sensitive woman among their number named Alluma (Erin Moran). Both she and the surface team have significant problems with team leader Baelon, who is pushy and arrogant and totally unimpressed by Alluma's inability to detect any lifesigns whatsoever.
Making their way across the landscape of the planet, they eventually reach the other vessel. Entering, they find evidence of a massacre that took place. The rescue teams split into two and explore the craft. They find further evidence of something catastrophic having happened and, after disposing of the rest, take one victim back for analysis. Cos, the highly-strung youngest member of the team, despite being reassured by his seniors, becomes increasingly terrified by being on the ship and, a short time later, he is killed by a grotesque creature.
The crew discover that something from the planet pulled them down, and in order to escape, they must investigate. After some exploration, they discover a massive pyramid-shaped structure, which Alluma describes as "empty" and "dead". Their explorations of the pyramid lead to a series of exceedingly violent and deadly encounters in which a malevolent force causes several crew members to be dismembered, burned, consumed, raped or crushed to death by monsters created out of each person's unique set of fears.
Eventually, only two members of the team, Ranger (Robert Englund) and Cabren (Edward Albert), remain alive. Deep inside the pyramid, Cabren encounters the Master (Ray Walston), who has been masquerading as the cook onboard the Quest. The Master explains that the pyramid is actually an ancient toy for the children of a long-extinct race, built in order to test their ability to control fear. Cabren kills the Master for allowing his crew to die, but himself becomes the new Master.
Cast
- Edward AlbertEdward AlbertEdward Albert was an American film and television actor. He was also known as Edward Laurence Albert, Laurence Edward Albert and occasionally Eddie Albert, Jr.-Early life:Albert was born Edward Laurence Heimberger in Los Angeles, California, to actor Eddie...
as Cabren, an experienced and cool-headed space veteran who is the film's main protagonist - Erin MoranErin MoranErin Marie Moran is an American actress, best known for the role of Joanie Cunningham on Happy Days and its spinoff Joanie Loves Chachi.-Early life:...
as Alluma, the ship's empath - Ray WalstonRay WalstonRay Walston was an American stage, television and film actor best known as the title character on the 1960s situation comedy My Favorite Martian. In addition, he is also remembered for his roles as Luther Billis in South Pacific , Mr. Applegate in Damn Yankees , J.J...
as Kore, the ship's cook - Bernard Behrens as Commander Ilvar, the overall commander of the mission
- Zalman KingZalman KingZalman King is an American film director, writer, actor and producer. His directing and writing productions are known for incorporating erotica as a centerpiece to plots which are nevertheless about greater issues.-Acting:As a young man in 1963 he played a gang member on Alfred Hitchcock Presents...
as Baelon, the rescue unit's team leader - Robert EnglundRobert EnglundRobert Barton Englund is an American actor, voice-actor and director, best known for playing the fictional serial killer Freddy Krueger, in the Nightmare on Elm Street film series. He received a Saturn Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors in...
as Ranger, one of the ship's crewmen - Taaffe O'ConnellTaaffe O'ConnellTaaffe O'Connell is an American actress, best known by horror film fans for her performance in Galaxy of Terror. Her acting career began in the late 1970s and continued uninterrupted through the 1980s...
as Dameia, the ship's technical officer - Sid HaigSid HaigSid Haig is a American actor. His roles have included acting in Jack Hill's blaxploitation films of the 1970s as well as his role as Captain Spaulding in Rob Zombie's horror films House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects...
as Quuhod, crewman and crystal thrower. - Grace ZabriskieGrace ZabriskieGrace Zabriskie is an American actress. She has appeared in many popular American films but, she is best known for her work in television. She is perhaps best known for her roles in the television series Twin Peaks, Seinfeld, and Big Love.-Early life:Zabriskie was born in New Orleans, Louisiana...
as Captain Trantor, the ship's troubled captain - Jack BlessingJack BlessingJack Blessing is an American actor.-Career:Blessing is best known for playing Jack Powers in George Lopez, MacGillicudy in Moonlighting, Mr. Donner in The Naked Truth, and for making various appearances in television and film.-Filmography:...
as Cos, greenhorn space crewman - Mary Ellen O'Neill as Mitri, companion and gamekeeper for the Master
Cult status
Although released to little fanfare (and much ridicule) in 1981, the movie has gradually taken on cult status, largely due to its B-movieB-movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
status and the personnel involved.
James Cameron
While known as being a "B-movie" king, Roger Corman has started the careers of many prominent Hollywood people with his films. Galaxy of Terror was one of the earliest films for director James CameronJames Cameron
James Francis Cameron is a Canadian-American film director, film producer, screenwriter, editor, environmentalist and inventor...
