Galaxy of Terror

Infobox Film
name = Galaxy of Terror

|222px|Galaxy of Terror
caption = Theatrical poster
writer = Bruce D. Clark
starring = Erin Moran
Robert Englund
Sid Haig
Ray Walston
Taaffe O'Connell
director = Bruce D. Clark
producer = New World Pictures
distributor = United Artists
released = October, 1981
country = USA
language = English
imdb_id = 0082431

"Galaxy of Terror" is a science fiction/horror film starring Erin Moran, Robert Englund, Ray Walston, and Sid Haig and directed by Bruce D. Clark. It was produced by New World Pictures, distributed by United Artists and released in 1981.

Plot

On a desolate, storm-lashed planet on the edge of the universe, the sole survivor of a crashed spaceship, apparently being pursued by some foe, seals himself into a section of the craft but is attacked and killed by an unseen force.

On another planet a very long distance away, two figures are seen playing a strange game. One, an old woman, is identified as the controller of the game while the other, his head replaced by a glowing red ball of light, turns out to be an all-powerful mystic called the Planet Master.

A military officer contacts the Master to inform him of the loss of the vessel. When he is informed of the location of the crash, the mystic becomes very interested and devises a secret plan, despite the protestations of the game controller who believes that it is dangerous and will cause suffering and death. He commands the officer to take command of a rescue craft and travel with a crew selected by the Master to rescue the survivors of the crash. The crew are not to be informed of the mystic’s connection with the mission. Shortly after the ship’s personnel have been assembled and preparations for lift-off made. The officer, now listed as mission commander, meets the captain of the vessel who immediately orders the ship into launch mode, even though the crew itself needs more time to organize. With only 30 seconds available, the team (most of whom had a history together) frantically scramble to their positions. The ship takes off and heads off into deep space, with the crew shaken but otherwise unharmed. The captain suggests that the mission commander is rather old for this type of mission. He agrees, saying that he has not been on an active mission for many years, whereas she has been on active duty now for over 25 years, since surviving a notorious disaster as a youth. The other crew members are unhappy to learn who their captain is, and even more so when she changes the preset co-ordinates for a hyper-space jump and immediately engages it. Within seconds they are hurtled across the universe to near the planet where their rescue target is located.

As the ship approaches the planet’s atmosphere, it suddenly veers out of control and plunges toward the surface. The captain is unable to regain contrl of the craft and is about to give up when it mysteriously begins to slow down enough for her to perform an emergency procedure, allowing her to crash-land on the surface of the world. After recovering from the landing, the crew prepare to leave the ship and search for survivors. The team have a psi-sensitive female among their number. The team leader is unimpressed by her presence or her inability to detect any lifesigns whatsoever. Making their away across the landscape of the planet, they eventually reach the other vessel. Entering, they find evidence of a massacre with the crew dying horribly. The rescue team split into two and explore the craft. They find further evidence of something catastrophic having happened and, after disposing of the rest, take one victim back for analysis. The highly-strung youngest member of the team, despite being reassured by his seniors, is traumatized by the atmosphere on the ship. It appears that his fears may be well founded as, out of sight, a grotesque creature is seen stalking him…

History

New World Pictures was founded by movie producer Roger Corman, who is famous for making low-budget Rip offs.

The "Worm Rape"

One notorious scene in the movie has Taaffe O'Connell's character Dameia captured, stripped from her suit, slimed and raped to death by a giant worm creature.

Originally her character was to be "simply" eaten by the worm, until Bruce D. Clark changed the script to the great displeasure of Taaffe: for shooting the scene, she had to be naked, while shooting was done in the morning of a cold winter day -- on top of that, the slime used had to be cold for Viscosity reasons.

Home video

It was originally released on VHS and Laserdisc by Nelson Entertainment

References

[http://groups.yahoo.com/group/galaxyoftaaffe/] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfWwDldGMDc] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxvajOyAaBo&feature=related]

External links

*imdb title|0082431