War of Planets & War of Robots

Starring:Antonio Sabato, Yanti Sommer, Malisa Longo, Patrizia Gori, Giacomo Rossi-Stuart, Roberto Bianchetti, Aldo Canti, Enrico Gozzo, Licinia Lentini, Frank Siedlitz, Massimo Righi, Dino Scandiuzzi, Nicole Stoliaroff, Ian Pulley, Venantino Venantini, Jacques Herlin, Ines Pellegrini, Iren Szeremi, Roger Browne, Fabio Roscioli
Director: Alfonso Brescia
Studio: Retro Media
Product Type: DVD

Drive in Movie Double Feature: Creation of the Humanoids/War Between the Planets

Average customer rating:

Worth getting just for "Creation of the Humanoids"
The Best Robot Movie
Excellent transfer
Fun Retro Sci-Fi...UHF memories...

Drive in Movie Double Feature: Creation of the Humanoids/War Between the Planets
Starring: Don Megowan , Erica Elliott , Don Doolittle , George Milan , and Dudley Manlove
Director: Wesley Barry , and Antonio Margheriti
Manufacturer: Dark Sky Films
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000E991S4
Release Date: 2006-05-30

Description

Creation of the Humanoids: Following a catastrophic nuclear war, mankind creates a race of blue-skinned androids to assist in the reconstruction of civilization. Disparagingly referred to as "Clickers," the robots grow more intelligent and human-like. To stop their evolution and to preserve their own rule, a fanatical group called The Order of Flesh and Blood is created. Are the robots really man's enemy or his last hope for survival? Featuring cinematography by Academy Award winner Hal Mohr, and makeup by famed artist Jack P. Pierce (Frankenstein, The Mummy), this philosophical science fiction drive-in classic was rumored to have been a favorite of pop artist Andy Warhol. War Between the Planets: When a series of natural disasters plague civilization, scientists learn that the culprit is a seemingly barren planet set on a collision course with Earth. A team of astronauts is sent to counter the impending Armageddon, but after landing on the wayward planet they discover that it has a bloodthirsty life of its own. Also known as Planet on the Prowl and Il Planeta Errante, this extremely stylish Italian sci-fi thriller directed by Antonio Margheriti (Castle of Blood, Cannibal Apocalypse) was the third film in the Gamma I Quadrilogy.

Customer Reviews:

Worth getting just for "Creation of the Humanoids".......2006-11-25

Let me get the technical details out of the way first. The transfer is superb, picture quality excellent, sound excellent and it's letterboxed so you get it in the original "drive-in" aspect ratio. The only technical detail in "Creation..." that's sub-par is they needed better proofreading for the subtitles. There are a few errata, and if, like me, you use the subtitles, that can make the brain itch.

"Creation" itself, however, remains eminently watchable and utterly undated. Yes, it's a low-budget "B" movie. But the sets are acceptable, and the acting and dialogue at least as good as any TV series of the early 60s. There wasn't a note anywhere in this that sounds out of place in the story. NOTHING in this film strained the cables on my suspension of disbelief.

But as science-fiction, this movie shines like a well-lit diamond for thoughtfulness of script, philosophical depths explored, and some very human and HUMANE moments. I've never been able to forget the line about "Irony, the funniest form of humor." since the first time I watched this film back in the sixties. When I found out later in the story just what Pax (a Clicker) meant by that comment and the joyous peal of laughter which accompanied it, I agreed with him, and laughed like hell.

And wait for a line that begins "Only the memory..." For that line alone, I would have bought this picture, because that line, perfectly delivered by Don Doolittle, contains the true humility that marks all real scientific endeavorers. It also raises philosophical questions that haunt me to this day.

I can't speak of "War Between the Planets". I found it unwatchable.

But I don't care. I've wanted a GOOD copy of "Creation of the Humanoids" in my collection even before I knew a collection was possible, and now I have it. Both my budget and my time are at a premium, but this incarnation of that picture is worth every penny I spent getting it, and every wonderful minute watching it. In my opinion, this is one of the five best science-fiction movies of all time.

The Best Robot Movie.......2006-07-13

I purchased the DVD for "Creation of the Humanoids." I was pleased by the quality of the movie as well as the entertaining extras on the disk. Over the years, I had forgotten the other movie, "War between the Planets." Since most good sci fi movies don't go beyond a B movie, no need to nitpick on why neither movie won an Oscar.

These two movies might be packaged together for opposites between them. First, rich special effects in `Planets' almost make up for a weak story and predictable action scenes. In contrast, `Humanoids' presents a very strong story, adequate effects, but simplistic scenery. The stark backgrounds in `Humanoids' scenes look cheap at first. Yet, the simplicity seems a deliberate way to focus attention on the sometimes-deep dialogue and excellent acting as robots.

