Director Bruce D. Clark delivers a choppily edited and sparsely scripted affair. Nevertheless, it may have influenced elements later seen in Event Horizon.
There are some interesting kill scenes, including a man fighting his doppelgänger, a woman being consumed by a giant maggot (Taaffe O’Connell’s notorious death scene), and another man being killed by a throwing star wielded by his own severed arm.
As with most Roger Corman productions, there’s plenty of imagination, but the low-budget production values result in lulls where very little happens. Corman’s mishmash Forbidden World possibly pips it to the post.
The cast is an assortment of familiar TV and film actors, from Erin Moran (Happy Days) to Robert Englund (V and A Nightmare on Elm Street), who do their best with the script and ill-fitting costumes. There’s also Sid Haig, to name but a few. Some nice effects are on display, along with matte paintings and sound design. Moustached Edward Albert is a solid lead, while Grace Zabriskie’s Captain Trantor is memorable, even if her screen time is limited.
Interestingly, as a precursor to bigger things, James Cameron serves as production designer and second unit director. There are faint glimpses of the visual style he would later refine in The Terminator and Aliens, even if they are not as well lit or executed here.
Galaxy of Terror is unashamedly a series of kills strung together with gore moments and effects—but so were the majority of films in its genre at the time. It’s worth viewing, if only out of interest for the practical effects work.
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