I find Starcrash (1978) very stirring and exciting. At its heart, it is a close relative of the klutzy Italian giallo films, a swashbuckling Star epic full of political space color, ridiculous special effects, dumb intrigue, and moral danger in space. Christopher Plummer emerges as a memorable villain, and David Hasselhoff's presence is enough to further increase the mystique of the Hasselhoff cheese legacy. I sense some unbalance in this movie. The script is so bad that it makes Marjoe Gortner and Joe Spinell look lame but Caroline Munro wearing a bikini is hot.
Starcrash (1978) is underrated cheese and more imaginative than most cheese space films ever shot.
Not only does this movie entertain kids of all ages but it holds up well to repeat viewings and earns the right to be called a cheese space classic.
Cheesy space opera coming to Blu-Ray - SRFireside - Houston, TX United States
I remember seeing this movie on many a Saturday afternoon when I was young. Back then I loved it. Today I am fully aware of its shortcomings. That being said I still enjoy it, only this time the "cool" factor has dropped down several notches since I was a kid and the "cheesy" factor has kicked in. This movie might be fun for different reasons than I had before, but it's still fun.
I find it interesting that this movie is being released under the Roger Corman's Cult Classics moniker considering Corman had NOTHING to do with it. It was directed (and written) by Luigi Cozzi. It was originally conceived as a Harryhausen Sinbad type adventure in space rip-off, but then Star Wars came along so Luigi upped the production schedule and added George Lucas' classic on the list of stuff he borrowed from.
Bear in mind this is one of those Italian-made productions and it was obviously trying to capitalize on the success of Star Wars. Starcrash is definitely along the lines of a classic space opera, and when I say that I mean everything including tiny budgets and short production schedules. Star Wars it aint, but if you think about it Starcrash is truer to the genre.
The movie takes ideas from a lot of places. Of course there is the aforementioned Harryhausen ideas when "borrowing" concepts for their stop motion model work. The sword fight with the robots and the giant Amazon robot are direct rip offs of two notable scenes by the master Harryhausen himself. Of course Star Wars got milked too, but not nearly as much as you might think. Most likely the light sabers were ripped off and that villain's name, Zarth Arn, sounds way too close to not be derivative of Star Wars' Vader. The plot kinda sits there and some of the scenes make very little sense. I guess that's okay since the script throws out some major cornball dialog.
Production values are abysmal in this film. The spaceship models look like they are various household items glued together with parts of model kits (including the plastic frames you pull the parts off of). The stop motion animations are extremely choppy. The laser effects... well they are kinda cool, but definitely dated. Everything about the special effects scream college film project.
The acting varies from good to hammy. Caroline Monroe is known for doing roles like this one and she pulls it off just like she always does. Christopher Plummer... man that guy can make the worst lines ever written sound noble and poignant. That's exactly what he did here. David Hasselhoff is in this one as well and he doesn't do a bad job if you can get around the eye makeup.
Now this movie has gotten the DVD treatment before and now Corman is releasing it on his Cult Classics collection as both Blu-Ray and DVD. That's about all the information that has been released so far. No news on whether or not this will be a remastered edition. No word on what features and extras will be included. Best I can do is let you know what's out there, and so far the best model to go on is the Collector's Edition DVD.
The Collector's Edition actually had 5.1 DTS audio, however the caveat to that is it's a 5.1 digital master of a monophonic movie. Take that however you like, but the CE audio wasn't all that amazing. Will this Bly-Ray do anything to improve that? The Collector's Edition also has some interesting features such as a making of documentary that I think came from a television program that was released in Italy way back then. It also has a documentary/interview with director Luigi Cozzi. Will this Blu-Ray have any of this stuff and/or more? I'll update this review as I learn more.
I know I make it all sound pretty bad, but when you put it all together the movie does have its charm. Cheesy charm and some authentic movie charm as well. I'm surprised Mystery Science Theater 3K didn't do a number on this movie. Watch it with some friends and you will all have a great time poking at it. For you classic space opera fans this movie is a hoot as well. Especially if you are very forgiving of all the limitations I mentioned. Definitely worth a look for any science fiction fan with an open mind.
Worst movie ever - James E. Bullard - St. Petersburg, FL
As others have stated here, this waste of celuloid was rushed out to cash in on the science fantasy/Star Wars craze. It had horrible acting. Horrible special effects that make the old Buster Crabbe serials look like high def masterpieces. A horrible plotline. It was so bad it doesn't even work on a Troma level (and I've seen many of their films). Starcrash (the Adventures of Stella Star) doesn't even qualify as a B-film (more like a Z film?) it was so bad. Save your money!
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