`Humanoids' starts by explaining that a small percentage of humanity survives the big nuclear war. Over time, civilization carries on but faces slow death from a low rate of healthy births per man/woman "contract." Humans, and the robots programmed to serve them, adjust to the realization of slow death. People either accept robots or violently oppose their increasing complexity. Unlike Star Trek's "What Are Little Girls Made Of" (original TV series) where a robot is a piece of property incapable of genuine emotion, `Humanoids' takes the opposite track. A woman purchases a robot/butler/companion and pays extra for him to have a sense of humor. Even though machines lack vision, he says that no one asks to be created.

While robots in movies such as "Star Wars" or "Westworld" entertain, "Creation of the Humanoids" positions itself as a thought-provoking but fun experience at or near the top of robot stories. I give this B movie an A+ for science fiction. "Creation of the Humanoids" is a must-have for any robot fan.

Excellent transfer.......2006-06-28

I'll second everything that :Bob Eggleton said, and add that the video quality on this DVD - particularly for "Creation of the Humanoids" is very good.

There are muddy DVD and VHS copies of this movie available elsewhere, but I believe that they are dubs of the 1985 Sun Cost VHS that had a bad edit glitch near the beginning.
This version is much cleaner and and sharper. It looks like a transfer from the original film. It still has the glitch, but it's almost imperceptible.

"Creation of the Humanoids" really is a rough gem - almost everything about it is poorly done - yet the movie WORKS. When it's done, the story sticks with you. It's great SF.

Antonio Margheriti's "War of the Planets" is fun to watch. The rest of the Quadrology is available on DVD as well; one or two appear on the "SciFi Classics Collection: 50 Movie Pack"

This DVD is a great addition to any GOOD Science Fiction movie collection.

Fun Retro Sci-Fi...UHF memories..........2006-06-01

CREATION OF THE HUMANOIDS is perhaps one of the most creative and low-budgeted films ever made. Despite it's B film title, zero budget, it has alot of good ideas in it that sound alot like Asimov's laws of robotics at one point. The film is light years ahead of it's time in predicting the dilemma of what happens when robots-created by Man-think on their own, have feelings and start to make decisions-contrary to Man. And how even a "fundamentalist" order of humans arises from this threat and what happens when they clash. There is no action to speak of, it all comes of like a play done on minimalist sets, but shot in blazing technicolor. The acting is surprisingly well done if slightly overdone in parts. I only ever saw this on a fuzzy UHF showing in the l970's, and never saw it again-or it's "twist" ending which comes out of the blue. The print is quite good-gets better as it goes along, the opening credits are a bit scratchy however. The second feature WAR BETWEEN THE PLANETS (AKA PLANETS AGAINST US) is the fourth in Antonio Margheriti's Italian space opera quartet(Previous entries were WAR OF THE PLANETS, WILD WILD PLANET and THE SNOW DEVILS) and has lots of Italian eye-candy gals and macho men in the same outfits seen in the last three films and all revolving, kind of around the Gamma One Space Station but this is one of the lackluster in action of that set of films,compared to say the really fun WILD WILD PLANET(Walter Manley, the producer on this, would later take his space station concept to Japan and make THE GREEN SLIME, in essentially the same universe, but now Space Station Gamma Three). The print on this one is from the theaterical release by Fanfare Films in 1971 that played at mostly drive-ins back in the day with what I remember was a huge ad campaign. That said, it's a fairly nice print and, the whole film is *narrated* by Norman Rose-a voice announcer who worked for NBC in the 1970's and did the introduction to DESTROY ALL MONSTERS(the AIP version) as well as Promise Butter ads.

Good fun viewing brings back a time when these things aired on TV with regular play.

Average customer rating:

4 stars for bad quality
"Washington and Moscow have already called me three times"...
War of the crappy dialogue and cheap effects
What's not to like?
An embarrassment, even for Italian sci-fi

War of Planets & War of Robots
Starring: Antonio Sabato , Yanti Somer , Malisa Longo , Patrizia Gori , and Giacomo Rossi-Stuart
Director: Alfonso Brescia
Manufacturer: Retro Media
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Drive in Movie Double Feature: Creation of the Humanoids/War Between the Planets

ASIN: B0000714DG
Release Date: 2002-10-22

Customer Reviews:

4 stars for bad quality.......2007-02-02

Every week, my son and I have "bad movie" night, and this particular night was spent watching, "War Of The Planets." It is unknown to me what the other reviewers were expecting when they bought and viewed this Italian "epic" but with the general tone of disappointment, I'd say they expected waaaay too much.
We sat there for the 90 minutes enjoying one of the worst movies ever made. Furthermore, we EXPECTED it to be bad and not the second coming of 2001: A Space Odyssey! Probably the funniest thing about this so-called movie is the fact that the makers of this film probably thought they had a hit on their hands, since it came out around the same time as Star Wars. Well, obviously this flick is terrible to the point of being rediculous and, not surprisingly ended up being a dud.
My adviced to you is simple: for one night, go ahead and pretend you're dumb, put in this dvd, and enjoy some of the best bad film making ever to hit no one's screen!

