Starcrash (1978) User Reviews

Such a guilty pleasure, so much fun, so freaking bad in every conceivable way

[siderite · 3/10 · 2 March 2020]

Starcrash is a movie that gets its name from... the very last few minutes of the film, where the name is casually dropped in a conversation, never to be uttered again or its origin explained. The entire plot is Caroline Munro running around in a bathing suit and having completely inappropriate facial expressions. The rest is chaos: a villain taken straight from children's stories, a benevolent emperor played by Christopher Plummer and his son: David Hasselhoff, a mysterious companion who is basically the Deus ex Machina needed to resolve some scenes and a robot with an American South accent that gleefully declares his chauvinism, regardless of him not having a nation or a gender. The acting is so bad it's hilarious, the effects are so special that psychiatric wards come to mind. All in all, ridiculous at all levels.

Some people say it is a ripoff of Star Wars, but I don't see it. There is no story to talk of. The only commonality seems to be a lightsaber that ... just is, with no explanation. I would like to say that Caroline is so sexy that watching the movie is worth it, but really, if you are not drunk out of your mind you can't possibly enjoy this film at its true potential. Just saying.

Miss Munro Looks Great

[boblipton · 3/10 · 2 September 2020]

Less than a years after STAR WARS came out, Caroline Munro starred in this Italian mishmosh about evil Count Joe Spinell -- who really knows how to handle a cape -- threats the benevolent empire run by slow-talking Christopher Plummer. Only Miss Munro, David Hasselhoff, Marjoe Gortner and a robot voiced by what seems to be Wilford Brimley stand in his way.

With echoes of BARARELLA -- Miss Munro's vinyl swimsuit grows more revealing every time they go through hyperspace -- this looks to be a triumph of set design and metal spray paint. People develop powers and abilities just when they are needed with no presaging, not even random mumbling about the Force. In short, this looks a lot like a Lego movie with no sense of humor.

Best worse movie ever

[maury-markowitz · 4/10 · 8 April 2014]

If you want to see how bad this is, spare yourself the whole thing and just watch the opening scene. Watching the horrible actors manage flub the timing of their three-word sentences is a sight to behold.

Funny? Absolutely! Watching the bad guy order his troops into combat with the stirring words of "Kill!" while they slide down the bat poles will bring a smile to the face of anyone. And that soundtrack, wow!

Forget the nonsensical plot, terrible special effects and poor acting, it's got Christopher Plumber and a bunch of excuses for Stella Star to get attacked by the worst stop-frame animated robots in history. What more could you ask for?

I had a Seizure watching this film!

[sitdownbike · 20 December 2002]

Well, almost...

When I first saw this film, back in 1979, my wife & I were 2 of 5 people in the theater at 7:00 on a Friday night. We were about to walk out when Carolyn Munro was sentenced to mine Radium in a bikini for the rest of her natural life. At that point, there was no way to get me out of there.

The remarkable thing about this movie is that every time you think "that is the most ridiculous plot device ever..." something else comes along that blows your socks off. About mid way thru I could not quit laughing. For instance, our heroine sets a ship on collision course with the Evil Count's space fortress. To save herself, at the last second before the catacylismic collision, SHE JUMPS OUT OF THE WINDOW! And then does the BREAST STROKE! through OUTER SPACE! Oh My God! I can't stop laughing!

Bottom Line, this movie is WAY funnier than many that TRY to be funny (Spaceballs, Ice Pirates, etc.)

What the...? Who? What just happened then? Eh?

[axeman-9 · 1/10 · 23 October 2004]

I thought I had seen the worst space movie made in recent years when I saw Space Mutiny, how innocent it all seems looking back after just watching Starcrash. This has to be the worst acted, worst written, most poorly edited movie I have seen in years. The special effects deserve a mention, because they aren't. It's amazing to me that this piece of fetid crud came out 2 years after Star Wars had shifted the goalposts.

The best thing about the models is sitting spotting which bits came from where, they're made with sprues from model kits with all the parts still attached so nerds can see bits of Space 1999 eagles, the Nostromo, Saturn V rockets, aircraft wheels, etc. Dire! The space battles between lumpy bits of model kits are so poorly made and edited that it's impossible to follow what's going on. Certainly the actors and director couldn't, I lost count of the continuity errors during those sequences.

