Let me be up front about this; Deep Space marks the FIFTH horror or killer movie in a row that I've watched with a cop drama element. If it's one thing I hate in a horror movie, it's a police procedural plot or subplot. This is interesting maybe 1 in 10 times. So, forgive me if my score got skewed to reflect my experience, but in my defense, this movie's got it's share of other problems.
First of all, I'd like to argue that none of Deep Space takes place in deep space. At all! No, this movie's about two cops, and the old stand-by, the government experiment superweapon, you know, cops want it dead, the government and scientists want it preserved. You heard me. I groaned when I heard this premise. There are cops, lots of cops, lead cop's (Charles Napier, at least nibbling the scenery) partner (Ron Glass) gets killed by a plastic creature... fortunately Napier's girl is also a cop. That's convenient. "Superweapon" spawns two baby superweapons, which cross Alien and The Thing... as does this entire flick.
I've gotten off track. The biological weapon in question is being developed on some satellite... which takes two hours to crash to Earth. How far into "deep space" is 2 hours? I'm guessing, not very. Creature effects are limited to puppets, plastic models pulled on fishing line, and a guy (or guys) in a rubber suit.
I guess I should point out this is a Fred Olen Ray picture, and one done for a major studio, no less! This surprised the hell out of me, I dunno, maybe he did more, but I've always known him as an indie exploitation filmmaker. I saw his name, and thought, At least there will be nudity! Boy was I ever wrong.
On the other hand, I was NOT taken by surprise that this was a 100% wholly unoriginal studio picture. I can't think of a single thing to recommend about this movie, outside of Napier's gruff exterior? His bagpipe skills... provided by a synthesizer? I'm grasping at straws here. Oh, side note, Julie Newmar appears as a psychic, er, tipping off the police, probably filmed in another state, and impacting the plot in precisely NO way.
Yup, cops fighting puppets and a guy in a rubber suit, with a government conspiracy biological weapon subplot (that actually gets forgotten), stealing liberally from Alien and The Thing, AND put out by MGM in 1988? I don't know how many producers lost money on this trash, but I don't feel bad for them.
First of all, I'd like to argue that none of Deep Space takes place in deep space. At all! No, this movie's about two cops, and the old stand-by, the government experiment superweapon, you know, cops want it dead, the government and scientists want it preserved. You heard me. I groaned when I heard this premise. There are cops, lots of cops, lead cop's (Charles Napier, at least nibbling the scenery) partner (Ron Glass) gets killed by a plastic creature... fortunately Napier's girl is also a cop. That's convenient. "Superweapon" spawns two baby superweapons, which cross Alien and The Thing... as does this entire flick.
I've gotten off track. The biological weapon in question is being developed on some satellite... which takes two hours to crash to Earth. How far into "deep space" is 2 hours? I'm guessing, not very. Creature effects are limited to puppets, plastic models pulled on fishing line, and a guy (or guys) in a rubber suit.
I guess I should point out this is a Fred Olen Ray picture, and one done for a major studio, no less! This surprised the hell out of me, I dunno, maybe he did more, but I've always known him as an indie exploitation filmmaker. I saw his name, and thought, At least there will be nudity! Boy was I ever wrong.
On the other hand, I was NOT taken by surprise that this was a 100% wholly unoriginal studio picture. I can't think of a single thing to recommend about this movie, outside of Napier's gruff exterior? His bagpipe skills... provided by a synthesizer? I'm grasping at straws here. Oh, side note, Julie Newmar appears as a psychic, er, tipping off the police, probably filmed in another state, and impacting the plot in precisely NO way.
Yup, cops fighting puppets and a guy in a rubber suit, with a government conspiracy biological weapon subplot (that actually gets forgotten), stealing liberally from Alien and The Thing, AND put out by MGM in 1988? I don't know how many producers lost money on this trash, but I don't feel bad for them.