"Washington and Moscow have already called me three times"..........2006-06-17

...and they request another film since this one is alternately putting them to sleep and making them laugh so hard that someone might accidentally launch a nuke. Boy, those Italians have some way with Sci-Fi flicks, don't they? The story in a nutshell: Brash and undisciplined captain is put in charge of a spaceship investigating some mysterious signals from a previously unknown planet. The crew finds it inhabited by, among other things, green skinned guys who must've missed the casting call for 'Santa Claus Conquers the Martians' and a giant robot that tries to be scary, but comes off more like those old 2XL toys. This puppy is just flat boring for 2/3rds of the run time, and silly for the rest. Ooh, frightening robot with the truck grill face and multiple close ups! Ooh, weird naked green skinned men who live in caves! Ooh, brave astronauts wearing third rate Star Trek costumes with head gear popularized in medeival Europe, weilding metal detectors and flashlights! Ooh. goofy electronic Krautrock soundtrack, if Krautrock was performed by deaf four year old autistics. Why can't the computer use it's robots to repair the circuits? "That's it, that's the one, put it in", the 2XL exclaims excitedly. More like pull out.

War of the crappy dialogue and cheap effects.......2006-03-22

I didn't see War of the Robots so this review is only for War of the Planets, which while not the worst movie I've ever seen, is certainly not good. A group of astronauts land on a planet hurtling toward Earth and come into contact with the humanoid inhabitants. They then help them fight the computer that has taken over the planet. The message of the movie, that allowing machines to do too much is bad, is heavy-handed. The captain of the astronaut's ship also has his problems with relying too much on computers. At first glance the effects aren't that bad for a movie made in the 70's but then you remember Star Wars was made at the same time and you understand that, yes, they are that bad.

My favorite scene for the sheer stupidity of the writing is an astronaut doing a space walk to repair a battery on a satellite. The battery cracks and acid squirts onto his space suit. He immediately begins screaming in pain. Meanwhile the captain is saying to him that he has 3 minutes to get back to the ship before the acid eats through the suit. If he has 3 minutes, why is he already screaming in pain? If he has 3 minutes why does the captain have to suit up and go out to rescue him? In the end, it's a nibbling point because the movie isn't good enough to waste too much time thinking about it.

What's not to like?.......2005-11-11

"badly dated" - Yes!

"dialogue is often incomprehensible" - Yes!

"and the performances are uniformly languid" - Yes! and No!...

(occasional manic jabbering - Yes!)
(occasional fighting with space zombies - Yes!)

Moreover: great spaceship sets and the great spaceship fashions which characterise Brescia and Bava's finest 70s spaceship nonsense. So these films are in fact wonderful. Unfortunately I've had two different copies of this particular box set, and neither of them would play on any of my machines, so I suspect that the factory/distributor messed up badly. Get these films, but get them elsewhere.

An embarrassment, even for Italian sci-fi.......2004-02-16

WAR OF THE PLANETS (1977) John Richardson, Yanti Sommer, West Buchanan, Ely King. In this film by Alfonso Brescia (as "Al Bradley"), astronauts land on an alien planet and agree to help its humanoid inhabitants battle a super-computer that has taken over the planet. Even by 1977 standards, the sets, costumes and special effects look badly dated, the dialogue is often incomprehensible and the performances are uniformly languid. The theme of the film--that man shouldn't become too heavily dependent on machines--simply gets lost in the muck. The Italians were never that good at sci-fi to begin with, but this movie is truly an embarrassment.

Product Description

Cosmos- War of the Planets (1977): Astronaut Mike Leighton has just been given an assignment to travel to an unexplored planet. His mission is to investigate an intercepted message that originated there. While exploring the unknown territory, Mike and his crew discover an alien civilization that is being enslaved by a giant robot in a maze of subterranean tunnels. Now our hero must prepare for a confrontation with the robot, with the fat of an entire civilization in his hands. Assignment Outer Space (1960, aka Space Men): In the 21st century Ray Peterson, reporter for the Interplanetary News gets an assignment to write a story from aboard a space station. Tension mounts between Peterson and the station commander when the crew realizes that a space ship has just entered the solar system and is radiating enough heat to destroy Earth. Peterson is the one who must enter the ship and disable its generators before he suffocates and Earth is history. Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (1965): A crew of cosmonauts, led by Professor Hartman and Marcia, is sent to Venus with a highly sophisticated robot to explore its surface. However, when a volcanic eruption threatens to engulf the planet in lava and prehistoric beasts begin to attack the crew, they must figure out a way to escape. Will they find a way off this alien planet, or will this dangerous mission be their last? Warning From Space (1956): When a small planet enters into a collision course with Earth, giant, starfish-like aliens come to warn the humans. Their appearance causes worldwide panic, making it difficult for them to deliver the message. When they finally do, they commission a scientist to develop a bomb to destroy the planet, but the bomb is stolen by a rogue group who intend to use it for their own purposes. Can they recover the weapon in time, or will the Earth be destroyed?

