The Beast in Space (1980)

The Complete Unrated Director s Cut For The First Time Ever In America!In 1975 European sex symbol Sirpa Lane shocked the world with her performance as a maiden defiled by a ferociously aroused animal in the erotic classic THE BEAST. Five years later the beautiful-but-doomed actress would plummet from arthouse to grindhouse in this insanely unofficial outer space sequel packed with rampant sex cheezy effects barnyard passions and yet another graphic ravaging by a hugely-endowed man-beast. Marina Hedman (SATAN S BABY DOLL) and Venantino Venantini (BLACK EMANUELLE) co-star in this jaw-dropping intergalactic epic that combines the immortal 80s Italian genres of sleazy sci-fi and depraved sexual saga now fully restored from the original film lab negative purchased at a Rome bankruptcy auction.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY/FANTASY Rating: AO UPC: 891635001346 Manufacturer No: 891635001346 Product Description

Just aweful, doesn't live up to its billing

Where to begin? How horribly can a concept be systematically destroyed?

This movie came out in 1978 or 1980, depending on where you look (the case says '80, but online sources say '78). Either way, the special effects are straight out of the 1940's. There are low budgets, and there are no budgets. Didn't these guys learn ANYTHING from Star Wars, 2001: A Space Odyssey, or other 60's-70's sci-fi? Even with a barely-there budget things could have been much better.

But let's get to the real appeal of this movie, the schlocky sex and the promise of our heroine getting "yet another graphic ravaging by a hugely-endowed man-beast." Total letdown. As a huge fan of the crazy, I-can't-believe-they-actually-did-that, full-frontal of the creature, semen-soaked monster scenes from The Beast (La bête), this promise of a follow-up fell completely flat. Our "hugely-endowed man-beast" is a bearded old man with hooved faun's legs. The faun statue in the dining hall was more erotic.

There's no "equipment" on display, even in this unrated version, so you get no creature eye candy as you definitely did in The Beast. All you get is some above and to-the-side views of him doing her missionary style. Oh, and the furry legs are very, very obviously nylons with some thin, curly fur stuck on. What a total letdown. I just noticed there is an X-rated version offered. I don't know if that one is any more graphic but (1) I'm not going to pay again to find out and (2) our bearded old "man-beast" is hardly sexy anyway, so seeing more of his equipment wouldn't do anything for me anyway.

I could also go on and on about the terrible plot holes and the totally baffling horse mating scene. How did horses get on this far-off, unexplored planet? The scene is shown in a grainy, funhouse mirror effect that I assume is meant to invoke a mysterious atmosphere, but completely fails. And did we really need a blatant ripoff of light sabers while they were fighting the amazingly incompetent robot guards?

If you're hoping for anything like The Beast (La bête), prepare to be utterly disappointed. If you're simply expecting a cheesy, sexy bad-but-fun B movie diversion, you'll still be disappointed. This was just awful in every respect. July 10, 2008

below average Italian "spaghetti sci-fi" Horror

I had the regular version (without hardcore inserts/sex scenes, without nudity).

The acting is stale and the script was just a below average Italian Horror "spaghetti sci-fi" script, nothing special. The first part scarcely grabbed my attention but it failed to keep it throughout the film. The only way I could recommend this movie, is if you really enjoy average/bad 80's Italian Horror/sci-fi. I just lost any care about what happened.

I can't imagine what Alfonso Brescia must have been thinking with this film. Perhaps this film would have been fun if it was SUPPOSED to be bad, but I'm pretty sure this was intended as serious genre entertainment. I am an adoring fan of Italian Horror/sci-fi, but the only thing that went through my mind while viewing this film was, "Oh hell, is it going to be over soon?".

Being a genre fan, I've learned long ago to be able to overlook occasional silliness and nonsensical plot threads, but I just couldn't handle this mess. You can't like them all, I guess. "Angry Red Planet" was great. "Rocket Ship XM" was great. But I really did not like this movie.

Still, barely worth watching for the dumb look and some truly goofy dialogue, as well as a few twisted scenes. May 21, 2008

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