, who served as Production Designer and Second Unit Director on the film. It was the second Corman film that Cameron worked as a crewman on, the first being Battle Beyond the Stars
Battle Beyond the Stars
Battle Beyond the Stars is a Roger Corman-produced science fiction film, directed by Jimmy T. Murakami and released in 1980. The film, intended as a "Magnificent Seven in outer space," is a pastiche of The Magnificent Seven, the Western remake of Akira Kurosawa's film Seven Samurai...
(1980). Working on a tight budget, Cameron's innovative film-making techniques came to the fore-front. In one scene, Cameron was able to figure out a way to get maggots to wiggle on cue by developing a metal plate onto which the maggots were placed, then ran an electrical current through the plate whenever filming began, causing the maggots to move energetically about. His ability to find low-tech solutions to such problems is reportedly what found him in the favor of Corman and eventually moved him onto more prolific projects. Cameron would later direct Aliens
Aliens (film)
Aliens is a 1986 science fiction action film directed by James Cameron and starring Sigourney Weaver, Carrie Henn, Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen, William Hope, and Bill Paxton...
(1986), the sequel to Alien
Alien (film)
Alien is a 1979 science fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm and Yaphet Kotto. The film's title refers to its primary antagonist: a highly aggressive extraterrestrial creature which...
of which Galaxy Of Terror was largely inspired. Optical FX Supervisor Tony Randel, who worked with Cameron on Galaxy of Terror, notes on the Shout! Factory
Shout! Factory
Shout! Factory is an entertainment company founded in 2003 that was started by Richard Foos , Bob Emmer and Garson Foos initially as a specialty music label...
DVD release that Aliens, which Cameron helmed, looks a lot like Galaxy of Terror in many ways.
Taaffe O'Connell and "the worm scene"
The commentary on the 2010 Shout! Factory DVD release (see below) includes R. J. Kizer, one of three editors of the film. Kizer reveals that the original version of this scene, which shows O'Connell's character 'Dameia' being raped and killed by a giant worm, was considered too sexually graphic by the Motion Picture Association of America film rating system (MPAA). The MPAA initially gave the film an X-rating when O'Connell's character, who had already revealed her fear of worms, is attacked by an enormous 12-foot long worm, complete with large tentacles and a maw. The initial writing of the scene had the worm stripping then consuming a topless Dameia, but producer Corman had promised financial backers of the movie a sex scene involving the actress, and decided to change Dameia's method of death to being graphically raped instead. (Corman, interviewed in the same commentary, stated that the character of Dameia as re-written had a fear of sex as well a fear of worms. O'Connell, in a separate interview with Femme Fatales magazine, interpreted that Dameia was frightened by her own sexuality and her secret desire to be overpowered and surrender control.) When the film's director, B. D. Clark, refused to helm the revised scene, and O'Connell balked at the full nudity then required of her, Corman directed the scene himself and hired a body double for the full nudity shots. The re-written scene then showed the character's terror upon being attacked giving way to forced sexual arousal as she's loudly driven to an orgasm so intense it kills her.After MPAA's initial X-rating, Kizer had to make several tiny clips to the scene to get it released in the U.S. as R-rated. These mostly involved removing some of the more "rhapsodic, ecstatic" looks on O'Connell's face to de-emphasize her sexual submission, as well as some motions made by the monster that too realistically simulated sexual intercourse. Despite these small changes, most of the scene's sexually lewd intent remained intact and was too much to avoid being censored by some countries, who either required the scene be deleted or denied the film a release entirely. Later VHS and DVD releases in Europe and elsewhere contained the scene in its final, R-rated version. The clipped materials themselves were lost over time and are not included as part of the new DVD/blu-ray release.
Release
The film was originally released on VHSVHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
and Laserdisc
Laserdisc
LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
by Nelson Entertainment. Up until 2010, Galaxy of Terror did not have an authorized region 1 (North America) DVD release. There was a remastered and authorized Region 2 (Europe) Italian disc available from Mondo Home Entertainment released in 2006 which is now out-of-print. The lack of authorized discs for so many years has led to numerous unauthorized copies of the movie being sold online and elsewhere.
On July 20, 2010, Shout! Factory
Shout! Factory
Shout! Factory is an entertainment company founded in 2003 that was started by Richard Foos , Bob Emmer and Garson Foos initially as a specialty music label...
released Galaxy of Terror on Region 1 DVD and, for the first time, on Blu-ray Disc. The release also contains cast interviews and behind-the-scenes information on a variety of aspects.