Where's the so called Alien ripoff…..
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Galaxy of Terror
redcom1984 — 20 years ago(June 01, 2005 07:28 PM)
I just finished watching this movie and I must say that this movie has got near zero ripoff of Alien. In fact, I'd say that most movies out there ripped off Galaxy of Terror. The first movie that comes to mind is Event Horizon. By the way, was this a TV movie or released cinemas?
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TonyDood — 20 years ago(June 15, 2005 06:16 PM)
I remember this being released in my home town when I was young, it played for about a week. It got reviewed, and the local reviewer said it was nasty and reprehensible garbage. The poster was truly cool, if you like Frazetta-like slobbering monsters. Later, I saw this at a Drive-In as a double feature with a boring slasher called "The House On Sorority Row." (the movie is so dark you could only see about 3% of it, lol!) It also played on cable a lot. Did you know there was a sequel? It's really gloppy and disgusting and poorly done.
As for the Alien connection: Well, it concerns a crew touching down to a mysterious dead planet, and it's a "slasher in space," where each castmember gets picked off until there's only one. It's inevitable that it would be compared to "Alien" in the same way all non-horror sci-fi films from this era would be compared to "Star Wars."
I always appreciated this movie; the special effects are alarming, the setswhat you can see of thempretty fantastic, the creatures are weird and disturbing, the actors are familiar old friends (Robert Englund, Sid Haig, Ray Walston, Grace Zabriskie) it's genuinely scary in places, and filled with moments that go farther than most horror films of the time.
A woman who is afraid of worms gets raped by a giant slug, and her moans on the soundtrack implies she kind of enjoys it, then Sid Haig ignites the whole mess with his gun. This is just, as John Waters has said about things in his own films, a rather "rude narrative." I'm not into that sort of misogyny thing personally, but it IS genuinely nasty and unpleasant. Also the exploding of Joanie from "Happy Days" into a big heap of lasagne (which most people applaud) and a lot of paranoia, and claustrophobiabut I like a movie that goes "too far." The scene with Sid Haig and a traitorous crystal is still well-nigh unbearable to watch. I still think this might've gotten an NC-17 today.
I'd love to own a decent print of this, if one exists anymore. I've never understood why people thought it was so terribleit's great B-movie mind rot.
If everyone around here is going to start telling the truth, I'm going to bed -
openstorage — 20 years ago(August 12, 2005 10:27 AM)
This is a more of a rip off of the Russian film Solaris, which had a crappy remake starring George Clooney a few years back. Also Event Horizon rips off Solaris, with a few elements of Disneys Black Hole thrown in for good measure. Galaxy of Terror is a good low budget horror flick in it's own right, but it definitely copies elements from both Alien and Solaris. If you enjoyed this movie, also check out Titan Find, this also rips off Alien, but is still very enjoyable
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Maldarrin — 19 years ago(September 11, 2006 11:05 PM)
Your description get it best !
The history of how ALIEN got made, how it almost was made, and how it might have been a work so very different !
In the end, all of these movies borrow material from A. E. Van Vogt's VOYAGE OF THE SPACE BEAGLE, a serialized novel from the 1940's ! -
shilrah — 17 years ago(December 30, 2008 01:40 PM)
Yesterday, after more then twenty years I watched it again. I can see where people would think it's an Alien-ripoff, but I think that's a tad too easy to say. Alien was indeed the only other picture like it at the time. In those days, with Star Wars and all, space-movies were doing very well, but they were all very goody-two-shoes whereas Alien was the first one to really shock the audience in the manner that it did, so if anyone else goes for the same approach, yeah, up to a certain extend it'll show strong simularities. Besides, didn't Ridley Scott (who directed Alien) have something to do with Galaxy Of Terror aswell?
I agree with the fact that the guys that wrote Event Horizon, must've done so after having seen this movie!