As for the actors and acting, Caroline Munro and Marjoe Gortner pull some damn funny faces, and frankly I could watch Caroline mince around in her various space bikinis all day, but she will keep trying to act. Disaster! I wonder if Christopher Plummer even lists this one on his resume, but you can bet David Hasselhoff has it near the top of his. I hate to say it, but apart from Caroline Munros legs he's the best thing in the film. Now that's a bad movie.

I honestly don't know how they made this, they obviously watched Star Wars because they blatantly rip it off for most of their plot, designs, names and so forth, but never noticed that that movie had real actors, good writing and amazing effects. Darth Zarn... sorry, Zarth Arn the bad guy makes Ming the Merciless look like a taut, underplayed role, and the whole major fight sequence where men in torpedoes are shot through the windows of his space ship to fight his minions is incredible. Never mind calling soldiers, you want a good glazier to stop the air blasting out, surely?

I give in, this movie sucked far harder than any vacuum I have ever seen. It's a cheapo rip-off of Star Wars mixed with Barbarella and if it wasn't for a babe in the title role no one would watch more than a few minutes of this dross. A new low, really low. Funny, but low.

How did they get a real actor like Christopher Plummer to appear in this crap?!

[planktonrules · 2/10 · 23 December 2015]

I'm in a particularly masochistic mood tonight and I've been watching some ultra schlocky sci-fi films which came out in the late 70s and early 80s. "Starcrash" is not the worst of the films I've been watching...though by any objective standard, it's total crap.

This Italian-made film was dubbed into English and stars some familiar faces--such as the beautiful Caroline Munro (a bond girl and star of other 70s schlock), Marjoe Gortner (who had a career rebirth in the 70s in made for TV movies), David Hasselhoff (before he was famous) and, inexplicably, Christopher Plummer--the only genuinely GOOD actor in this mess of a film! My guess is that the filmmakers were holding one of Plummer's family members hostage to get him to appear in this crap-fest!

The film begins in outer space--and perhaps the ugliest and worst rendered version of outer space in any 1970s film. The colors are garish and might just provoke seizures in some viewers, so be careful! The story is about a couple idiotic space smugglers (Munro and Gortner) who are sent to prison but then offered a reprieve if they help the Emperor (Plummer) to locate his missing son and stop an intergalactic baddie, the Count. It's all VERY boring, the effects are god-awful and there isn't much to interest any viewer aside from Munro and a few other lovely and scantily-clad ladies. Amazingly dumb and really, really bad.

Fond memories of a terrible movie

[charlessmas · 1/10 · 2 August 2014]

I saw this movie in a cinema in 1980. It was the second feature showing with Galaxina, a sci-fi farce starring Avery Schrieber (have those words ever been written before? "starring Avery Schreiber") and Playboy Playmate of the Century Dorothy Stratten as a sex robot. There weren't many people left in the theater to begin with. There were fewer when Galaxina finished and fewer still when StarCrash started. I'm positive that the entire audience numbered no more then a dozen, all teen-aged boys. Who else would have gone to see Galaxina and stayed for more film abuse?

StarCrash was terrible and it was late at night. I was just drifting off to sleep when the audience turned against the movie. In yet another scene in which Stella Star was in peril and her scant clothing was strategically torn, a voice in seats rang out: "When is someone gonna bang her?" Instantly this switched from being one the worst movies I had ever seen to one of the best cinema experiences of my life. With the ice broken by that first comment, the audience shouted back at the movie for the balance of the film. I don't know if this random, self-selected group was particularly talented or if we were inspired by the visions on the screen, but I never heard such funny lines. About a third of the audience input was earthy comments about Caroline Munro, another third were derisive remarks about Marjoe Gortner previous career as a faith healer, and the rest ridiculed the broken plot, the Star Wars ripoffs, the costumes and make-up, and the performances of the other actors who either chewed the scenery or were stilted beyond belief.

Make no mistake. This is a terrible movie. Badly written, badly performed, badly edited, and just plain bad. But I will always have fond memories of seeing it at the Rolling Hills Theater in Torrance, California that night in 1980 and the ten or eleven other young men who shared that experience.

There is only one reason to watch this movie..

[je2643 · 2/10 · 24 August 2013]

and it is Caroline Munro, who is spectacularly gorgeous and scantly clad throughout the entire movie. As long as you focus on her, and ignore every other aspect of the movie ->the awful and sometimes out of place dialogue, extremely cheesy special effects (if you can call them that), etc, you will be fine. But should your eyes stray for even a moment (other then perhaps to eyeball the Amazon Queen - yes, you read that correctly, the Amazon Queen) you are doomed.