Customer Reviews:

Wouldn't Be Worth It Even At Half The Price.......2007-05-07

This double-sided DVD offers four films: COSMOS--WAR OF THE PLANETS; ASSIGNMENT: OUTER SPACE; VOYAGE TO THE PREHISTORIC PLANET; and WARNING FROM SPACE. And not a one of them is worth the cost of shipping, much less the expense of purchase.

Released in the United States in 1979, COSMOS--WAR OF THE PLANETS is a badly dubbed Italian film that has had as many name changes as a starlet in search of a career--but it hardly matters, because a weed by any other name still stinks. The plot is so horrifically disjointed that it more or less defies description; suffice to say that it involves a planet gone bad, crazy computers, and lots of Italians in skin-tight caps. Although the transfer is reasonably good, it is actually the worst of the four films offered, and that is saying a great deal indeed.

Like COSMOS, ASSIGNMENT: OUTER SPACE is a badly dubbed Italian flick; unlike COSMOS, ASSIGNMENT: OUTER SPACE isn't quite so horrendously bad. Released in the early 1960s, this time the story concerns a satelite gone bad, and while it's not going to win any prizes it does occasionally have an interesting idea or two--not that any of them go anywhere special. The transfer is pretty bad as well.

VOYAGE TO THE PREHISTORIC PLANET began life as a Russian movie so bad that not even the Soviets would watch it. At some point in the 1960s, drive-in dreck master Roger Corman came across it, edited it, dubbed it, and then sweet-talked Basil Rathbone and Faith Domergue into filming a few scenes that he hoped would give the whole thing some coherence. It didn't. There are two interesting things about this movie: Faith's beehive hairdo, which completely defies description, and the robot, which is essentially a riff on Robbie from FORBIDDEN PLANET but with less personality and really big toenails. And the transfer is so awful you might well come away from it with a migraine.

As for WARNING FROM SPACE... well, it has to do with starfish-shaped creatures who descend on Japan to tell the world that we're about to have a collision with a rogue planet. No one believes them, of course, until the planet is actually visible to the naked eye. Throw in two very odd musical numbers (one of which looks like Ricky Ricardo and Carmen Miranda collided somewhere over Tokyo), plot devices that are an insult to the intelligence of a five year old, and lots of bad acting, and you'll find this 1956 flick drudgery in its purest form. And dare I say it? The transfer is even worse than VOYAGE TO THE PREHISTORIC PLANET.

This is the sort of thing you come across in the bargain-bin at your local superstore--but frankly it doesn't matter how cheap it is, it isn't worth it. Now and then a bad film is so awful that it becomes funny, but that isn't the case here. The warning from this particular space is to avoid the thing like the plague.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Buy at WalMart for $1.00.......2006-10-22

These movies are so bad, they are fun to watch. Go ahead and spend the money! Had more fun then some of the overhyped Sci-Fi movies that cost me 80 times as much. (I look at it as if I spent a quarter a movie.

Hilariously cheesy collection of films all on one DVD.......2006-06-06

The Sci-Fi Invasion is a very inexpensive way to obtain four obscure, low-budget foreign films, all on one DVD. The DVD disc is region free, meaning it should play on any DVD player, even PAL and NTSC. Of course, I live in America, so I have a Region 1 NTSC player, and this disc works just fine. The packaging simply says "This DVD is compatible with all DVD players" with no mention of regions or formats. Unfortunately the DVD don't have a scene selection feature, but you can skip to whatever film you wish to see.

Are you sick of all those overproduced, slick and hyped Hollywood films? Had enough of Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T.? Think George Lucas and Steven Spielberg are overrated? Want some cheesy low-budget fun that should have been destined to be ridiculed on Mystery Science Theater 3000? Then you come to the right place with The Sci-Fi Invasion, which packs four films on to one DVD, Cosmos: War of the Planets (apparently released in Italy in 1977, but not in America until 1978), Assignment: Outer Space (1960), Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (1965), and Warning From Space (1956). Not sure where these films came from, other than Cosmos: War of the Planets from Italy and Warning From Space, which was Japanese. The first film, Cosmos: War of the Planets had me completely laughing. This movie looks so horribly dated even for 1977 standards. Here you get treated with synthesizer renditions of classical music throughout the film (as well as cheesy synthesizer sound effects) with really bad costumes, and a spaceship whose interior looks like the instrument panels of the TARDIS from Doctor Who and the Starship Enterprise, and the crew wearing uniforms with a triangle-shaped insignia that look like it was stolen from Star Trek. The crew of this spaceship explores a desolate planet and gets attacked by an alien that looks more like a truck than any alien you can think of. If it weren't for the very '70s sounding synthesizer music, this could easily pass for a real bad '50s sci-fi, with special effects that look more '50s than '70s. What's even more hilarious, as the planet they were exploring disintegrates, the producers of this film starts using stock footage of volcanoes erupting and even footage of a nuclear bomb test explosion. The acting, costumes, the computers and instrument panels are simply out of this world! This film has got to be seen to be believed.

