Three really shitty movies. I am not sure if I enjoyed them, or if I wasted a holiday. But I am becoming an aficionado of bad cinema. Scratch that, I am addicted to the genre of SciFi trash
There was a movie I saw on the Sci-fi channel before they changed the name to SyFy about scientists who found a dragon egg and decided to clone it. It was so bad it was funny. Imagine a dragon that looks like a stegosaurus with flapping wings. Add to that you know when each character is going to die. They decided to make a TV series or if it.
Comet TV shows a bunch schlock Sci-Fi movies on the weekends and sometimes on weeknights that you can watch for free.
Oh yeah. And the fact that a ton of movies like this exist gives grist to the folks at Rifftrax to riff on, they will NEVER run out of raw material to work with.
SATURN 3 is just embarrassing, thanks to Farrah Fawcett being presented as the love slave(?) of Kirk Douglas, who was old enough to be her grandfather(!) when the movie was made. And I don't care how talented he is, Harvey Keitel is always just creepy whenever he's around women....
GALAXY OF TERROR is...interesting, thanks in no small part to being the first film completely production designed by James Cameron. Corman had hired him to do some model work on BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS, kept firing him because Corman and Cameron clashed constantly, then kept re-hiring him because Cameron was also the guy who Got Things Done even on a Roger Corman budget. I think Corman eventually just had Gail Ann Hurd, who was both Corman's assistant and romantically involved with James Cameron by that point, be their go-between.
INSEMINOID...I think I saw it? Or was that CREATURE or XTRO...?
You are right about Keitel. And the ick factor of Farrah and Kirk is total cringe.
I had noticed the Camreron credits and scratched my head. But that explains the sets in Galaxy of Terror, they are vastly better than the cast and script.
Hard as it is to believe now, there was a time when James Cameron was known for working fast and cheap. The ship interiors were spray-painted McDonald's food containers and plastic milk cases with lights shone through them.
The local McDonald's manager caught Cameron dumpster-diving for more containers, and they recognized him as the guy who'd always come by and buy a bunch of burgers! They asked him what he was doing, he told them how he was using them—and the manager went through the trash and put a bunch in bags for him to take at the end of the day. (I wonder if Cameron asked Corman to give the manager credit as part of the Production Design team....)
James Cameron also argued with the Cinematographer who he felt kept shooting the sets wrong, exposing how cheaply they were made. Cameron told Roger Corman he wanted to direct, but Corman got beaten to the punch by Ovidio G. Assonitis, one of the Producers of PIRANHA II: THE SPAWNING, who had hired Cameron to do special effects, then promoted him to Director after firing original choice Miller Drake (who had been "de facto head of post-production at New World", according to Wikipedia). Cameron and Assonitis also clashed (surprise!), and Cameron was unable to edit his own movie—which is why he still says THE TERMINATOR was his directorial debut.
I think I remember shreds of Saturn 3, from a Saturday night in my teens. Living out in the sticks meant I spent a lot of weekend nights at home with nothing to do except watch whatever crap was killing time on whatever station we picked up. Iirc, which I might not be, at one point the robot menacing the sexy woman is wearing a man’s head over its own. I don’t recall why. I might have been a bit drunk, though.
It’s not schlocky sci-fi but I just watched “Sisu” this week based on a clip I saw at Rick Wilson’s. I got the dvd from my local library so don’t know what services have it.
If you want to see Nazis gloriously killed by an old, Finnish gold miner I heartily recommend it. I think it was the same folks who made the marvelous John Wick movies that made Sisu.
Hmmm, this post caused 8 people to unsubscribe. Weird.
As a fan of MST3K, every Turkey Day for the last couple of decades has been bad movie day.
There was a movie I saw on the Sci-fi channel before they changed the name to SyFy about scientists who found a dragon egg and decided to clone it. It was so bad it was funny. Imagine a dragon that looks like a stegosaurus with flapping wings. Add to that you know when each character is going to die. They decided to make a TV series or if it.
Comet TV shows a bunch schlock Sci-Fi movies on the weekends and sometimes on weeknights that you can watch for free.
