I remember first encountering this film back when we were all itching for another actual ALIEN movie and disliking it intensely. And after going back again and watching it as an "adult", there is little to really be fond of about it: the film is cold, distant, cruel, sickening, barbaric, perverse, twisted, and rather dull for periods of time.
Yet HORROR PLANET has a very devoted cult following due to the presence of whacko director Norman J. Warren -- who's 1976 satanic shocker SATAN'S SLAVE is a bizarre masterpiece of trash period horror -- and the presence of cult favorites Judy Geeson [DOOMWATCH, A CANDLE FOR THE DEVIL] and the very British DD cuped aristocratic Stephanie Beacham, fondly remembered by this commentator for her appearence in DRACULA A.D. 1972. I am not overly fond of HORROR PLANET as a film, but the movie itself is a fascinating production that has a bizarre history that is almost more interesting than the story it tells. This is because HORROR PLANET is the second of the three big Space Sleaze Epics released in the immediate wake of ALIEN. The reigning king is still Bruce Clark's mesmerizingly awful GALAXY OF TERROR [1980, my favorite of the three], with the likewise Roger Corman produced FORBIDDEN WORLD MUTANT] by director Allan Holzman from 1982 rounding out the trio.
Of the three, HORROR PLANET is the least fun, the most gory, the most "horrifying", and the one that seems to have suffered the most from the cutting shears of various home video marketers over the years. Originally released as the more revealingly titled INSEMINOID in 1980, it was a British made production with a Dr. Who like budget, conveniently staged entirely underground or in space station sets so that no major special effects were needed beyond the gore effects.
And like FORBIDDEN WORLD and GALAXY OF TERROR especially, HORROR PLANET embraced all of the sexual aspects of the ALIEN/human interaction's possibilities, doing so with attractive B supporting actresses known for their willingness to do exploitation work to help get a film done. GALAXY OF TERROR presented the world with the timeless image of CAGED HEAT's Taffey O'Connell having a close encounter of the most unwholesome & slippery kind with a giant space maggot in a scene that is pure exploitation that will live in infamy forever that is available in it's squishy entirety on Laserdisc and on an imported UK DVD. But HORROR PLANET [which came first] gives us more of a big insectoid/slug, which impregnates Ms. Geeson with it's disgusting, human skinned but insect headed progeny, and director Warren depicted their emergence such unrelentingly graphic slop that the original cut of INSEMINOID was Rated X by the MPAA.
As such INSEMINOID could not find a distributor in the US in 1980, and was apparently banned in certain parts of Europe [including the original lobby poster design, which was deemed to be obscene], only finding a release in Japan where, as we all know, they will watch just about anything. In 1982 a significantly cut version -- now called HORROR PLANET and again, distributed by Roger Corman -- was finally granted an R rating, and it's across the board "bomb" reviews for being apalling, gross, perverted ALIEN sleaze sort of guaranteed it's cult following when the movie turned up for home video in 1983 and again in 1988 on Laserdisc as well, all of which quickly went out of print and are now collector's items. There was also a home video issuing of another version also called INSEMINOID in the mid 1990's, but was cut even further than the HORROR PLANET tapes, and it too quickly went out of print. Used examples of these videos are readily found at places like amazon.com's reseller shops, and would prove an interesting if somewhat distasteful diversion for fans of recent garbage like SPHERE, EVENT HORIZON, RESIDENT EVIL and the like.
But others should be rightfully warned, or appropriately titilated, by noting that this movie is gross, this movie is painful, this movie is difficult to watch, has little or no artistic sensibilities worth commenting on or unusual plot elements to discuss. There is a cold, distanced and documentary like method to the storytelling that leaves very little need for deconstruction -- what you see on the screen is pretty much what you get. But if watching Judy Geeson being impregnated by a giant worm, give birth to twin alien maggots and then murder & cannibalize the rest of the cast in some warped space fever/dementia is your idea of a good time, well Norman J. Warren made this mean spirited, sick little movie just for you.