Next one is Assignment: Outer Space. The acting is more believable here, but because the movie is from 1960, expect '50s type of special effects, with flames coming out of a rocket that look like Bunsen burners. I was really laughing at the hilarious inaccuracies of this film. Especially in regards to landing on Venus. I am certain that even back in 1960, astronomers, and the public in general, knew that Venus consists of heavy amounts of carbon dioxide and extremely thick clouds, and tempuratures around 800 degrees Fahrenheit, but on this film, they depict Venus to be as free of clouds as the moon. In real life, even if astronauts could visit other planets (which we still can't to this day), no one would dare attempt to land on Venus because the climate and the pressure is way too great, and only able to send unmanned space probes there.

Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet is another one of those flicks where astronauts embark on voyage to Venus, with nothing but inaccuracies. No mention that Venus is 800 degrees with thick clouds with virtually zero visibility. The skies are clear, but looking more like that on Earth. And there's monsters to be found too. There's also a robot, everytime it talks, it sounds like the instrument panel of the Starship Enterprise, but then the original Star Trek series did recycle sounds used on other sci-fi films and television for their sound effects at the time. Let's not forget that Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet did come out in 1965, a year before Star Trek.

Warning From Space, the Japanese flick, starts off deceiving you that this was going to be another alien invasion flick (with starfish-like aliens with one eye), it ends up being more of a Japanese version of When Worlds Collide (1951), as the aliens warn the people of Earth of an oncoming planet that's about to collide. The acting is cheesy and the overdubbing into English leaves a lot to be desired, but it's no more worse than the monster flicks that came from that country around the same time like Godzilla.

These films will guarantee to get you laughing at how hilariously bad films can get. Not recommended for those who want a professional Hollywood production on the scale of Lucas or Spielberg, but for those who get a kick off low-budget B-films.

Average customer rating:

Plan -9 From Outer Space
War of The Planets
The worst movie I ever watched in USA
Stay away from this loser
Houston, we have a problem...

War of the Planets
Starring: Jason Hall , and Mike Conway
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Invasion Earth - The World War Has Begun
Space Above and Beyond - The Complete Series
Ascension
Invasion - The Complete Series
Serenity (Widescreen Edition)

ASIN: B000BBOFB8
Release Date: 2005-11-15

Description

12 astronauts volunteer to pioneer a colony on a newly discovered planet. They awake from their frozen 15 year sleep to discover that the ship has crashed and that they're trapped in their cryo-tubes. To make matters worse, a hairy beast breaks in and begins devouring them, one by one.

Customer Reviews:

Plan -9 From Outer Space.......2007-04-22

Stunningly awful acting, monumentally horrible writing, preternaturally wretched costuming and sets, children-of-the-corn for the cast, interminably doofussy credits, and a budget which would have been better spent on cleaning dog poo from Las Vegas parks. The most childishly awful movie I've ever, ever seen..............and very sadly, I may need to watch it again.

War of The Planets.......2007-03-06

This movie was so bad that I wish I could give it a "No Star" rating. What a waste of my time, and it will be of yours. I was, no more than 10 minutes into the movie when I finally turned if off..I have no clue what happens to these people on the ship and I could care less. The monster on the ship reminded me of an old Star Trek monster back in the 60's. These actors in "War of The Planets" must of really needed the money. You and I could have done better acting. I want the 10 wasted minutes of my life back! I want my money back! God help us all...

The worst movie I ever watched in USA.......2007-01-12

The worst movie I ever watched in USA. It can't get worse than this.

Stay away from this loser.......2006-08-06

Astronauts go to an Earth-like planet to colonize it. Their ship crash lands and they have to deal with hostile natives. I should have stopped watching when the alien creature looked like a guy in a cheap gorilla suit. I already knew the acting was bad. But I was hoping it would be like Twilight Zone and have a good ending to make it worth the time spent watching this flick. But no, it sucked.

I lost 90 minutes of my life. Now you don't have to.

Houston, we have a problem..........2006-07-25

Seems War of the Planets (2003) was originally titled Terrarium, but was changed at some point for the obvious reason no one probably showed much interest in a film titled Terrarium, even though it's a hell of a lot more appropriate than War of the Planets (the `war' consists of a handful of knuckleheads running around shooting at people in rubber masks while the `planets' portion is apparently the director's backyard, which seems to be located somewhere in Las Vegas)...regardless, as others have pointed out the film isn't very good no matter what name it goes by...written, directed, filmed, edited, scored by Mike Conway, the film, which is about as independent as they come, features no one you'd know unless you were related to them (for most this seems their only credit, at least according to the IMDb), and even then I'd think they'd be hard pressed to admit that after watching this movie.