Thanks for the laughs❣️
When you feel ready for it - tee up Neon Maniacs - not sure it’s considered sci fi - but stellar badness from the mid-80s
Oh yeah, hook it to my veins!
I tap into Creature Features on YouTube and their showings, some can be sci-fi, don’t disappoint!
It really was a local cultural phenomenon when I was growing up. Wilkins had that big nasty cigar, and he had the scariest movies.
I am still terrified when I think of the movie “Trilogy of Terror”. Karen Black, and that damn doll
I need to look that one up!
100% agreed. Saturn 3 was drek.
Muchos gracias for recommending I DON’T watch these films!!
I know what I’m doing this afternoon 😉
I know Kirk Douglas was old but sometimes you just get lucky.
Geoff, I love Saturn 3.😍
Reading all the creepy comments about makes it great. That's why I loved it. It was so flawed.
Oh yeah. And the fact that a ton of movies like this exist gives grist to the folks at Rifftrax to riff on, they will NEVER run out of raw material to work with.
Rock on brother!
I will say that the sets were way too clean, and the cast was pretty star studded for the era (Keitel was probably the least well known at the time).
Definitely not a budget flick.
SATURN 3 is just embarrassing, thanks to Farrah Fawcett being presented as the love slave(?) of Kirk Douglas, who was old enough to be her grandfather(!) when the movie was made. And I don't care how talented he is, Harvey Keitel is always just creepy whenever he's around women....
GALAXY OF TERROR is...interesting, thanks in no small part to being the first film completely production designed by James Cameron. Corman had hired him to do some model work on BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS, kept firing him because Corman and Cameron clashed constantly, then kept re-hiring him because Cameron was also the guy who Got Things Done even on a Roger Corman budget. I think Corman eventually just had Gail Ann Hurd, who was both Corman's assistant and romantically involved with James Cameron by that point, be their go-between.
INSEMINOID...I think I saw it? Or was that CREATURE or XTRO...?
You are right about Keitel. And the ick factor of Farrah and Kirk is total cringe.
I had noticed the Camreron credits and scratched my head. But that explains the sets in Galaxy of Terror, they are vastly better than the cast and script.
Hard as it is to believe now, there was a time when James Cameron was known for working fast and cheap. The ship interiors were spray-painted McDonald's food containers and plastic milk cases with lights shone through them.
The local McDonald's manager caught Cameron dumpster-diving for more containers, and they recognized him as the guy who'd always come by and buy a bunch of burgers! They asked him what he was doing, he told them how he was using them—and the manager went through the trash and put a bunch in bags for him to take at the end of the day. (I wonder if Cameron asked Corman to give the manager credit as part of the Production Design team....)
James Cameron also argued with the Cinematographer who he felt kept shooting the sets wrong, exposing how cheaply they were made. Cameron told Roger Corman he wanted to direct, but Corman got beaten to the punch by Ovidio G. Assonitis, one of the Producers of PIRANHA II: THE SPAWNING, who had hired Cameron to do special effects, then promoted him to Director after firing original choice Miller Drake (who had been "de facto head of post-production at New World", according to Wikipedia). Cameron and Assonitis also clashed (surprise!), and Cameron was unable to edit his own movie—which is why he still says THE TERMINATOR was his directorial debut.
The more you know!
I think I remember shreds of Saturn 3, from a Saturday night in my teens. Living out in the sticks meant I spent a lot of weekend nights at home with nothing to do except watch whatever crap was killing time on whatever station we picked up. Iirc, which I might not be, at one point the robot menacing the sexy woman is wearing a man’s head over its own. I don’t recall why. I might have been a bit drunk, though.
Sci Fi Schlock. 😂😂 thanks for taking one for the team!!
Oh, I just love the genre. It is mindless and it is almost more fun to pick the plot and tech apart.
Well, now I have to watch them.
It’s not schlocky sci-fi but I just watched “Sisu” this week based on a clip I saw at Rick Wilson’s. I got the dvd from my local library so don’t know what services have it.
If you want to see Nazis gloriously killed by an old, Finnish gold miner I heartily recommend it. I think it was the same folks who made the marvelous John Wick movies that made Sisu.
I will have to check that out!