Its really that bad. In fact is it hilariously bad. Despite best efforts, I could not make it to the end. Caroline can justify many a fantasy, but the overall content of the movie is such that I suspect it will be impossible to sit through the whole movie unless you possess superhuman ability to absorb acoustic and visual punishment.

I believe Marjoe Gortner might have been stoned throughout his entire performance, he certainly acts like it. I bet that were you to approach Christopher Plummer about his role in the movie he would likely slug you. David Hasslehoff is very young, and actually babyfaced - almost unrecognizable to the person he is today.

I gave this a 2 vs a 0 only because of the breathtaking beauty of Caroline. I hope she aged gracefully.

Hasselhoff is out acted by Mark Hamill, the scenery, and the closing credits.

[howedogg83 · 1/10 · 8 March 2005]

I first saw this movie at a summer camp many years ago, and was amazed that it was not 1) an early SNL skit; and 2) not destroyed upon the viewing of the first rushes. "Starcrash" is however one of the most sterling examples of how not to make a film, right down to casting David Hasselhoff in any roll, even that of gaffer, (which i am told requires some competency).

The film impresses in its mastery of all that is corny, over done, underacted, and just god awful. That said, for those looking for one of the worst movies in cinematic history, look no further; this is one of the few movies I find funnier (not better) than Some Like it Hot, and the only movie I have seen that ranks with "Space Mutiny" as the worst I have ever seen (I have yet to see "Manos"). (Though, in a quirky way, there are glimmers of brilliance)

Watch it for Caroline

[robin-414 · 7/10 · 26 January 2006]

When I saw stills of this movie back in 1979, I thought someone had finally made a film just for me. It had spaceships, and robots and something that Star Wars didn't have: Caroline Munro. I waited in vain for its appearance at the cinema. It turned up on TV one afternoon in the beginning of 1985. Well, it was nearly the film I had been waiting for. Overall, it's got everything a b-movie addict can want: ambitious, but not always successful visual effects, at least one Shakespearian actor forced to recite comic strip dialogue, plenty of continuity errors, and a number of very attractive young women, principally, the said Miss Munro, as Stella Star.

It was a shock to find that the very English tones of Caroline had been dubbed by an American voice artist, but that's the movie business. The French speaking version(even for non-French speakers, such as myself) is preferable. Stella's voice is light and playful, and the robot, instead of the 'amusing' cowboy voice in the English language version, talks in mournful, echoey tones, which, for me, works very well.

Caroline Munro, although playing the central character, gets rather sidelined throughout the proceedings; however, she has two scenes in the first part of the story in which the action revolves around her, and if these are the best parts of the whole movie. Her skirmish with a tribe of amazons makes for a very exciting sequence. Inexplicably, but stunningly clad in a shiny black bikini, and thigh length boots, she dominates this sequence. It's a shame that an important section of it, in which the amazons attach her to a mind-probe device, was deleted because of film exposure problems. The film does, unfortunately, contain several instances where a prop or effect has been abandoned at the last minute, and a build-up is all for nothing.

Seek out one of the early drafts on the script (tucked away on the DVD set, if you dig deep enough), to get some idea of what might have been, had not the production been plagued with misfortune.

There are several ways to enjoy this movie. Pick out the bits you like, and ignore the rest; look on it as a latter-day Flash Gordon Serial-style entertainment (it does rattle along at breakneck speed when it gets going), and forget all about logic, and literacy, and the rules of storytelling; or just shut your eyes and listen to John Barry's fabulous orchestral score.

I like Starcrash for two reasons. Caroline Munro is one of them. The other is the fact that Luigi Cozzi wanted to make the movie he'd always wanted to see. He'd written the script before Star Wars came out, and it was only pressure from the studio that forced him to imitate elements of that film. Conversely, it was budget restraints and studio disputes that hampered his efforts.

At the beginning of this review, I made what may seem like a disparaging remark about the visual effects. In a day when we're used to spectacular CGI extravaganzas produced by hundreds of artists and technicians, and costing millions, it's well to consider that most of the effects on this movie were created by one guy with little time, few facilities and a comparitively tiny budget. It's easy to guffaw at the occasional stray shadow on a sky background, but I think what Armando Valcauda achieved, under the circumstances, was, to quote Stella, 'incredible'.

