Laserblast (1978)

To my surprise this is actually a Fullmoon movie, the company well known only for cheesy horror films. Apparently they do sci-fi even worse.Laserblast presently sits with a 2.6 rating on IMDB, which is astoundingly low. I didn't think for a second it would be that bad, it actually is.It tells the story of a young man who finds a laser cannon in the desert, after wielding it and the necklace that came with it he is periodically transformed into a creature hellbent on destruction.Looking at the cover you'd think the "Creature" was Gary Busey, in the film it's more an early Romero zombie.The special effects are embarassing even for the time, the plot is riddled with holes and the whole thing comes off amateurish. One of the worst films every made? No. Deserving of 2.6? Absolutely.The Good:Erm.....The Bad:Looks hideousJust can't take it seriouslyThings I Learnt From This Movie:Aliens are just giant turtles without shells who wear shiney gloves

This is a film that was featured on the cult show, Mystery Science Theater 3000. Oftentimes, being on this show is the first time I will have ever seen a film, but not in this case. No, I saw this one as a child numerous times as it used to come on one of those obscure channels that would show old science fiction films like this and Godzilla. I watched this one and enjoyed it as a kid, because it has a laser in it! It also had aliens and it was very short. Well, one really didn't get the advantage of the brevity as they stretched this thing out over a two hour span. A film, that was obviously inspired by Star Wars to the extent it even feels the need to blast its creator in the form of a sign being blown away. Not all bad, but it is kind of pointless in the grand scheme of things as you have characters that are obviously just there to pad the film, you have an actor of some note playing a bit part to lend a bit of credibility and you have an incredibly irritating Eddie Deezen character. So this film most certainly did deserve some riffing, but you have to admit, the title does say it all! The story has an alien wandering the desert where he is gunned down by two aliens who are stop motion. They do not look overall great, but their eyes move rather well. Well these two fly off leaving the alien's laser in the desert. We then meet Billy whose mom likes going on vacation, the local law harasses him and two dweebs try to show him up. He soon finds the laser and the means to operate it, but using it seems to have adverse side effects on our 'hero'. He soon goes to a birthday party with his girlfriend where the girl whose birthday it is has a sad speech about how she only has friends because of her pool. What does this have to do with anything? Well, not a whole lot in the long run. Just padding. Well, Billy is soon getting revenge on those that have wronged him and he may or may not be unstoppable and the aliens have to do a u-turn in space, because they didn't get the laser the last time.This is one of my favorite MST3K episodes from a riffing standpoint. This film is bad, but not so bad that it is unbearable to watch. It is a fun little film for the most part so it makes it fun listening to them make fun of it. This was the last episode of the show on Comedy Central though, so none of the bumps had anything to do with the film which is a bit sad. I liked the bumps, but I would have loved to have seen one skit done using it as the inspiration, such as having the aliens from the movie appear or something. Still, the movie itself was great and the jokes fast and furious! So in the end a bad film, but not one that you cannot watch. The film was produced by Charles Band and that explains a lot. For those who do not know, he did the Full Moon Studio films and lets face it, all of those films were brief and a lot of them were pointless. Granted, some of them were pretty good too and when they are bad, they usually still are fun to watch. This one is no exception, though this one is not under the Full Moon banner yet. Just a movie where they saw a movie and then thought, let's have a kid find a laser and blast stuff! What will we call it? Laserblast! Sounds good to me!

This movie is seriously confusing, scenes that don't seem to belong together follow each other without transition or explanation. Who are these people? Why are they here? What i going on? No one knows. On top of that, the special effects are laughable, the characters are ill defined and the acting is bad.But, looking beyond all these criticisms, and they are valid, believe me, there is actually a rather watchable movie. We have the story of Billy who is turned into a monster that wanders the streets shooting things with a laser gun. Kind of like a sci-fi version of a werewolf story where the protagonist does not know he is the monster. Not to mention that the aliens that one would naturally assume to be evil, seem to be some kind of police officers chasing down the monster, a fun take on things I say. And of course, the whole thing is really rather campy which is appropriate. An added bonus on my copy were the trailers for several campy looking old movies.

I am one of those few who liked this movie. I was always reluctant to get this on DVD, but during a Full Moon Valentine's Day Sale, I bought it. A solid little cult sci-fi film with some decent special effects. I liked the development of Billy and how he slowly is possessed and driven completely mad. My only gripe with the movie has to do with the storytelling. How did the original alien in the beginning get on earth and why? Also, what was the deal with that alien being wanted from the other space aliens? That is never explained, however, it's easy to not think about it.Too many people take movies seriously these days. Time for people to lighten up and realize that movies don't have to be perfect in order to be fun. Glad Billy blows up a billboard with "Star Wars" on it! Take that Star Wars nerds!