After two and a half stinking minutes of credits, we see a painfully obvious CGI ship crusing through space, and a meteor crashing into a sensor dish, knocking it the hell off. The ship, which is fairly large, initiates an emergency landing (which seems really odd given its size), along with wakening a number of, ahem, astronauts from their cryogenic sleep. Popping into a flashback we learn a bit about the mission (it's some sort of deep space deal, the main intent to colonize an Earth-like planet, which would be kind of difficult in my opinion with only twelve people, but whatever...). Anyway, back on the ship the astronauts awaken to find something has gained entry into the ship and has made off with one of the crew, leaving behind a bloody mess (the astronauts cannot move as of yet as their muscles are in a state of atrophy from being asleep so long). While they're stuck in their chambers, the creature, a sort of space sasquatch, returns a few more times, making off with various female members, not before devouring one in front of the others, which we don't see (the biologist, in her infinite wisdom, believes the beast is carnivorous...well duh). Eventually those yet to be gobbled up get free of their chambers (which look like giant fish tanks), manage to kill the beast, and survey their situation, which doesn't look good. Not only have they crash landed on some mysterious planet, but also the area outside the ship is surrounded by a strange, alien barrier (hence the original title Terrarium). Also, there appears to be some rather hostile egg headed aliens roaming beyond the barrier, armed with weapons that emit blasts that look much like cheap fireworks. After a pointless autopsy of the space ape (which we don't see), those left, about six, make plans to escape the barrier Great Escape style by tunneling under the ship, and leaving a surprise behind for their captors...or something like that...

First off I suppose I should mention this is truly a no budget feature, and it shows, so if you're expecting outstanding special effects you're going to be massively disappointed. I didn't so much mind the obvious cheapness, but my main issue was this film was about as entertaining as getting kicked in the gonsaticales about six or seven times. Seriously, the first half hour we're pretty much stuck watching people lying about within cryogenic chambers making pointless conversation (actually, the film didn't get much more interesting once they were freed, so it didn't really matter)...and I'll tell you what, for people who've supposedly trained extensively with each other prior to their actual mission, they sure as heck didn't seem to know much about their fellow crewmembers other than what their specialties were...and how in the hell were they supposed to create a colony with only twelve people? The ship, at least during the CGI sequences, was ginormous, but those in charge only sent up twelve individuals, the intent being to colonize planet? That makes no sense...oh yeah, each was a specialist in some area (medicine, biology, horticulture, engineering, etc.) so if something happened to one, the rest are pretty much out of luck depended on the particular skill set lost (i.e. if the doctor bought the farm, there'd be no one to provide medical treatment) as no redundancies seemed to be in place (i.e. cross training or anything). I suppose I can't be too harsh in terms of this last aspect, as I've seen this happen in other films. Something else...how is it a ship can fly billions of miles through space on autopilot and not avoid being hit by one lousy, stinking meteor? And everything goes flooey after a single dish gets knocked out? What the hell? I'm pretty sure the Millennium Falcon flew pretty well after it got it's sensor dish lopped of in one of the Star Wars films...oh well...the performances were so low key as to barely even be there, even despite fellow crewmembers dropping like flies (the biggest reaction seemed akin to someone spilling milk), but I wasn't expecting much given most everyone on screen seemed to pull double duty also working behind the scenes when the sequence didn't call for the presence of their character (I suspect this is why a number of character got killed off early, as the actors were needed to perform other off screen duties). At the very least if some character (all of whom were thoroughly uninteresting) got too annoying, there's a good chance they'll soon die, most likely due to their own stupidity (I got the idea these individuals were chosen for this lengthy mission just to get their sub par DNA out of the communal gene pool). One character I was especially pleased to see bite it was the religious guy...now I've got nothing against organized religion, but this god wad was about the most irritating character in the cast, with the incoherent doctor following a close second (here's a tip, when one of your cast has an accent so thick no one can understand him, throw in some subtitles for the audience's sake). Apart from the feeble stabs at character development script was thoroughly rotten and laced with some real doozies, including the following...

"We're the goodies behind the glass!"

"As long as we live there's hope."

"Hey, promise me you're not going to come back dead."

Smearing excrement upon paper does not a script make...a word of warning, if you modify a gorilla suit to create a makeshift space sasquatch, don't expect to get the deposit back from the costume shop from which you rented the suit. For those of you brave enough to stick around to the end, prepare to be treated with a wonderfully lame non-ending, one the writer/director will most assuredly claim was left open ended to promote discussion rather than being honest and stating he couldn't come up with something better (if you want to talk to the director, he seems to spend an awful lot of time on the IMDb shamelessly peddling his various productions). While I'm not a big fan of bashing something that's obviously an early work (everyone has to start somewhere), I can't help but feel whatever money spent here could have gone somewhere else where it might have actually done some good. At the very least movies like this make me appreciate others that display even a modicum of expertise.

