Star Crystal (1986) User Reviews

Cheesy, Ridiculous and Corny Sci-Fi

[claudio_carvalho · 3/10 · 16 September 2004]

In 2032, two members of the research team of the spacecraft SC-37 find a stone in Mars and bring it to the craft for study. A life form (lately called Gar) leaves the crystal and attacks the oxygen reservoirs of SC-37, killing all the crew. The space base L-5 rescues SC-37, and Gar explodes the base. Only five persons survive in SC-37, and they face with a developed and threatening life form. The end of the story is amazingly corny and bad. It was my fault, I did not believe in IMDb Users reviews and rating and many Video Books rating, and decided to see this flick. I like trash movies, and sometimes I find interesting unknown movies, but 'Star Crystal' is indeed a cheesy, ridiculous and corny Sci-Fi. The VHS distributed in Brazil by 'Look Video' shows in the front cover that the year is 2032, and in the back cover 2035. Therefore, even the Brazilian cover is a mess, in a total lack of care with the non-correlated information. The design concept of the spacecraft is one of the most ridiculous I have ever seen. The persons have to crawl to move to another compartment. Imagine a long voyage to Mars and the crew having to crawl in a craft wearing, for example, space outfits! The screenplay and the dialogs are very silly and the ham actors and actresses complete this horrible film. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): 'Terror no Espaço' ('Terror in the Space')

Entertaining in it's Terribleness

[jethrojohn · 4/10 · 22 December 2021]

You get a warning pretty early on into this film that it has the budget that could probably buy you a bag of crisps and maybe a Coke at a cheap convenience store, and you don't even have to get past the credits.

The actors are literally no-names, none of them having starred in anything before. The director and editor both pulled multiple duties by writing, directing, editing, producing, and working on the SFX.

The plot is standard "we found a strange evil thing somewhere".

None of this is necessarily a bad thing. Alien used the same plot to explore very dark themes. John Carpenter made the brilliant Dark Star with almost no money.

Unfortunately, the difference is that those films were made by people with talent. Star Crystal, sadly, isn't.

We have tons of the bad movie staples, from shots holding too long on certain things and not enough on others, to abysmal acting. The opening scenes alone have about five establishing shots of the same darn spaceship. I get it guys, we're on the same ship, since no one moved anywhere, I don't see why you have to keep telling me about it.

I will say that some of the special effects are decent (for the time), but this would have worked better as a short film to generate a budget for something better. The alien has a cool icky feeling to it, all creepy flesh and slime.

It's mildly diverting for the occasional funny badness on display and ridiculously over-the-top school play acting.

Watch it if you can get it free.

The bastard spawn of "Alien" and " E.T."

[Pretentious_crap · 3/10 · 16 November 2008]

Don't waste your time if you want a space opera full of action, suspense, gore, and character development.

If anyone should see this, it's for those who like trashy, cult b-movies-- the reason is because of the total 180 degree turn of the plot.

As you watch it you its looks like every other 1980's low budget sci-fi, with the bad sets, acting, and plot. There's also a product placement, which makes me wonder if Coca-Cola knew that their logo was being used in the movie. You'll see cheesy stuff here and there-- it might make you chuckle.

At first its kinda funny how the characters have to crawl from room to room in the ship (there's lots of crawling), but after awhile it gets to be sort of annoying.

The plot isn't really eventful for most of the film, but when you get to the end credits, you get to see this movie as a whole, and this movie is just ridiculous!

For me, this movie stands out more than the rest of the 1980's space trash, but it's not epic badness like "Blood Freak", "Troll 2", or "Plan 9 From Outer Space".

Pretty good Sci-Fi/Horror

[MovieMan-167 · 4 August 1999]

I rented this movie expecting it to pretty much be a waste of time. I liked the description on the back of the box so I thought what he heck. It turned out really, really good! A group of people set off in this space ship and encounter a strange life force, and of course they all start to get killed by it. Let me just say the the end is NOT what I was expecting! I was very pleased how this movie was done. Not bad special effects for the time either.