Ultimately, one of the most appealing shots of Caroline Munro as Stella Star is near the end, when Stella Star is swimming through space, and we get a close-up of her very beautiful smile through the visor of her helmet. It kind of makes you feel better, just looking at her.

Hilarious Italian sci fi insanity!

[raegan_butcher · 10/10 · 27 August 2006]

This movie is completely insane. The plot makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, which is pretty much par for the course with Italian knock-offs like this. The special effects are colorful and eye-popping, the sets designed by some wonderful nut with an eye for that crazy psychedelic-art-deco-cocaine-disco-Flash-Gordon look that Italians do so well. The actors are completely at a loss as to how to act/react to the film they are in and... I loved it.

What else can one say about a film where the best performance is delivered by....David Hasselhoff. Scary but true. Not even the usually mesmerizing Marjo Gortner can do anything with the logic-defying lines of dialog he is forced to utter. After 10 minutes I was laughing so hard I knew I'd found something unique.

I rarely venture down the road of "so cheesy it is good" movies but STARCRASH is mind-boggling in its cheesiness. Characters can tell the future but won't let anyone in on what is going to happen because "You would have attempted to change the future...which is against the law." A depressed and hung-over-looking Christopher Plummer states at one point, "I wouldn't be the Emerperor of the Universe if I didn't have a few talents. Now, Imperial Spaceship--halt the flow of time!" (not bad, eh?)

Joe Spinell, dressed like a dime-store Satan and dubbed by a man who sounds dangerously constipated, declares at one point, "By sundown I will be the most powerful man in the universe!" And you sit there and think, Sundown? You're in outer space, dude!There are many such hilarious lines.

I could go on and on: There are jerky stop-motion monsters, psychedelic blobs of light that attack people for no explainable reason,Robert Tessier painted green, a robot who begins the film speaking normally and then about 15 minutes in starts talking in a southern accent,Christmas tree lights masquerading as stars, a weapon called The Doom Machine and a central non-performance from the ravishingly lovely but blank Caroline Munro, she of the stilted delivery and mis-matched eye-lines. But, my lord, she rocks a series of outfits that would make Barbarella envious. Gorgeous woman.

So, if you are looking for a rousing sci fi adventure with narrative coherence, decent special effects,and good acting, watch Star Wars; but if you're in the mood for an incomprehensible but colorful mish-mash of Ray Harryhausen movies, old Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers serials, Doc Savage, Perry Rhodan, and just about everything else up to and including the kitchen sink, watch STARCRASH. You certainly won't forget it soon. Did I mention the leaping cavemen?...

You got to be kidding me....some people actually really liked this piece of #@!^$^!!!?

[johnfuen · 1/10 · 18 April 2014]

I won't take too much time describing how bad this movie was. I think most people have already done a better job than I could describing the awfulness of this film. Bad dialogue. Check. Bad acting. Check. Bad special effects. Check. Bad rip off of Star Wars. Oh hell yes. The only thing of minor interest in this movie was that a very young David Hasslehoff appeared in it. Also....since Star Wars had Alec Guinness, the producers of this movie had to make due with the poor man's Alec Guinness...Christopher Plummer.

I won't call into question the taste of the few who actually liked this disaster. They probably enjoyed Ed Wood movies too. This movie is a prime candidate for Mystery Science Theater 3K

Good fun

[rundbauchdodo · 1 September 2000]

This cheap "Star Wars" ripoff presents some of the worst and most ridiculous special effects ever made. It also delivers dumb dialogue that will make you laugh yourself into the next dimension. And, above all, the cast includes Marjoe Gortner, Caroline Munro (wearing a bikini on every planet), David Hasselhoff, Christopher Plummer and the great late Joe Spinell. Everybody is outrageously overacting (except for Plummer, who is outrageously underacting). But the movie never becomes boring, there is always happening something more or less stupid, so you'll always be entertained. "Starcrash" is a real party tape that can be enjoyed best with mates and enough beer, chips and popcorn. Don't miss this utterly cheesy movie: It's so dumb that you have to love it!

some terrifically awful special effects and Joe Spinnell in a giant cape and goatee. nuff said?

