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Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone - Blu-ray Review

5 beersIt was the first movie I ever saw in 3-D.  Friggin’ SpaceVision as I recall.  For that reason and others (involving the sheer joy of the flick), I freakin’ love director Lamont Johnson’s Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone.  LOVE IT.  To me, it is Canuxploitation done right.  Derivative and dysfunctional, sure, but deep within its caged heart pumps something that is pure cinematic gold.  And Mill Creek has made it available on blu-ray for the very first time.    

This has to be a desired title; I can’t be alone in its defense. Freaks and geeks, ASSEMBLE!

{googleads}Outside of my genuine awe for Vincent Price, if you were to pinpoint exactly where this appreciation for b-grade flicks came from, it would have to stem from my enthusiastic response to this cheesy movie.  And who can blame me?  The science fiction adventure housed within this story is pure cinematic candy corn.  Full of nebular lightning storms, pirate-looking space ships, and a young lip-chewing Molly Ringwald as a Scav named Nikki, this spacey flick has all the right ingredients to make it memorable.

With a wild (and celtic?) score from composer Elmer Bernstein, Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone was originally released as part of the 3-D revival during the early 1980s.  Truth be told, it was Canada’s second 3-D film; the first being The Mask.  After watching it twice last night, I can assure you that this film still kicks all sorts of ass thanks to a rough and ready (and largely) practical production by Ivan Reitman (director of Ghostbusters) and a talented cast of character actors that includes Ernie Hudson as a rival spacehunter named Washington, Peter Strauss as the anti-hero named Wolff who arrives in the Forbidden Zone to pay his debts, and Michael Ironside in a very disturbing performance as the cyborg villain Overdog whose large mechanical hands long to touch female flesh.  These characters fit this world like a glove. 

I might have been eight years old when I originally saw this film.  It has LONG stuck with me.  Smack dab in the middle of Small Town, USA, it was during a summer film series.  I lived within walking distance of the town’s theater and spent a couple hours a day there, watching any number of cheapo genre flicks.  Growing up, there were two low rent science fiction films that stirred me the most: Cherry 2000 and Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone, but this one had me back the most times.  Maybe it was all in the jet-powered hang gliders.  Referred to as "Vultures", I so saw myself aboard one, flying the unfriendly skies of the Forbidden Zone. 

The b-movie is rugged and raw and the effects are iffy, but I didn’t (and still don’t) care.  The film remains an enthusiastic ride through some pretty treacherous parts of a planet named Terra XI, which routinely suffers from the plague and civil unrest.  It also (however briefly) features Andrea Marcovicci (from The Stuff) as Wolff’s lingerie-wearing female engineer Chalmers and, trust me, that cool android babe still knows her way around a man’s engine. 

Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone is ultimately about the rescue of three survivors - Nova (Cali Timmins), Reena (Aleisa Shirley), and Meagan (Deborah Pratt) – after their space cruiser is brought down.  It’s a dangerous mission that involves a whole clan of hideous aliens so fat they can’t help but fall over their prey, beautiful amazon-like women just begging to kill a man during sex, and all of it happens upon a strange alien planet (could it be earth?) that sees marauders and nomads at war with each other, all talking a common and abbreviated form of English.   

And now Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone has landed on blu-ray.  Someone pass me my driving goggles.  It’s time to hop in the dune buggy and go scaving for more copies!

 

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Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone - Blu-ray Review

MPAA Rating: PG.
Runtime:
90 mins
Director
: Lamont Johnson
Writer:
Lawrence D. Cohen
Cast:
David Preston; Edith Rey; Daniel Goldberg & Len Blum
Genre
: Action | Sci-fi
Tagline:
Journey with Wolff and Niki, an interstellar adventurer and young rebel. On a mission to rescue three stranded women from a planet no one has warned them about. Because no one has ever returned.
Memorable Movie Quote: "You have a very enviable life force, a life force you're going to share with me."
Theatrical Distributor:
Columbia Pictures
Official Site:
Release Date:
May 20, 1983
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
May 2, 2017
Synopsis: He's an interstellar adventurer. She's a young rebel. Together they set out on a mission to rescue three stranded women, from a planet no one has warned them about. Because no one has ever returned.

In the year 2136, Wolff (Peter Strauss), a wily salvage pilot and intergalactic bounty hunter, answers a distress signal on Terra Eleven. Agreeing to pick up three women who've been shipwrecked, he lands on the planet only to discover they've been kidnapped. Following their trail, Wolff soon encounters Niki (Molly Ringwald), a spunky orphan who agrees to guide him across the Forbidden Zone, a vast wasteland populated by plague-infested mutants. After many battles, Wolff and Niki finally reach the lair of Overdog (Michael Ironside), the planet's half-man/half-machine ruler. Discovering the women are held captive in Overdog's slave pens, Wolff's rescue mission finally begins.

 

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Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone - Blu-ray Review

 

Blu-ray

Blu-ray Details:

Home Video Distributor: Mill Creek Entertainment
Available on Blu-ray
- May 2, 2017
Screen Formats: 2.39:1
Subtitles
: English SDH
Audio:
English: LPCM 2.0
Discs: Blu-ray Disc; single disc
Region Encoding: Region A

 

Presented on 1080p courtesy of Mill Creek on yet another bare bones release, Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone is a decent-looking transfer.  It is not up to the quality of other distributors, but this being Mill Creek, I suppose it could have been handled in a far loopier manner.  Black levels are good, but a little muddy.  Colors are also tame.  While there looks to be minimal damage to the print used, there also doesn’t seem to be any remastering done.  It is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1 and features a solid DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track.  Are those elf flutes, man?  Well, turn it up!

 

Supplements:

Commentary:

  • None

Special Features:

  • None

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Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone - Blu-ray Review

 

 

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