I can't believe I remember this trash!

[Aussie Stud · 1/10 · 21 December 2004]

I remember seeing this on video many years ago in the mid to late 80's. There were some key scenes that stood out in my mind:

• Space explorers discover a rock on a planet. The rock has a crystal in it that unleashes a deadly alien.

• The alien starts to kill everyone on board the space craft/space station.

• People who encounter the alien or its gooey trail comment on a "lemon"-like scent.

• A black man gets killed by the alien.

• One woman tries to get away from the creature by crawling through a tube-like tunnel.

• The alien leaves its victims encased in a gooey substance.

• The alien is playing chess with the surviving male character.

Yes, you heard me right. The alien is playing some sort of board game with the survivors! I couldn't believe my memory either. For the longest time (15 years and counting), I always thought I had two movies mixed up in my mind, confusing them as one.

Nope, it's all in the one flick. As stated by others above, this creature becomes good at the end (even after killing all the other people on board the space craft), and everyone goes home a happy camper, I kid you not.

This outrageously bad movie ("STAR CRYSTAL") has to be seen to be believed!

"Oh crap, the characters are all dead already!" "Don't worry, I have a way to pad this film."

[Aaron1375 · 2/10 · 11 June 2010]

I remember watching this one as a child and it was not exactly the most original movie starting out. Clearly one of the many "Alien" clones out there this one features the ship that takes on a crystal and said crystal spawns an alien. I shall call said creature star creature for the purposes of this review. Well star creature methodically kills the crew of this vessel and he does so very quickly with kills that are typical of low budget horror. We have the typical vent scenes, a lab death and things of that nature. Star creature seems nearly indestructible as plan after plan fails to stop this beast from killing the crew. Then we are down to the last two members of the crew and it is time for the final showdown, right? No, wrong! It is time for the people to become friends with star creature and make the first part of the film with all the death a distant memory as this alien becomes friendly. You get scenes of him and the last two survivors helping each other and having a fond farewell scene. Excuse me, star creature butchered the rest of the crew and now it is friendly? I mean it tries to explain that it was defending itself, but really now how much danger is a creature that is nearly indestructible really in, seriously? At least they did not have the last two remaining crew throw their arms around the thing at the end and go "we are going to miss you so much, star creature". Though I can see the female going "goodbye, though I still don't understand why you killed everyone" and the guy going "shut up, it is almost gone and we will finally not have to worry about that thing mutilating us if we happen to startle it". All in all a bad "Alien" rip off, that I will say got a bit original when the alien got friendly. Thankfully, in the "Alien" movies you never had scenes where Ripley had tea with the aliens in an effort to understand why they must shoot their offspring into the mouths of other living things to procreate.

Is this for real?

[lost-in-limbo · 2/10 · 1 December 2008]

Oh this wasn't good. Far from it! The problem here is that isn't entertaining and it seems to get worse as it goes along, but 'Star Crystal' is a hard one to get your head around. Everything looks bare bones… and it is. But what does it in, is that it just lounging about… aimlessly. It was completely dull and uneventfully drawn out. Wooden performances, drably second-rate sets and vapid dialogues in the mould of 'Alien (1979)'. Truly routine, but a z-grade rehash! We get some tentacle action as the meagre crew are quickly picked off when they encounter the threat. So it's the survival of the fittest, with some minor hopeless diversions. Then it spontaneously changes course in the last 10 minutes (you'll see), and I don't know what the film-makers were thinking. It was so unhinged and ridiculous; you could be mistaken in asking "Was it the same movie?" However talk about cheese… super cheesy and laughable! 'can we just get along?' And wait for the sweetly weeping closing song about crystal… Oh why? Saying it was goofy is an understatement, but hey you can't see this one coming.

The special effects must have received top-billing, (no it did, but scrap the meteor shower sequence) with few icky inclusions and dashes of blood, but it's still a spotty display. The creature is mixture of a slug and fluorescent E.T., as we watch it morph from a puddle that dripped off some outerspace crystal. The score has that dreamy, soft edge that seems to meld in quite well.