Enjoy. ** [out of a possible ****]
Yet HORROR PLANET has a very devoted cult following due to the presence of whacko director Norman J. Warren -- who's 1976 satanic shocker SATAN'S SLAVE is a bizarre masterpiece of trash period horror -- and the presence of cult favorites Judy Geeson [DOOMWATCH, A CANDLE FOR THE DEVIL] and the very British DD cuped aristocratic Stephanie Beacham, fondly remembered by this commentator for her appearence in DRACULA A.D. 1972. I am not overly fond of HORROR PLANET as a film, but the movie itself is a fascinating production that has a bizarre history that is almost more interesting than the story it tells. This is because HORROR PLANET is the second of the three big Space Sleaze Epics released in the immediate wake of ALIEN. The reigning king is still Bruce Clark's mesmerizingly awful GALAXY OF TERROR [1980, my favorite of the three], with the likewise Roger Corman produced FORBIDDEN WORLD MUTANT] by director Allan Holzman from 1982 rounding out the trio.
Of the three, HORROR PLANET is the least fun, the most gory, the most "horrifying", and the one that seems to have suffered the most from the cutting shears of various home video marketers over the years. Originally released as the more revealingly titled INSEMINOID in 1980, it was a British made production with a Dr. Who like budget, conveniently staged entirely underground or in space station sets so that no major special effects were needed beyond the gore effects.
And like FORBIDDEN WORLD and GALAXY OF TERROR especially, HORROR PLANET embraced all of the sexual aspects of the ALIEN/human interaction's possibilities, doing so with attractive B supporting actresses known for their willingness to do exploitation work to help get a film done. GALAXY OF TERROR presented the world with the timeless image of CAGED HEAT's Taffey O'Connell having a close encounter of the most unwholesome & slippery kind with a giant space maggot in a scene that is pure exploitation that will live in infamy forever that is available in it's squishy entirety on Laserdisc and on an imported UK DVD. But HORROR PLANET [which came first] gives us more of a big insectoid/slug, which impregnates Ms. Geeson with it's disgusting, human skinned but insect headed progeny, and director Warren depicted their emergence such unrelentingly graphic slop that the original cut of INSEMINOID was Rated X by the MPAA.
As such INSEMINOID could not find a distributor in the US in 1980, and was apparently banned in certain parts of Europe [including the original lobby poster design, which was deemed to be obscene], only finding a release in Japan where, as we all know, they will watch just about anything. In 1982 a significantly cut version -- now called HORROR PLANET and again, distributed by Roger Corman -- was finally granted an R rating, and it's across the board "bomb" reviews for being apalling, gross, perverted ALIEN sleaze sort of guaranteed it's cult following when the movie turned up for home video in 1983 and again in 1988 on Laserdisc as well, all of which quickly went out of print and are now collector's items. There was also a home video issuing of another version also called INSEMINOID in the mid 1990's, but was cut even further than the HORROR PLANET tapes, and it too quickly went out of print. Used examples of these videos are readily found at places like amazon.com's reseller shops, and would prove an interesting if somewhat distasteful diversion for fans of recent garbage like SPHERE, EVENT HORIZON, RESIDENT EVIL and the like.
But others should be rightfully warned, or appropriately titilated, by noting that this movie is gross, this movie is painful, this movie is difficult to watch, has little or no artistic sensibilities worth commenting on or unusual plot elements to discuss. There is a cold, distanced and documentary like method to the storytelling that leaves very little need for deconstruction -- what you see on the screen is pretty much what you get. But if watching Judy Geeson being impregnated by a giant worm, give birth to twin alien maggots and then murder & cannibalize the rest of the cast in some warped space fever/dementia is your idea of a good time, well Norman J. Warren made this mean spirited, sick little movie just for you.
Enjoy. ** [out of a possible ****]