Starcrash [DVD]

It's about time this got a proper R2 release... It's gotta be one of the ultimate guilty pleasures and is unquestionably one of the best "So Bad It's Good" movies of all time...

Luigi Cozzi's Star Wars rip off certainly lacks the special effects and cash soaked sets of the George Lucas film it immitates, but what it looses in acting, plot & dialogue, it more than makes up for in pure fun, laughs, charm & utter movie madness... Quite how the producers convinced John Barry to produce the excellent score is beyond me.

Caroline Munro isn't too shabby either...

Get it today, grab several bottles of wine, transport yourself back to 1979 and smile all the way to the end credits...

10/10 - Unmissable

Sometimes i think i like this even more than i like Star Wars.
First it's got a great soundtrack by John Barry. In fact this soundtrack is so good that he even riped-off from himself, and we can hear a slight diferent version in OUT OF AFRICA, but not much diferent as it is instantly recognizable as the music from STARCRASH, from everyone who loves this italian mega-low budget space opera thing.

Even with its cardboard sets, spaceship models ridiculous costumes and clothes, ultra bad dialogue and crapy special effects which in fact are not even effects,much less special, STARCRASH is still one of my all time favorites space movies.
Idiotic villains, half naked space babes, a robbot named HAL with the personality of C-3PO (!!!?), light sabres duels and lots space battles, this movie has it all !

It even has a giant battlestation, with glass windows, vitral style, which are shattered by the good guys when they invade the station inside missile capsules who break all the windows in the final battle. And even with the glass broken nothing happens, no decompression, no air being sucked out into space, nothing ! It's hilarious. Classic moment in Bad movies no doubt.

Man! Even DAVID HASSELHOF is in this ! A long, long time ago in a galaxy very far away from BAYWATCH. Altough the character of STELLA STAR has everything to be in Baywatch.
I recomend this movie to everybody, who loves Bad movies and particulary if you love science fiction. This is more fun than Star Wars ! :-)

What's great about STARCRASH is that it doesn't try to be more than what actualy is, a great bad movie. Even the actors seem to be having fun in this ! Or maybe they're just desperated to get out of it. :-)
But it works, and it works great.

It's fun to watch, it has a good 30's classical plot for space opera story, it is very atmospheric and the soundtrack is beautiful.
Even the sound effects are cool, with very strange eletronic blips and noises, that reminds me of those 50's invasion movies sometimes.

I guess there is nothing more i can say.
STARCRASH is one of those movies that you either love or hate with all your guts !
I love it.

Just don't look at this as a serious film, and you'll have fun for sure watching it. Brilliant stuff !
Oh, the planets were made with baloons and the stars were christmas tree lights on a black board. Its all in an old documentary about the making of that you can find on the net if you look for it.

As for old style space operas, in my opinion there's nothing like Starcrash. Altough the recent "Humanity's End" is also a good choice if you love this type of space adventures with a EE Doc Smith flavour.

If there was ever a movie that spawned the phrase "It's so bad it's good" category then Starcrash must surely be that movie. Terribly acted, crappy special fx, mind numbingly bad dialogue and a stupid plot, all these things should have you reaching for the "Off" button on your remote within the first 10 mins but this film is amazingly entertaining and charming at the same time.

Obviously produced to cash in on the success of Star Wars - The Italian film industry (who ripped off any successful genre of film) quickly thrust this into production at the end of 1977. The film however ran into some production problems and didn't reach cinema's till the beginning of 1979, even though a low budget star wars rip off, Starcrash was still a massive production undertaking for the Italian film industry at the time. Headed by English actress ( the always gorgeous) Caroline Munro as Stella Star, the cast also included 70's popular American TV actor Marjoe Gortnor and a little unknown actor called David Haselhoff who was a wet behind the ears kid starring in his first big job ( what ever happened to him btw!) Most bizarrely of all and still somewhat of a mystery they roped in the legendary Christopher Plummer to play the emperor of the galaxy! I guess his agent told him he'd be playing the Emporer in Star Wars and turned up at the wrong set!

Even more of a bizarre coup! they even got the great John Barry to score the music for the film and his wonderful score gives added class to at least on the surface is a pretty bad movie. Barry's score here is as good ( in my opinion) as most of his classic scores like Dances with wolves and the Bond films.

Ok so there is more cheese in this movie than in your local supermarket but i love this movie to death!! if your ever in a bad mood, just stick on Starcrash and it will always bring a smile to your face. It's really not worth mentioning the plot coz there isn't one of a coherent note to be honest. Just sit back and enjoy the bizarre ride on offer. Think Star wars mixed with Jason and the Argonauts with a dash of Barbarella and your on the right track!

Just a sample of the bad dialogue on offer! - here's one of the scenes

Simon "Oh Stella"

Stella "Oh Simon"

Simon "Oh Stella"

Stella "Oh Simon"

Both together.. "Oh"

and another

Thor - How are you surviving these deadly rays!!

i think you get the gist!

DO NOT BUY THE UK DVD OF THIS MOVIE!! It's only in 4.3 fullscreen and has no special features whatsoever. get the far superior Region 1 - 2 Disc Roger Corman presents edition which is the proper 1.85 widescreen ratio with 5.1 sound and a crazy amount of extra features to boot.

Starcrash should be enjoyed for what it is, just campy,chessy,bizarre fun. If you don't take it seriously you'll have great fun with it.