HORRIBLE!

[jake-179 · 2/10 · 27 January 2001]

Jeez! This movie was really bad. If I made a feature movie, this is what I would try to NOT make my movie look like. I rented it because I thought I would give it a chance. I saw it was an unknown sci-fi movie from the 80's and I was in the mood for some old fashioned sci-fi. This movie was horrible. It came out in 1986, the same year that ALIENS came out, and we all know that ALIENS is one of the best sci-fi movies ever. ALIENS shows that good special effects were achievable in 1986, but this movie didn't even come close! It was bad from the beginning to the end. I suppose you should watch it if you are in the mood for cheesy sci-fi and bad special effects. The acting is AMAZINGLY bad, the story is nothing but a second rate rip off of the original ALIEN, and if you really want to laugh, watch the ending credits and listen to that closing song. The singing is the WORST I have ever heard. Listen for one distinctly FLAT note that girl hits. Its just simply comical. You would think they would listen to that and at least try to fix it in the recording studio, but they don't even bother. That is pretty much representative of the rest of the movie, which appeared to be entirely done on the first take for each shot. I payed two dollars to see this movie and I want the production company that made it to give me my money back, plus monetary reparations for the pain and suffering I went through watching this pile of crap! YUK!

really bad, mostly in a bad way

[JamieWJackson · 2/10 · 22 April 2017]

Very mild spoiler (of something which happens in the first 20 minutes): So in our cast we've got 2 slightly past-their-prime shampoo TV commercial models, 1 foul-tempered missing linkess, and a heart-poundingly cute goddess named Emily Longstreth. What's a movie production to do but kill off the goddess straight away and take our chances with the rest after.

.......huh??

There are many things to be said about this alleged movie. Like "in space, no one can hear you crawl". Or "why act when we can just sit here?" Or "hey, you know... tying these random scenes together doesn't actually require an explanation, just some splicing tape". Or "glowing dot showdown Survivor -- in SPACE!"

Only watch this if you have a strong tolerance for junk and your life is simply 91 minutes too damn long. (So... why did I watch it? Schlock OCD, I guess. That and Emily Longstreth! Even if only for a scandalously few minutes.)

Calling it awful still gives this movie to much credit...

[TobyS · 1/10 · 28 August 2003]

I can't begin to try and get across how absolutely awful Star Crystal is. I knew it was going to be bad, but nothing could prepare me for this pile of steaming doo. The acting makes most grade school plays look like Oscar material. I mean, did these people really yell "cut", and then pat each other on the backs for a job well done?

More often than not, the sets are just a black stage with a spotlight on the "actors", and the ships are nothing more than dime store models dug up from a garage sale.

Lets not forget the alien. Where's the alien from the box cover??? THAT is the movie I wanted to see. The alien here looks like a slimy reject from Fraggle Rock! Worse yet, this mess was supposed to have had some resemblance to a sci-fi horror movie, but instead turns into the Muppet Family Hour at the end!

Thank God for my DVD player's fast forward function. I would have never gotten though the last 30 minutes without speeding this trash heap up to warp 6.

My grade: F (and that's still to kind)

I lost friends because of this movie.

[Angst-2 · 1/10 · 13 August 2001]

...because I'm the idiot who rented it for the gang to watch. And it's not as though we didn't know how to appreciate hideous movies, either! We enjoyed mocking movies. But this one was far too depressingly-bad to be mockable. It's one of those films that makes you wonder if evolution made a misstep; perhaps sentience was a big mistake? The only reason I voted on it (1, naturally) and revealed my horrible lack of judgment to the world is to warn off other potential victims. Just say no.

