Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (1983)

• Year: 1983
• Released: 20 May 1983
• Country: United States, Canada
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086346/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/spacehunter_adventures_in_the_forbidden_zone
• Available in: 720p, 1080p, 720p
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: PG
• Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
• Runtime: 90 min
• Writer: Stewart Harding, Jean LaFleur, David Preston
• Director: Lamont Johnson
• Cast: Peter Strauss, Molly Ringwald, Ernie Hudson
• Keywords: alien planet, space western, waif, forbidden zone,

	5.4/10
	23% – Critics
	36% – Audience

Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone Storyline

Three women make an emergency landing on a planet plagued with a fatal disease, but are captured by dictator Overdog. Adventurer Wolff goes there to rescue them and meets Niki, the only Earthling left from a medical expedition. Combining their talents, they try to rescue the women.

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Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone Movie Reviews

Derivative but solid

Sure it’s just Mad Max meets Star Wars with a main character that is obviously trying to be Han Solo, but it’s got some cool ideas mashed up in the familiar packaging. The effects are decent and the action moves along at a good clip even though you’ve probably seen most of this stuff before. Worth checking out anyway because it has an old school charm lacking in today’s CGI fests.

Entertaining high-camp B-movie adventure

As cheap STAR WARS rip-offs go, this isn’t bad at all, and at least manages to be consistently entertaining trash. Full of typical ’80s special effects (running the gamut from poor rubber suits to poor computer effects), wooden acting, and a light plot which is basically an excuse for a series of action sequences, and you have the making of a good, if cheesy, time. As an added bonus, the film was made at the peak of the 3D craze and was, thus, filmed in 3D, so expect lots of blocky titles flying out of the screen and objects flying at the camera at every moment.

The two stars of the show are a wooden Peter Strauss and an irritating Molly Ringwald, who share lots of light banter. Same old story…the pair initially hate each other but eventually grow to love one another. Like we haven’t heard that one before. Strauss’ character is a blatant copy of Han Solo, right down to the same cocky manner and clothing. Ringwald plays some kind of desert urchin who hooks up with Strauss as a guide and manages to put herself in all sorts of danger.

The location shooting is nice, offering up a realistic-looking alien planet, although sadly the inhabitants are less than convincing. Things kick off with Strauss riding around in his dune buggy (did I mentioned MAD MAX as another influence?) then discovering a Viking longship flying down a railway line (?!). A laser fight immediately ensues, the first of a couple in the film, which are really quite impressive. Some poor extra gets it (“we have blood loss here…”) and Strauss loses his female helper, who turns out to be an icky android who melts at the touch of a button.

From then on, it’s one thing after another, with Strauss pairing up with Ringwald and together meeting all kinds of monsters and strange characters. An incredibly young, bald Ernie Hudson wanders around in a space suit and drives a shoddy-looking bulldozer which belches black smoke into the planet’s atmosphere (can’t be doing much for their ozone layer). A group of amphibious Amazons (!) wander around in little clothing and try to capture our heroes in giant nets – and fail. A patently plastic-looking dragon (not so much a dragon as a cardboard head on a wooden pole) puts our befuddled hero into yet another dangerous situation, while some obese rubber-suited people provide lots of mirth. In another unexplained incident, mutant children lob Molotov cocktails at our heroes from the top of a cliff.

After these amusing incidents, our characters eventually arrive at Overdog’s castle. Overdog is a menacing (ridiculous name aside) character, a cyborg with a human face and gigantic pincer arms. He’s played by genre staple Michael Ironside, although you wouldn’t recognise him under all that makeup. He’s devised a tricky maze where unwilling contestants must face dangers like pools of acid, fire, pits of spikes, and giant swinging circular saw blades while being pursued by a giant steamroller. Inevitably, Ringwald finds herself in the maze and is luckily able to conquer it before being captured by Overdog, who has a thing for women you see. At the end, action man Strauss saves the day by electrocuting the baddie and shooting lots of things/people. The entire place explodes in a huge display of pyrotechnics which was also a convenient way to use up any of the budget that may have been left over.

So, as adventure films go, this isn’t bad at all. That is, as long as you know what to expect – fans of decent, high budget fare may think otherwise. For me, a film with plentiful action, a sprinkling of violence, and all manner of weird costumes and effects definitely passes the time in an entertaining way.

cheesy fun

Three beautiful women survive their ship’s destruction on an escape shuttle. They land on a war-torn disease-plagued planet and are quickly captured. Scavenger Wolff (Peter Strauss) and his android Chalmers go on a rescue mission for the massive reward. Ruthless ruler Overdog (Michael Ironside) has taken the women to the Forbidden Zone. Niki (Molly Ringwald) is the last survivor of an Earth medical expedition. She joins Wolff as his guide. Competitor former comrade Sector Chief Washington (Ernie Hudson) turns partner.

This is one of those B-movie Star Wars wannabe with a healthy dose of Mad Max and a temporary revival of 3-D during the early 80s. I have forgotten how much cheesy fun this movie has. I remember the vehicles but I honestly forgot about the hang-gliders. The movie has the fattest mutants and midgets as well. It is utterly full-on B-movie. I actually like the adorable Molly Ringwald as a loud-mouthed pixie. I would have liked Chalmers in the group but the android gets nuked extremely early. It is a shame since Chalmers seems to be set up early on to be a lead. Ironside and his get-up with his maze is ridiculous and fun. I do not recommend this movie unless one is in the mood to see silly camp.