Insemenoid? Haven't seen it. Sounds brilliant. Going to do something about that right now! What would we do without sh*tty outdated B-movies? -
Bumblevivisector — 17 years ago(February 11, 2009 10:26 PM)
I recently saw the version of "Inseminoid" called "Horror Planet", which might be the only one with the cowboy-hat-pilot epilogue. First half is real strong amd mysterious, second is so stupid it leaves a bad taste in your mouth. By the end, you'll be begging for the retarded space-base crew to just commit suicide and spare themselves the embarassment, like you cheer for the zombies in "Burial Ground/The Nights of Terror" to dig into the humans and end the movie.
If you want a 'great' alien-rape-scene however, it is a must-see.
I used to see copies "Galaxy of Terror" all over, but now I can't even find a copy in those rare rental stores that still have VHS. I still haven't watched it! Sucks to be me.
"Oh, I am going to smack you SO HARD if this works, movie!" -Crow T. Robot -
cybopath — 16 years ago(May 10, 2009 11:27 AM)
I agree, I watched hearing it was an Alien rip off, also because I was curious to these movies Jim Cameron worked on.
Aside from it being a horror film in space that's basically where the similarities with Alien end, thematically. From set design there are a few obvious Alien visuals.
But the plot I agree the movies Event Horizon and Sphere seem to have the exact same plot. -
kwinland — 16 years ago(June 07, 2009 08:17 PM)
Howdy,
This film is a mild "rip-off" of the MOVIE 'Alien', i.e. Spaceship lands on dark, desolate world looking for survivors/beacon, and they find something else. Some of the "look" of 'Galaxy' is certainly cribbed from Scott.
HOWEVER, this film absolutely ripped-off the 'Book of Alien', a book published at the same time as Scott's 'Alien' that covered unused production designs, plot elements, etc. In the original drafts of 'Alien', the Nostromo was to touch down to rescue a marooned crew and they would come across an alien pyramid.
A LOT of the interiors, exteriors, and the alien pyramid are cribbed from the designs of O'bannon, Moebius, etc.
Ken -
themole-3 — 16 years ago(September 09, 2009 12:55 PM)
Marooned crews, dark planets and alien pyramids came a dime a dozen in Sci-Fi books since the days pulp was invented.
And then again has anybody here ever seen PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES?
I honestly hope that you all can accept the idea of Space Gothic as a style rather than a "ripoffable" idea of any sort.
Admittedly it is hard to imagine anything more perfect than the joint venture of H.R.Giger and Ridley Scott though -
MystMoonstruck — 13 years ago(August 16, 2012 02:57 AM)
Before saying it's a "ripoff", take a look at "Demon Planet" aka "Planet of the Vampires" aka "Planet of Blood" (1965). When I saw the "space jockey" in "Alien", I immediately thought of the crashed spacecraft in "Demon Planet". Also, the setup is the same: distress call from planet with a foggy, rocky landscape. It has some very stylish and spooky moments. My favorite sequence is that crashed craft with the remains of a gigantic pilot. It's a real standout!
"Alien", as has been noted", is NOT original by any means! When people want to claim "ripoff", it simply shows that they haven't watched enough movies.
I do agree with the "Solaris" comparison and do see likeness to "Event Horizon" in having fears be their undoing.
YouTube has the film: Planet of the Vampires
This is after they enter the craft:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLM8YF7EaVE
*** The trouble with reality is there's no background music. *** -
omega2064 — 16 years ago(July 05, 2009 06:54 PM)
The simmilarities to Alien are almost nil.
Spaceship lands on alien planet? Geeee. Like that hasnt been done in about 20 other SF shows long before Alien?
Spaceship crew runs into trouble and/or derilect alien tech? Been done before Alien as well.
Crew encounter things created from their own minds? Yep, been done before too at least once and likely more.
Galaxy of Terror just had the misfortune to come out a little late. Its a fun movie that strikes off mostly on its own path and does it pretty darn well too!