Deliciously drecky slice of 80's sci-fi schlock

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 23 October 2017]

2032. The desperate crew of a small space shuttle find themselves being terrorized by a lethal and slimy alien.

Boy, does this hilariously horrendous honey possess all the right wrong stuff to rate as a real four-star stinkeroonie: Clunky (mis)direction by Lance Lindsay (who also wrote the asinine script), terrible acting by a lame no-name cast, lots of gross goo, rinky-dink (not so) special effects, a meandering narrative that unfolds at a plodding pace, cheap sets (the space station looks suspiciously like a shopping mall!), one-note cardboard characters who include a hysterical blonde bimbo and a token obnoxiously hip expendable black dude, tacky gore, a gloriously ludicrous sentimental ending in which the heretofore hostile extraterrestrial suddenly becomes benign and apologizes to the two survivors for its previous violent actions (!), and a hideously sappy synth pop song called "Crystal of a Star" sung by Stefanianna Christopherson, who was the original voice of Daphne on "Scooby-Doo." A total cruddy hoot.

For fans of 1980s era low budget sci-fi & horror

[Akzidenz_Grotesk · 7/10 · 2 January 2006]

I got this at 50% off in the bargain bin at my local electronic closing sale. Unlike most commentators here (who seem to expect every sci-fi movie to be a mass market blockbuster), I enjoyed it- even the ending. It could have had more gore, but the gore scene special effects were well done. It could have been shorter, too...a good candidate for "Mystery Science Theater 3000" to do an episode on.

********SPOLIER BELOW--ONLY READ IF YOU'VE SEEN THIS MOVIE********

When engineer Roger Campbell is traveling thru the tunnel, what the heck was that small, oily black creature with the white eyes and sharp teeth that dropped on him? The movie never explains what it was.

Boring ALIEN clone with a ridiculous twist

[xtrospawn · 2/10 · 25 October 2005]

A slimy, tentacled creature boards a spacecraft and quickly dispatches half of the crew before discovering religion and realizing that killing is wrong. You heard correctly. The creature gets on-line and reads up on some bible quotes and, in the bizarre twist ending, befriends the two survivors and plays Chinese checkers.

Subpar sci-fi entry on every level, from the poor acting, directing, set design. And the endlessly long scenes of characters crawling through tunnels. Not to mention the creature that looks like a giant sock that someone sneezed on.

The biggest problem is that it kills off the crew too quickly. So for the last 45 minutes we're stuck with the two survivors watching the stars, eating soup, crawling through tunnels, etc. Skip this one.

A great Sci-fi horror (not saying much)

[Joshua_the_samurai · 4 December 2001]

Ah, the 80's...They brought us such wonders as Power Ballads and the Rubix cube. However, one thing from the 80's didn't survive the changes between decades, and that was SCi-fi horror (aliens not included).

Star Crystal seemed to start as a typical sci-fi, but quickly provided an initial plot twist. Not to say the story was confusing, because it was blatently obvious. In fact, the thin plot allowed you to take wagers on who'd get hacked next. The bets were up on the second placer, but the house appeared to win.

The cast of this movie was like a convention of people trying (and failing) to get into movies. Not that the poorly written dialog could ever enable them to lift off the pad.

While B-movie fans (such as myself) will enjoy the exceptionally bloody and gooey deaths, and the bucketfuls of slime everywhere, the movie does lack any kind of female scream (which is a necessity in B-movies).

The movie was a half decent horror flick until the morals took a severe 180 that nearly broke my neck. The change in the tide was the nail in the coffin that ruined something that was nearly a waste of time to begin with.

Being a connoseur of B-movies, I recommend this for B-movie-athons. (an excellent performance by someone named "The Gling")

Unintentionally Hilarious

[chilcox · 1/10 · 18 September 2006]

Yes, this movie is horrible. The plot is derivative, the props are a joke, and the acting makes my junior high Huck Finn worthy of a Tony. Yet, it is not a total loss. Some movies are so bad, they are good. Before "Mystery Science Theatre" started doing it, my friends and I would rent these horrible movies and clown on them all night to much hilarity. Star Crystal was a perennial favorite. Its badness cannot be put into words. It is simply the worst movie you will ever see. The first time you see it you are offended by its flawed scenery, cheesy acting, and overall insulting of your intelligence. But then, the second time you see it you will it totally differently. Star Crystal is much like a deformed dog that first horrifies you, then elicits sympathy...wait a minute...thats what that creature in the movie was!

