Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (1983)

Pretty Good

Memorable, crazy movie

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Blistering performances.

"Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone" is a blend of a couple different influences on science fiction flicks of the 1980s. Imagine if a reluctant hero-for-hire in the vein of Han Solo traveled to a planet where the inhabitants live in a society that resembled the dystopian world of "The Road Warrior." It comes complete with scavengers, mutants, and a makeshift city whose citizens enjoy watching people fight for their lives in a deadly maze. It all sounds a little familiar, eh? It also sounds like a lot of fun!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."Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone" was originally released during the 3-D craze of the early 1980s. "Jaws 3-D," "Friday the 13th, Part 3-D, and "Amityville 3-D" are other movies which are more identifiable from this era. The film is presented in 2-D on DVD, but you can definitely tell where the 3-D would've played a part at times. The cast of "Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone" was made up of some familiar 1980s faces. Peter Strauss is known for his many roles in television shows and movies. Ernie Hudson is best known for his character Winston Zeddemore in "Ghostbusters" and "Ghostbusters II." When the movie came out in 1983, Molly Ringwald's only major parts were in "Diff'rent Strokes" and "The Facts of Life." She comes off as an annoying tag-along here until the end of the film, where she makes an attempt at redeeming herself by facing down her fear and working hard to stay alive. Michael Ironside fully embraced his role as the cyborg tyrant Overdog. "Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone" is rated PG. It includes mild violence and gore, profanity, and frightening / intense scenes. One of the bat creatures in the film is shown topless, but it's not known whether the monster is male or female. There's definitely nothing sexy about the scene. Newer viewers might find "Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone" a bit heavy on the cheese and slow in stride. The special effects are all practical as well. It's nice to see all the hard work the crew put into the visual look of the film. If you love the original "Star Wars," then you'll no doubt enjoy it. Watch it through the eyes of a 10 year old in 1983 and everything will be fine.

This is what we had to put up with when we couldn't get proper sci-fi films.To be fair, this tale of all-purpose low budget Han solo-lite space ranger Peter Strauss and profoundly irritating wilful argumentative waif Molly Ringwald has quite a lot going for it, and I'm not counting the 3D because I've never seen it. Admittedly, everything it's got going for it has been nicked from somewhere else. The Star Wars influences don't end with Han Solo - there's the theme music to be going along with, not to mention half the other visuals. Mad Max will be calling to collect the other half, and Lon Chaney Sr would like Michael Ironside to return the Phantom makeup from the silent version of Phantom Of The Opera, please.But it's a rip-roaring swashbuckling tale of derring do - lots of action, lots of explosions, larger than life stock characters, some fun set design, lots of trucks with bits stuck on to make them look suitably alien, lots of desolate looking locations (well, one), and just enough story to hang the rest on.These days it comes across as rather more low budget than it actually was, but it isn't really as bad as you might fear from the IMDb score.

I am not one to watch a movie, read a book, or for that matter, order the same food at a restaurant more than once. There is so much more out there to be experienced; why repeat anything? But "Spacehunter" is an exception to my rule. I only own 5 movies and "Spacehunter" is one of them. Campy, silly one-liners ("Us loners got to stick together" --- "I'll take that bet") and lots of explosions make it a fun trip worth the time to watch over and over again.To meet the 10 line rule --- In the 20 years I have owned it; I have watched it maybe 5 times and have enjoyed it just as much as the first time. My tape player is dead and I will need to find it on DVD.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to stand in the spot where a movie crew had once worked, making a film? My watching "Spacehunter" led, over a period of about 15 years, to that sense of wonder. Here's the story...Around 1990, I stumbled upon "Spacehunter," possibly while watching TV to kill time. The acting was not especially good and plot elements were goofy. To be diplomatic, I would classify it as "light entertainment." Its only redeeming social value was the presence of actress Andrea Marcovicci, who played Chalmers, the protagonist's android assistant: she was a vision of beauty. Sadly, her part was brief, as she was killed off during a battle near the beginning of the story.That early-on battle scene interested me because it involved a long, sail-powered railcar (I like railroads). The thing was bizarre-looking and reminded me of the movie "Mad Max." Not only was the railcar cool, the desert environment surrounding the scene was fascinating. But in short order the movie faded from my memory.The movie returned to my consciousness in 2004, during my first visit to Moab, Utah. Just north of Moab there is a railroad track that runs parallel to US Highway 191. Upon seeing it I thought of "Spacehunter" right away: the environment looked much like that of the battle scene mentioned above. I figured that the battle scene had been filmed on that track but wasn't sure just where.Later I rented the movie to see the battle scene again and determine just where it had been filmed. Surprise!: the place I saw north of Moab was not the place used in the movie. However, the site of the battle scene was recognizable because I had driven right past it a few times. The scene was filmed at Potash, Utah, which is the site of a potash mine. It is about 20 miles from Moab, at the south end of State Highway 279 (also called Potash Road). In 2006 the mine was owned and operated by Intrepid Potash. It turns out that many (most?) of the exterior scenes of the film were shot on the private property of the mine.With this knowledge I wanted to visit those sites and take pictures that attempted to duplicate camera angles used in the film. Why?---who knows? Armed with numerous poor-quality photos of TV screen shots of the movie, I returned to Moab in late 2006 and visited three places that were used in filming; this required getting permission from the mining company. Standing in those places where movie crews had once worked, I tried to imagine the presence of a lot of people and equipment and sounds like "Action!" and "Cut!" It was great fun. The result is here: http://www.pbase.com/listorama/movie_spacehunter .