While I patiently wait for something good to watch this summer that doesn’t require me to lick Marvel’s greasy taint, I have decided to travel back in time to review the horror section of Roger Corman’s Cult Classics. The list of Corman’s picks of his best work has a great number of gems and I am declaring June to be the Month of Corman! Roger Corman took chances on many young filmmakers, some names you might recognize are: Coppola, Scorsese, Howard, and Cameron. These are just a few of many of the careers that he had a hand launching. He gave us many acting film legends as well, many of whom you will see highlighted during June.
Corman was a fucking kingmaker
Today I will be reviewing Corman’s cult classic Galaxy of Terror. This is a sci-fi horror film which takes place on a far away planet, where the crew crash lands and is terrorized by an dark evil that uses their darkest fears to kill them. It sounds pretty cliche, but this movie was made long enough ago where it can be forgiven. This move came out when every idea was new and every idea was thrown on the screen without a second thought.
(A giant maggot and a smoking hot blonde woman, what could go wrong?)
Galaxy of Terror stars Edward Albert, JOANIE LOVES CHACHIE!!!, The timeless Robert Englund and a much younger and studlier Sig Haig. They get marooned on some distant planet on orders from “The Master” to explore an ancient pyramid. What they find is their own worst nightmares!
(I found the most frightening thing to be Joanie’s laser stare of death)
The kills are pretty gory and spectacular but my favorite involves a broken shard of crystal. Each death is more ridiculous and awesome than the last and the movie ends with a manly mustache and a righteous display of flips and lasers.
None of this movie actually makes sense, but we do actually have a lot to owe Galaxy of Terror. According to IMDB, James Cameron was a lowly unit director for the special effects. He had the idea to get maggots to writhe on a severed arm by passing an electric current through it and the producers were very impressed. It kick started his career and thanks to electrified maggots we get Aliens, Terminator, the Abyss, and that annoying fucking song from Celine Dion… I guess nobody is perfect. Cameron also employed Bill Paxton as a set dresser and they have been working together ever since. The story of this movie seems to be more interesting than the actual movie itself.
This cult classic surprised me as it was just as fun to learn the trivia as it was watching it. Galaxy of Terror was the perfect film to kick off Month of Corman!!