Filmed entirely in SPACE.

[Hey_Sweden · 4/10 · 14 February 2022]

In the year 2032, a mysterious, oddly-shaped rock is retrieved from just underneath the Mars surface. It turns out to contain a crystal and a pile of slime that slowly evolves into a predatory life form (named Gar!). Gar causes lots of damage before eventually terrorizing the five astronauts adrift in a shuttlecraft, a long ways from civilization.

If it weren't for the final act, which this viewer wasn't expecting, he would have been prepared to just write this one off. It's amateurish on almost every level (especially in terms of acting and writing), and director Lance Lindsay isn't capable of producing a sufficient amount of tension from the familiar, tired plot. (This, despite the fact that all the rooms on this ship are connected by long, winding, dark tunnels which the astronauts have to CRAWL through.). Ultimately, the story gets just a little too cute, which flies in the face of the nastiness that came before.

The characters are by and large inane, although the last two astronauts standing finally become a little more tolerable as they face off against Gar. The performances are absolutely nothing special, and in fact can be pretty abrasive. That said, the obligatory "first victim" in this is a hoot in her crankiness. Gar itself is a reasonably amusing creation; the creature effects (and especially the gore on the victims) is actually not all that bad. The electronic score adds a bit of atmosphere.

This isn't a B genre flick that this viewer would really recommend, although he couldn't bring himself to completely hate it.

Four out of 10.

Crystal of a Star? Hell no!

[HyperPup · 1/10 · 6 April 2006]

I vaguely remember this movie from a long time ago. I think it was my senior year in high school when it came on one night real late on The Movie Channel or something. I only remember the cheesy space ships where you could see the animation stand holding up the model and the scenes in the space station that where clearly filmed in an airport or something. All the stupid escalators around and the white interiors. Then the alien showed up and started turning people into a slimy gel substance or something. Then it ended all sweet and gooey with the alien trying to repent for killing the crew and becoming a loving alien with the surviving crew. God, how did they get funding to even write the script for this piece of trash.

I gave it a try hoping for the best

[Zorin-2 · 1/10 · 18 February 2002]

I love space movies, especially of the 80's, but sadly most of them are pretty terrible. I ment to rent Star Crystal for years but never got around to it. The cover was appealing and the explanation on the back of the box didn't make it sound half bad. Finally I picked it up at a video store on the sale rack for a buck. Got home and popped it in. Sadly to say, was was truly disappointed. It was a chore sitting through the film. Most low-budget sci/fi films can get by if they have even just an ounce of good acting. Sadly Star Crystal lacks any good acting at all. It just ends up being another Alien rip-off much like the movie Creature (Creature is far better though) as an alien is released from a "star crystal" and attacks the crew one by one.Cheesy effects and bad acting, with a silly twist at the end makes this film easily forgotten allowing no one t sob or cry if it never comes to DVD. Not as bad as Roger Corman's early 80's space adventures, but pretty close. * out of *****

Worst Movie Ever (almost)

[gon_zolo · 1/10 · 10 January 2001]

Contains minor spoiler content. . . (but hey, for this movie, who cares?)

If there is anyone in the world who truly liked this film, get them to a shrink quick, because this film is truly one of the worst ones ever. Between the horrible acting, the terrible script (guess what the African American character likes? Yup, that's right. . . fried chicken!), the computer made out of corrugated cardboard (you can see the corrugations along the edges, and yes, it bends) the mostly SEDENTARY alien (except of course for his tentacle), and the ending that makes Barberella look like high art, this movie reaches new lows.

The only redeeming quality? If ever there was a movie that deserved to receive the MST3K treatment, it's this one. It is a great movie to rent if you feel like popping something in the VCR, turning the volume all the way down, and providing your own dialogue (although some of the characters lines are so laughable they have to be heard to be believed.)

BIGGER SPOILER -- and yes, at the end, the Alien finds Jesus and there's a music montage of humans and aliens cavorting. Or something.