The picture quality on this Lion's Gate Entertainment DVD release, presented in fullscreen, looks decent and the Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo comes through well enough. There aren't really any actual extras included, other than Spanish subtitles and a couple of previews for other films including Slipstream (2005) and something called Ghetto Dawg 2 - Out of the Pits (2004).

Cookieman108

Average customer rating:

Cosmos: War of the Planets
Starring: West Buchanan , Katia Christine , Anthony Eisley , Pamela Mason , and Yanti Somer
Director: Alfonso Brescia
Manufacturer: Televista
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $9.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

Description

A team of astronauts led by Mike Hamilton (John Richardson) is sent to investigate an unstable planet, which turns out to be inhabited by a race of green people under the control of an evil computer. The astronauts pledge to help the inhabitants of the planet escape their enslavement and succeed in destroying the computer. Unfortunately, the ensuing explosion takes out the planet as well. The spaceship crew and one surviving alien set off for Earth only to face further difficulties when a member of the crew is possessed by the computer and goes on a killing spree.

Average customer rating:

War of the Planets

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Genres | DVD | Video

fullscreen

ASIN: B000KCYFUY

Product Description

"Twelve astronauts volunteer to pioneer a colony on a newly discovered planet. "They awake from their frozen 15 year sleep to discover their ship has crashed...To make matters worse a hairy beast breaks in and begins devoring them one by one."

Sci-Fi, Vol. 4: Cosmos - War of the Planets/War of the Robots/Unknown World/The Phantom Planet

Average customer rating:

Stonehenge, A Red Light, And A Cardboard Robot

Sci-Fi, Vol. 4: Cosmos - War of the Planets/War of the Robots/Unknown World/The Phantom Planet
Starring: Great Sci-Fi Classics
Manufacturer: Platinum Disc
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

All Deals | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( S ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

4-for-3 Science Fiction & Fantasy | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

4-for-3 All DVDs | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Sci-Fi: Rocketship/Warning From Space/The Incredible Petrified World/The Phantom Creeps
Sci-Fi Classics: The Astral Factor/The Galaxy Invader/Battle of the Worlds/Unknown World
Sci-Fi Classics: Assignment Outer Space; Laser Mission; Blood Tide; Brain Machine [4-Movie Pack]
Classics from Outer Space
The War of the Worlds (Special Collector's Edition)

ASIN: B0000B1OBA
Release Date: 2003-07-22

Customer Reviews:

Stonehenge, A Red Light, And A Cardboard Robot.......2006-07-25

While "Unknown World" and "The Phantom Planet" are just plain silly, the real standout for cinematic cheese lovers in this set is the occasionally baffling, yet utterly wretched "Cosmos: War Of The Planets." I have seen my share (OK, more than my share) of sub par sci-fi movies, but even by my standards this one is too much to take.

"Cosmos: War Of The Planets" concerns some humans with extremely bad, 1970s hair (when it isn't concealed under a ridiculous red hat that looks like a cross between a medieval jousting helmet and a horn of plenty) who find a civilization that is sending them bad electronic music from beyond the cosmos. They are under the direction of "Whiz" an electronic brain that calculates everything and is allegedly infallible (it is also less realistic than the computer from "Star Trek.")

Of course the crew, led by the rebellious, yet dashing (idiot) Captain lands on this strange planet where they find new life forms, namely guys dressed like Bat Boy in blackface. Oh, and did I mention that they also find a Stonehenge monument with a telekinetic capability as well? (Because that totally makes sense, because...now, wait...oh, never mind.) They also find a terrifying robot that looks like nothing more than a talking jukebox that plays Bach's "Toccata in D-minor" repeatedly on a Moog synthesizer, which is defeated in the stupidest manner imaginable (think Michael Palin in "Scott of the Antarctic" here.) The destruction of the robot brings about endless scenes of volcanic lava eruptions from some very large archive of stock footage. (It doesn't make any more sense when you watch it, either.)

The crew finally takes off from the planet, only to find the movie gratuitously extended by a subplot about saboteurs under the deceased (?) robot's control. Eventually Bat Boy and a traitorous guy in a puffy moon tunic and white cowboy boots get sucked out of an airlock, which leads to the most terribly, "I wish I were terribly clever, but I'm not" ending in the history of cinema.

This whole mess wants to be "2001" but in reality is more like something cut out of a Buck Rogers serial for being too stupid. It tries to make a statement about the complexities of "man versus machine" but the only thing it gets right is the subplot about the grubby, inaccurate, sensationalist press corps. For its unflaggingly accurate and unflattering portrayal of the media, this movie brings the whole set up to the three star level.

