Star Slammer (1986)
1986
R
86 Minutes
Action | Comedy | Science Fiction
Two women who have been unjustly confined to a prison planet plot their escape, all the while having to put up with lesbian guards, crazed wardens and mutant rodents.
User Review
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To begin with, this film is an excellent example of 80s Cheese and portrays everything of that decade in a single glance: Big Hair, Gratuitous Unnecessary Nudity, Hot Women and a divergence from the standard Hollywood formula. Trying to meld the aura of Barbarella and the context of Star Wars, this was just another one of the low-budget space films looking to cash in on the interest that Close Encounters and Star Wars created.
Believe it or not, this would have been a valid property to redo during the 4-year stint of Hollywood's attempt to whitewash the #metoo scandal, as most of the characters in this film were strong female leads with little to no manly men looking to steal the show. Unfortunately, the short-sightedness of the industry only gave us sub-par recreations of Ghostbusters or Ocean's 11, along with numerous exquisite female failures, before Hollywood stopped the madness of trying to recreate women in man's image.
Star Slammer (AKA Prison Ship... AKA The Adventures of Taura) is a decent film that, with the proper dialog tweaks and a change of cast into the high-dollar range, could have been something of note. The movie doesn't suck in its current incarnation, just that it could have been extraordinary if done with a budget above the $200,000 range. One should note the number of overly-attractive C-Grade actresses that appear in this film that never did make the grade and break through to A-Grade Hollywood works.
One should mention the use of stock footage that appears in the film. For those astute, you are sure to notice footage from Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and Battle Beyond the Stars (some even claim the original Battlestar Galactica footage made an appearance but I didn't personally see any of that in my first viewing) for their Earth City footage along with the space battles near the end of the film. This was just another handicap for the film and could have been erased if proper financing could have been secured.
All in all, Star Slammer is a worthy rainy Saturday Afternoon endeavor (albeit with the couple of extra topless breast-shots scattered throughout the film) to help you relive your childhood. It won't win any awards, nor break any cinema ground, but it will keep you entertained for the 1.75 hours of film-time it garners. Have a few cocktails before your viewing and I'm sure you will enjoy your time spent.
If you would like to watch this movie for free... Here is the link... https://youtu.be/bXwyAnvdEqU . Get it while it is available, before big internet closes down all the free avenues for your viewing pleasure...1 member likes this review.