Ed Wood would be proud.

truly awful

[PedroXL · 1/10 · 1 September 2006]

i discovered this movie when my mum was given it to go to a school fête for sale and decided to watch it first. i really wish i could erase the memory of it. the acting was terrible and although the storyline was pretty awful a different director or selection of actors could have - maybe - possible made it work. the most laughable part for me was the way the blood thirsty killing machine of an alien suddenly turns into a gentle and caring creature at the drop of a hat at the end, and our leading man takes on a "you've just killed everyone i've ever loved but now you've said sorry it's all okay" attitude!! very odd. totally trash, even if you are a cult fan or love old dodgy movies do not waste your time on this tripe.

When "Aliens" join up with "E.T."...

[paul_haakonsen · 3/10 · 14 August 2017]

I stumbled upon this 1986 Sci-Fi movie one day whilst browsing the Sci-Fi section, and I had an initial suspicion that director Lance Lindsay might actually have cashed in on the success of "Alien" with this movie, given what I read on the synopsis on the back of the movie cover.

True enough, this turned out to be somewhat of a rip off of the "Alien" concept, like so many other Sci-Fi movies that came out in that time. But to spice things up a bit, throw in elements from "E.T." as well, and you will end up with "Star Crystal".

"Star Crystal" has an adequate and interesting enough concept idea. The storyline is about a space mission on Mars where the crew pick up an alien life-form and bring it back on their spaceship. Yep, I know, sounds familiar? It turned out that while the concept of this idea was interesting, then the execution to the screen made for a very boring plot and storyline.

The acting in the movie was mediocre, which really didn't reflect well on the overall movie, making it somewhat of an ordeal to actually sit through the movie to the very end. But I endured and stuck with it, as it might actually get better. But it didn't...

I will say that the creature design was actually rather interesting and it turned out to be the best part about the entire movie. However, I was under the impression that this would be a vicious alien with lots of teeth, as the movie cover showed, but that was as far from the actual presentation of the creature in the movie as it could be. So don't get your hopes up on seeing the creature as shown on the DVD cover.

All in all, then "Star Crystal" was not an impressive movie, not now and I doubt that it was back in 1986 as well. I am not overly keen on Sci-Fi as a genre, and "Star Crystal" did nothing to boost my interest in the Sci-Fi genre.

Relaxed ambient sci-fi movie

[bensan9 · 8/10 · 18 April 2019]

If you are looking for a cool scifi movie with lots of spacy imagery and really awesome sound, then this is one of the better that I have found. The gore, horror, and cursing are minimal. I can't say enough good about the music in this one. The actors are also like-able.

Great one to get on VHS and enjoy for the sound and feel.

Not bad

[tawlite · 7/10 · 20 July 2009]

The first part of the movie was pretty dire, and the acting was really awful,but it got better after most of the crew apart from 2 were killed.

Some reviewers have commented that the movie is another cheap Alien rip off but it isn't really. It does change direction from gooey killings to ET type Alien but I thought that was a nice direction to go with the movie. Some commentators have knocked the effects but I didn't really notice them; most Sci Fi space films have pan views of the ships in space and this was no different. The interior of the ship was adequate and was OK for a mid 80s sci film. I didn't understand why there was no walking decks as most of the ships access seemed to be through claustrophobic tunnels.

You'll either hate it or be satisfied with it. It isn't a great movie by any stretch of the imagination but it is more than watchable. When I first put it on I fell asleep bored out of my head, but I gave it another go and I am glad I did.

Perhaps a masterpiece on a 4 star level

[TCurtis9192 · 4/10 · 21 December 2023]

Well wut DA?!

What begins as a garbage Alien copy, and continues on in that vein for much of its runtime, and features terrible editing while suffering from the usual lack-of-screentime for the monster, suddenly changes into something unique...

Don't read on if you don't want to know.

... when the alien reads the bible, understands that humans aren't all bad, and then calls a truce. What follows is joyous music over a heartwarming montage of the two survivors and Gar (the alien) getting along famously before the humans leave the ship and Gar takes to the stars to live out his wholesome existence.