Sci-Fi Movie Marathon Volume 8: 8 Movie Pack

Average customer rating:

A Seemingly Random Collection Of B-Movies

Sci-Fi Movie Marathon Volume 8: 8 Movie Pack

Manufacturer: RightNow Disc
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Genres | DVD | Video

BONUS: Each movie comes with a portable-media friendly version that can be downloaded to your Apple iPod!
Eight feature films on four DVDs
Horror Express,Attack of the Monsters,Killers From Space,Son of Hercules in the Land of Darkness,Zontar, The Thing From Venus,Planet Outlaw,Cosmos: War of the Planets,Night Fright
B000GTDYG2

ASIN: B000GTDYG2

Product Description

The legends of Science Fiction are gathered here for you in this definitive DVD collection of some of the greatest Sci-Fi classics to ever come out of Hollywood. This 8 DVD collection is sure to provide you with countless hours of entertainment. Volume 8 includes: Horror Express directed by Eugenio Martin and starring Christopher Lee; Attack of the Monsters directed by Noriaki Yuasa and starring Christopher Murphy; Killers From Space directed by W. Lee Wilder and starring Peter Graves; Son of Hercules in the Land of Darkness directed by Lewis Mann and starring Dan Vadis; Zontar, The Thing From Venus directed by Larry Buchanan and starring John Agar; Planet Outlaw directed by Harry Revier and starring Buster Crabbe; Cosmos: War of the Planets directed by Alfonso Brescia and starring John Richardson; Night Fright directed by James A. Sullivan and starring John Agar

Customer Reviews:

A Seemingly Random Collection Of B-Movies.......2006-09-11

This is an interesting collection of sci-fi movies. Interesting, because I can detect absolutely nothing in common between most of the features, although two star John Agar. Many of these movies are available in other multi-packs or by themselves, and in some cases the other prints are much better. Most of these prints are noticeably dark, and that is especially true of "Night Fright," "Horror Express," and "Cosmos: War of the Planets."

The movies range from laughable to awful, which gives me pause trying to rationalize the eight movies I watched with the promotional copy that goes with them: "The legends of Science Fiction are gathered here for you in this definitive DVD collection of some of the greatest Sci-Fi classics to ever come out of Hollywood." Definitive? Greatest? What movies were they talking about?

I particularly liked disc two, the "Agar Fest" which has two movies starring John Agar, "Night Fright," a mundane thriller about a monster from space, and "Zontar, the Thing From Venus," a much more enjoyable (though laughable) film about, well, a monster from space. "Killers From Space" is an especially amusing piece of sci-fi horror, while "Horror Express" has real stars like Christopher Lee, and an absolutely mesmerizing performance by Telly Savalas as a Cossack Captain, who apparently just finished the William Shatner acting school curriculum. Any of the "Son of Hercules" films are tortuous, but this one at least has a man in the mangiest bear suit I have ever seen (and features a fight with a lion somewhat less realistic than Michael Palin in "Scott of the Antarctic.") The other movies fit somewhere between these highs and lows.

Overall this is not a great set: it has no discernable theme, it has exceptionally spartan packaging, and it has very dark prints in many cases. I would try to find these films in other packages. Most of the films are worthwhile for a B-movie fan (except the Hercules debacle) though, so if the price is low enough, this could fit the bill.

{9 Movies / Over 13 Hours} Gamera Vs. Monster X / Gamera Vs. Gaos / Yongary, Monster From the Deep / Warning From Space / Destroy All Planets / War of the Monsters / Gamera the Invincible / the Giant Gila Monster / Monster From a Prehistoric Planet

Average customer rating:

Gamera Strikes Again
a great collection of old japanese and other big monster movies

{9 Movies / Over 13 Hours} Gamera Vs. Monster X / Gamera Vs. Gaos / Yongary, Monster From the Deep / Warning From Space / Destroy All Planets / War of the Monsters / Gamera the Invincible / the Giant Gila Monster / Monster From a Prehistoric Planet

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Cult Movies | Genres | DVD | Video

Customer Reviews:

Gamera Strikes Again.......2006-06-24

If memory serves, 4 or 5 of these are Gamera movies from the 70's. (He was the flying turtle with those two big teeth.) Yongary was Korea's answer to Godzilla, and Warning from Space was a Toho Studio space opera. Monster from a Prehistoric Planet, I believe, was the other name for Gappa, the triphibian monster, this was a family monster movire with a mamma, daddy and baby. If you liked the giant rubber-suited monsters of the 70's this looks like a good collection. While I have seen all these movies, I have not previewed this set so I have no idea what the quality might be like. Since these, Gamera and Godzilla (no big-G movies in this collection) have grown up and there are much better outings filmed in the late 90's and 00's.

a great collection of old japanese and other big monster movies.......2006-05-09

growing up i would have loved to of had this set of movies. they are silly but fun movies and as cheese as i remember them. these bring back the days of rushing home after school and watching the afternoon movie.
the best thing about this collection is the transfers,they look very good and the company that puts out these sets put extras with them and that makes them even better. give these a try,the price is right.

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DVD

DVD

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Complete Seventh Season (Slim Set)

Cup Final

Passion & Romance: Double or Nothing (REGION 1) (NTSC)

DVD: Star Trek VI - The Undiscovered Country (Special Editio

Richard Wagner - Die Walküre