[Quinoa1984 · 5/10 · 23 April 2017]

(MST3K'd) Let's first look at Caroline Munro (and sure if you want to look at her like *that*, have at it, but I mean something different) - she happens to be in what can be said to be a half-naked outfit (with knee-high boots of course), and she wears it with confidence as she "acts" (by this I mean she does a great job of reciting her lines in an expertly, even adorably wooden way if that makes sense), though it is also... not leaving much to the imagination. The curious thing is that halfway through the movie - and this is a piece of trivia about it that I confirmed by that reliable fountain of information, IMDb - she stops wearing the skimpy, awesome "B-movie" Barbarella ripoff suit because the producers didn't think they could keep up the PG rating for the kids to watch this.

And of course one can understand: 45 minutes of magnificent and gratuitous cleavage is just fine... 90 minutes, it's pushing it, you know? Starcrash is lovably horrible, a shameless knock-off of Star Wars even compared to *other* shameless knock-offs of Star Wars that would come out like Battle Beyond the Stars. Although, frankly, this might be a little more fun than that due to how terrifically s****y the special effects are here. If you happen to watch this (and you can't not now that it's got the MST3K revival treatment), you may get a better understanding why George Lucas was so nervous about having a decent enough budget for his space epic: Starcrash is what would've happened had Fox had a firmer hand and torn the money to shreds. It's almost like the matte shots just said 'eff it' and decided to go on strike, and that the simple things like, you know, COLORS somehow got messed up in the washing machine and it all comes out like a lava lamp that hit its head on concrete.

Did I mention this is a knock-off of Star Wars? Oh, actually, it's also a knock-off of Harryhausen and Planet of the Apes and any other given science fiction or fantasy type of movie (it may even rip-off Battlestar Galactica, which is impressive given how that was its *own* knock-off of Star Wars made at the exact same time). You get all the tropes of rival sides fighting over the universe (including Christopher goddamn Plummer as, no BS, the "Emperor of the Universe"), and one actor, Joe Spinnell, playing Count Zarth Arn in full cloak and somehow, miraculously, discovering time travel because he is doing his riff of Ming the Merciless from Flash Gordon (which wasn't due out for another two years!) and is glorious. Spinnell may be enough reason to see the movie alone; yes, even with David Hasselhoff, who isn't in the movie quite enough, Spinnell makes up for it as he eats ALL the ham in sight and become it times 11.

I had a blast watching this; the little robots and dude in the corner commenting certainly helped, but this is a laugh riot all on its own. This is the kind of cheese that makes Corman productions from the period look like grand David Lean epics by comparison, with fantastically dated hair-dos, action that doesn't make sense as far as how figures appear in the framing (i.e. when those would-be Planet-Ape characters appear out of nowhere to attack the bullet-head robot with the southern accent!) It's a wonderful pleasure of the almost guilty sort.

Classic Bad Science Fiction

[rob-gordon1 · 5/10 · 23 April 2005]

Star Crash holds a special place in my heart, it was one of the first movies that I saw on my quest to find the worst science fiction movie of all time. The movie itself is quite pathetic, has terrible writing, screenplay, acting, special effects, and some of the spaceships are visibly made of Legos that have been spray-painted over. At the same time Star Crash remains one of the most entertaining films I've ever seen. For a great time grab a group of friends who appreciate bad films (al la MST3K) and rip on the film. There's so much potential to make fun of the film that even rank amateurs who haven't grown to appreciate the sub-genera of terrible films will probably be entertained. I rank this film a 5 (as I'm torn between giving it a 2 for film merits and a 9 for unintentional laughs).

Awful... but Fun?

[gavin6942 · 4/10 · 3 July 2017]

An outlaw smuggler and her alien companion are recruited by the Emperor of the Galaxy to rescue his son and destroy a secret weapon by the evil Count Zarth Arn.

This is one of those films you watch and wonder how it ever got made. Some decent casting, including Christopher Plummer, makes you expect something a little bit better than you get. In fact, this is a lesser film than similar themes that AIP was doing at the same time.

Although it is interesting, and sort of enjoyable in a so-bad-it's-good kind of way, it never really rises above a strange curiosity. The appeal is quite limited, maybe something that fans of Italian B-movies would eat up. I don't know. The movie is as mysterious as the lead character's wardrobe choices.

Stella Material

[daniewhite-1 · 4/10 · 31 March 2020]

Star Wars meets Jason and the Argonauts meets Roger Moore 70's James Bond in a Roger Corman related b-movie bonanza!

And astonishingly derivative picture which shamelessly, and strangely effectively, borrows liberally from several sources.

