Galaxy of Terror

Galaxy of Terror (1981)

ALIEN was the beginning… Hell Has Just Been Relocated!

As a lone spaceship proceeds on its long voyage across space, the crew are surprised to encounter a strange pyramid form. Surprise turns to horror as one by one, they discover that their darkest nightmares are all starting to become real. The pyramid has to be behind it all somehow, but how can they save themselves from its influence?

Date of release
1981-10-01
TMDB
5.3 / 10 (276)
Runtime
1h 21m
Genres
Action, Adventure, Horror, Science Fiction
Director
Bruce D. Clark

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Budget: $1.8M
  • Filmed in: Santa Monica

Galaxy of Terror is a 1981 American science fiction horror film directed by Bruce D. Clark and produced by Roger Corman through New World Pictures. It stars Edward Albert, Erin Moran, Ray Walston, Taaffe O'Connell, and future horror film stars Sid Haig and Robert Englund. Set in a dystopian future where humanity is a spacefaring race ruled by a sole person called "The Master," the film features a space crew confronting primal fears after they are marooned on a distant planet.

Production

While known as a "B movie king", Roger Corman has started the careers of many prominent Hollywood people with his films. Galaxy of Terror was one of the earliest films to feature the work of James Cameron, who served as Production Designer and Second Unit Director on the film. It was the second Corman film on which Cameron worked as a crewman, the first being Battle Beyond the Stars (1980).

Ridley Scott's Alien (1979) was an important inspiration for Galaxy of Terror and Cameron would later direct the sequel, Aliens (1986). Optical effects supervisor Tony Randel commented on the Shout! Factory DVD release that Aliens looks like Galaxy of Terror in many ways.

The commentary on the 2010 Shout! Factory DVD release includes R.J. Kizer, one of three editors of the film. Kizer reveals that the originally scripted version of O'Connell's "Dameia" character would see her die topless while being stripped and consumed by a monster. Producer Roger Corman, however, had promised financial backers of the movie a sex scene.

After informing director Clark and actress O'Connell of the changes and having both of them balk, Corman decided to direct the worm scene himself. He hired a body double (it is suggested in the Shout! commentary of the film that this was Iya Labunka) to shoot the full-nudity sequences. In the released film, the worm scene as it is shown is a mix of shots with O'Connell and the body double.

Kizer, in the film's commentary, stated he then had to go back and remove anything sexually explicit enough to earn the X-rating. He removed any "erotic rhapsody looks" on O'Connell's face as she was being raped. According to the film documentary, Kizer also removed any suggestive "humping movements" made by the worm.

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