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Galaxy of Terror (1981) - Bruce D. Clark


I had never heard about this until I came across it on Netflix. I saw that Sid Haig was in it and couldn't wait to check it out and see what it had to offer. However, it didn't offer very much. Galaxy of Terror is fun movie to watch ironically. Its an odd mix of Alien and Event Horizon. The film takes place on a strange planet where your worst fear can come to life! Each member of the crew aboard the Quest is in fight for their life! 

Fear is the driving force behind this eighties b-movie. Every member of the crew that dies has one thing in common. The deaths are all based on the person's fear. This makes for some pretty neat kills, albeit weird and strange. But that is what I love about these movies. Even though this movie was trash, it had some really creative death scenes and with Roger Corman behind it, there was some really decent sleeze. Case in point is the maggot rape scene. Just let that sink in for a bit. The movie is chock full of cheesy effects and schlock. Girls, Guts, and Ghosts are what you should be expecting when your going into this. Just try not to judge them so harshly. 


This movie has great timing and a pretty decent cast. Robert Englund, Edward Albert, Erin Moran, Taaffe O'Connell, Zalman King, Grace Zabriskie, and of course Sid Haig. The problem is with the story and practicality. I know as well as anyone that you have to kind of throw those two things out the window. However, it's really hard in this case. 

This movie has way too many holes. It feels like it left a ton of stuff out. Characters were badly introduced or explained and because of that they never really rounded out. The story starts to lag towards the end. However, luckily it only has an 88 minute run time. 

Director: Bruce D. Clark
Country: USA
Style: Sci-Fi Horror

Did ya know... 


Kizer reveals that the originally filmed version of the “Dameia” (O’Connell) character’s “kill” scene changed significantly as the movie was made. The initial writing of the scene had the maggot only stripping and consuming a topless Dameia, but producer Roger Corman had promised financial backers of the movie a sex scene involving O’Connell, so he merged the two ideas together. His re-write of the scene had Dameia reacting in terror when confronting the 12-foot long creature, an “id monster” created from her own mind complete with tentacles, but having the terror give way to forced sexual arousal as the monster strips and rapes her. The re-written scene included full nudity and far more explicit sexual content, including simulated sexual intercourse, and ended with Dameia moaning provocatively, covered in excreted slime, and being driven to an orgasm so intense it kills her. 

Movie was originally rated X by the MPAA. Following scenes were cut for R rating; Evisceration and a protracted shot of a scalped corpse with part of its skull missing, several frames from infamous worm rape scene showing giant worm's thrusting movements and victim's face in ecstasy, sounds of bones breaking were also removed from scene in which another female character gets crushed by living wires. Original X rated version of the movie is confirmed to be lost and destroyed. 

Sid Haig didn't think the dialogue in the script matched the character of Quuhod, so he asked Roger Corman if he could play Quuhod as a near mute instead. Corman agreed and let Haig portray Quuhod with almost no dialogue. Haig only says a single line in the whole movie.

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