'Starcrash' has a protagonist called 'Stella Star' which is already 1 star added to the rating, Christopher Plummer as a galactic emperor which is worth another, some 70's empowered woman themes whilst showing dozens of half dressed Amazon's that's another Star for covering all bases, and it marvellously mixes up multiple major films so that's a big fat 4 stars for me.

'Starcrash' is in the "so bad it's good" variety but when you blatantly steal so many ideas and mash them together with such disregard for rhyme or reason then eventually you get a film that's irresistibly sillified.

Imaginative on a tiny budget, with a young David Hasselhoff to boot, 'Starcrash' just about keeps itself in order with only the occasional period of dragging inadequacy to suffer through in an otherwise well cheesified romp.

4/10 for anybody able to take a 70's laugh

It's awful, but in a good way.

[BA_Harrison · 5/10 · 20 July 2007]

Rivalling Barbarella as possibly the finest piece of tail in the universe, Stella Star (the delectable Caroline Munro) is an intergalactic smuggler who, accompanied by her navigator, Akton (Marjoe Gortner), and a police robot, Elle, embarks on a mission to find and destroy the planet sized weapon of the evil Count Zarth Arn (Joe Spinell).

Luigi Cozzi's Starcrash is a kitsch comic book sci-fi adventure that delivers some of the worst direction, special effects, acting and design ever to grace a third-rate Italian Star Wars rip-off, and as a result, it is a gem for connoisseurs of the truly awful. It's also unmissable if you're a fan of the delightful (and buxom) Ms. Munro, since she sports a range of sexy space-attire guaranteed to get your light-sabre pulsating with energy (if you're a straight male, and you don't find her hot, check your pulse... you may be dead!).

Also starring alongside the luscious Caroline is a young David Hasselhoff, who turns up to fight a couple of badly animated robots, and Christopher Plummer giving a marvellously hammy performance as The Emperor. But special mention must go to Joe Spinell, whose portrayal of the nasty Zarth Arn is truly inspired: all menacing scowls and evil grins, he cackles his way through every scene as if playing a pantomime baddie. Nobody can swish a cape as dramatically as Joe!

Obviously, Starcrash is absolute crap, but it's entertaining crap. And should you tire of stop-motion effects that would make Ray Harryhausen wince or spaceships made from household waste and air-fix kits, then there's always lightly-oiled Caroline in her thigh high boots and PVC bikini to make you smile.

"Awfully" Good

[shark-43 · 8/10 · 30 November 2003]

It's awful all right - in a hilarious way! This movie is awful in almost every category - special effects, sound, costumes, set, acting and the script - but if you like good cheese, if you can embrace the spirit of Ed Wood and others like him, then you'll LOVE this campy sci-fi disaster. Marjoe Gortner gives one of the truly worst performances I have evr seen - he either is phoning it in or over-acting like crazy - I swear, watch in the beginning - he almost doesnt blink for over ten minutes. Creepy. And for all of those who saw this movie as young lads - I can see why Ms. Munro wouldmake such an impression on you. Woo-wee!! That is some hot leather space bikini they have her in. She was gorgeous and all but my god, some of the "fight" scenes she's in are unintentionally hilarious. Good silly fun!!!

Cheap, cheesy and fun!

[ColinHarvey · 7/10 · 31 May 2005]

I saw this in the summer of 1979, when I was 13. I had a fixation with "Star Wars", and "Alien" was soon to come in the future. I saw "Starcrash" listed in the newspaper and thought "wow, gotta see this!" Of course, it ripped off "Star Wars" mightily (check out Marjoe Gortner's cheap lightsabre imitation), but what sci-fi flick of the period didn't? Probably the best part for me at that time was the scantily-clad Caroline Munro as Stella Starr! Of course, I was 13 at the time! I remember how all the "stars" were so colourful, compared to the stark black-and-white star fields of previous sci-fi movies.

I saw this many years later as an adult and thought how cheesy it was. I also scratch my head at how such a respected actor as Christopher Plummer got roped into this! Mostly, though, I remember how much fun it was. See it, don't take it seriously, and laugh if you like!

Hot babes, awful script, lowball FX = great cheese!

