A Film so good that I just plain forgot about it. Back in February, I watched the Film on Prime, but was going to wait until March since it didn't fit the Theme. The end of April? Close enough. This is Dead Space, a 1991 Film by Roger Corman's Production Company. It is notable for sharing its name with a Video Game Series and for its Star, who made it bigger than anyone might have guessed in 1991. The Plot involves a bunch of Scientists who make a really bad experiment. A hunky Space Hero and his Robot must come in to save the day. If this sounds familiar, then, well, I'll get to it. Marc Singer is here, so plenty of weird reaction faces are sure to follow. To find out why this might feel familiar and why you likely don't know about this one, read on...
A Space Hero- Singer- and his robot (who looks like one of the District 9 Aliens, no?) are sent to a mysterious Planet to help some Scientists.
Well, after they have a filler space battle with some Pirates, that is.
The Lead Doctor tells him that they created a life form as part of an experiment to cure Diseases like Cancer and...wait...it can't be.
Yep, a young Bryan Cranston is the Lead Scientist with a secret that will turn out to be oddly-prophetic.
Said Creature grows up quickly and begins to wreak havoc.
If you want to rip off Aliens, you might as well not hide it, eh?
Skipping ahead...
The creature turns out to have a fatal weakness- exposure to the disease it was meant to cure.
They get the samples they need from Cranston, who's character is dying of Cancer. Ironic, no?
So why does this sound familiar?
Well, if the Title above didn't give things away, this will...
Dead Space is a Remake of
Forbidden World, a Corman Film made a mere 9 years earlier.
It basically hits all of the same beats- even the pointless Space Battle from the Intro that Corman made them add since he had the Cockpit Set from
Battle Beyond the Stars for the weekend- and doesn't change much.
You lose the Showering Babes T&A moment, but also gain Cranston, so...win? The End.
It is about as memorable as I made it out to be. The Plot is pretty much exactly the same as
World, with very few exceptions. As far as Corman Films go, that one didn't exactly blow me away. So seeing it again with Marc Singer isn't exactly going to wow me. That said, there's not much wrong here either. Other than being really on the edge of copyright infringement, the monster looks fine. It's somewhere between the bulky one from
Xtro II and the underrated one from
The Fly 2. I guess that makes sense, since this is basically
Forbidden World II. Outside of the general monster mayhem, there's not much here. Singer does his best with the material, but never really gains any nuance. He does, however, make sure you know how in shape he is at this point, which might explain why he started doing Erotic Thrillers in the vein of
Basic Instinct around this time. It's pretty shameless. On the flipside, World was pretty shameless with its Female T&A, so I guess it's all even, no? Dead Space is a decent romp, but nothing more. Does its monster match up to the original though?
Next up, a forgotten blend of Sci-Fi, Horror and Noir. With Rutger Hauer, it has to be good...right? Stay tuned...
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