[telepinus1525 · 11 December 2002]

When "Star Crash" appeared in the U.S., my local newspaper's film critic noted: "...You have to be suspicious of a movie that literally sneaks into town...". That remark left me curious, but not curious enough; after just one week "Star Crash" had left town as quietly as it had come in. Why would any movie get so little push from its' distributor, I wondered? Could it really be that bad? It took me years to find out. Some dozen or so years later, a friend of mine told me he had a copy...well, I couldn't pass this up. After seeing it, I decided that the critics were right--and wrong. Such a hoot! Caroline Munro definitely set the mood in her almost-not-there "space-kini" and high-heeled boots, with Marjoe Gortner pulling backup as 2nd banana. Cheesy special FX, a painfully earnest performance by Christopher Plummer (you can practically see him wondering if his paycheck will clear the bank when he's finished), and a surprisingly good score ( hey, it's John Barry, what did you expect?)make this a pleasant surprise, as long as you're not expecting anything on par with E.E. "Doc" Smith, etc. A small note: I got to meet Ms. Munro at an SF convention back in '82, and I totally agree with Harlan Ellison...she was so gorgeous in person that "they had to ugly her down, so that the cameras wouldn't melt during filming!"....Though I forgot to ask her if it was true that only copy of the shooting script had been stolen by members of Italy's Red Brigade terrorists and held for ransom! Ah, rumors...anyway, try and catch it for free and you won't feel cheated.

A half-baked Star Wars rip-off.

[13Funbags · 4/10 · 18 May 2017]

The best thing about this movie is that it's the first time I have seen Caroline Munro in a leading role.She usually plays the pretty lady who needs a man to save her but this time she kicks butt.Unfortunately everything else about this movie is stupid.The stars are being pursued by the space police(one of them has the worst green face make-up job ever and the other is a robot) for reasons that are never explained.So the police catch them and they are sentenced to a life of hard labor on different planets.Caroline immediately escapes and sees a strange ship land so she boards it.It turns out to be the police but they were coming to get her anyway because her sentence has been withdrawn because they need her help. At this point the police completely change.They go from mean and evil to friendly and campy. Pretty lame. David Hasselhoff was terrible as usual and weirdly, the guy who played the robot was named Judd Hamilton and the guy who did his voice was named Hamilton Camp.That's the coolest thing about this flick. It's not a good movie but I have seen worse. I gave it two extra stars for Caroline.

"Imperial battleship, HALT THE FLOW OF TIME!"

[lesunra · 1/10 · 3 May 2023]

This is one of the better known horrible Italian knockoffs of Star Wars. This may be because most of the main cast are Americans. It is a spectacular failure in every way. I loathe Roger Corman for marketing this but he didn't direct much better than this in my honest opinion.

The story is bad, they try but the effects are also bad, they try but the acting is weak, they try but it's back to the script and the acting couldn't be much better with that material they had to work with.

This movie deserves a behind the scenes book about how it's made because that would probably be a fun read. John Barry did the score, what was his reaction to this footage? What sort of things did the cast and crew got up to while filming took place in Italy? There's a taste of this in trivia but it is like the movie, poop stories.

Anyway, this is a horrific movie and I think it helped end Italian filmmakers attempts at making space operas. They turned to dystopian visions of the future like Mad Max and Escape From New York. Cheaper and they actually made some good ones despite their budgets. 2019 After The Fall, Bronx Warriors, Warriors of the Wasteland. They move pretty quickly, the stories aren't convoluted and the acting isn't terrible. The dubbing might be but that's it.

Essentially a thrilling space opera dealing with brave smugglers enlisted to carry out a dangerous mission

[ma-cortes · 5/10 · 30 July 2022]

This nice fantasy set in outer space is a sloppy and cheap flick to cash in on successful of Stars Wars , here there are various adventurers confronting a nasty count while running from the authorities. A sexy space adventure dealing with an outlaw smuggler (Caroline Munro) and her alien companion Atkon (Marjoe Gortner) are recruited by the Emperor of the Galaxy (Christopher Plummer) to rescue his son and destroy a secret weapon by the evil Count Zarth Arn (Joe Spinell) , the latter being intenting on conquering the universe . They arrange to pick up a castaway (David Hasselhoff) who results out to be the only survivor from a secret mission to destroy a mysterious superweapon designed by the evil Count Zarth Arn. A galactic adventure beyond your wildest dreams! . The ultimate intergalactic adventure ! Star Wars meets Barbarella in the ultimate intergalactic adventure . From a vast and distant galaxy... A space adventure for all time! From a vast and distant galaxy... A space adventure like no other!

Colorful Sci-Fi with thrills , adventures , spaces battles , dogfighting and botchering, primitive special effects . This Star Wars rip-off takes elements here and there of the previous famous fim , such as : similar aircrafts and storm-troopers ; robots bear resemblance to R2D2 and R3PO ; and other various similar sets , props , atrezzo , gowns , vehicles, and background design elements . It is a real and spectacular pantomime , and , like most pantomimes , it is a lot of fun and entertaining enough. Concerning some valiant smugglers are soon recruited by the imperator of the Galaxy to complete a risked assigment , as well as to rescue the Emperor's son, who has gone missing, this fun but silly film turns out to be an average Sci-Fi flick with no much interest , though to be appreciated for those cinemagoers looking for bad pictures . Set at cinematic standard of the Seventies , but at the same time with traditional and rudimentary special effects that frequently brought to a halt due to financing problems , including overwhelming battles and aerial scenes galore. Basically a rip-off Star Wars (1977) , being an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of Star Wars (1977), though according to director Cozzi the plot of the picture and its storyline were developed before the release of the classic movie. It fact , Starcrash (1978) takes part of a late 1970s cycle of Italian Sci-Fi pictures really influenced by the classical Star Wars (1977) . The films include the following ones : The Humanoid (1979), Star Odyssey (1979), Stars battle (1978) , War of the Planets (1977) and War of the Robots (1978) . Of this selection, L'umanoide (1979) or The Humanoid was the only one that didn't feature the word "Star" or "War" in the title. Stars gorgeous Caroline Munro who's wonderful as outlaw smuggler Stella Star , due to short budget, she along with Judd Hamilton , her husband at the time and David Hasselhoff did most of her own stunts. This film represents one of three movies, all made during the mid-late 1970s, and early 80s that actress Caroline Munro and actor Joe Spinell both appeared in. The movies include these actors would later work together again in the horror films Maniac (1980) and Last Horror Film (1982). They are well accompanied by an attractive support cast such as : Christopher Plummer , Marjoe Gortner, David Hasselhoff, Robert Tessier and Nadia Cassini.

It contains a colorful and brilliant cinematography by cameramen Paul Beeson and Roberto Piazzoli . As well as spectacular and rousing musical score by great composer John Barry who subsequently reused some of the musical motifs for his Academy Award winning soundtrack : Sidney Lumet's Out of Africa (1985). The film was originally made for American International Pictures, but after seeing the final cut, they declined to release it , then New World Pictures took the production.

The motion picture was regularly directed by Luigi Cozzi or Lewis Coates. Producer Wachsberger asked Luigi Cozzi to make a space opera like Star wars (1977). Supposedly , Cozzi had never seen the movie , but he had the novelization of the film in his library and then started working on his own version. Luigi Cozzi was a huge fan of Ray Harryhausen and wanted to shoot a fantastic flick in the wake of the films shot by Nathan Juran/Don Chaffey/Harryhausen in the Fifties and Sixties such as Jason and the Argonauts and a The golden journey of Sinbad . It was relatively little known in the years immediately after its premiere , though nowadays has got a cult movie status , getting the category ¨so bad it is good¨ . This Italian filmmaker Cozzi is a craftsman who has directed some flicks with penchant for Sci-Fi, Horror , Giallo , adventure and fantasy, such as : Hercules , The adventures of Hercules II , Escape from Galaxy 3, Sinbad of the Seven Seas, Nosferatu in Venice , Paganini Horror, Tunnel under the World, The killer must strike again, Godzilla . His biggest hit was Star Crash and he was even attached to direct Lifeforce at one stage . Rating : 5/10 regular but entertaining.

Halfway to a decent film

[bobcat333-287-597020 · 5/10 · 2 January 2022]

Watching Starcrash for the first time ever, in 2021, I could see past the hokey effects, the budget, the airfix-kitbash spaceships, the overacting... What stuck out to me was the potential.

There are a lot of potentially interesting characters and ideas being thrown around, but they're often either underutilised or ignored entirely.

It's one of those things where, if someone where to take the script, polish it up some, and give it to a studio with an actual budget... *gestures vaguely towards Battlestar Galactica...*

At times it's like watching the bonus scenes from a TV series without watching the series itself. So many plot elements seem to come out of nowhere, or aren't properly explained.

It's definitely a movie of its time, made for a specific purpose, for a certain demographic, and it's definitely a "park-your-brain".

But I can't help but think it could have been something a lot bigger and better, if given a better chance.