MovieChat Forums > Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (1983) Discussion > I can't resist this movie!

I can't resist this movie!

posted 13 years ago by timmytoo2001-2
17 replies | jump to latest

As the subject says, I simply cannot resist watching this movie whenever it is repeated on TV, as it was this very day. Yes I know it's cheesy, yes I know the special effects are pretty poor, yes it's not really very good, BUT, having said all that, I find it strangely hypnotic. Perhaps it's Molly Ringwald's odd performance or the total lack of background music (and a lot of films would be MUCH improved by having no background music).
Anyway, whatever the reason, I simply love it!.

[–] hawkbill666 13 years ago

I didnt want your post to sit alone as I have an old VHS copy of this, and have watched this movie for years. Hypnotic might actually be an accurate term.
Last weekend I had to dig up the VCR/TV in the garage and introduced my 4 year old son to it. Well, at least I tried to. I realized it was too violent and wierd for him. But its just a matter of time before he has to get used to my movie tastes, starting with 80/90s low budget sci-fi :)

[–] ttaskmaster 13 years ago

I completely share your enthusiasm.
I first saw this when I was seven years old... it remains, to this day, my absolute favourite film ever!!

There are so many things I love about this film, a great deal of which are either not noticeable on, or never even made it, to screen.
When the Internet came along, the Spacehunter VHS was the first thing I ever bought online!

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[–] Rekaert 13 years ago

It's actually on right now as I type. Started 22 minutes ago.

I always watch at least the first fifteen minutes to see if Chalmers manages to avoid getting shot this time round.

Ah well, mebbe next time.

Just wish I could get the damn thing on DvD.

[–] ttaskmaster 13 years ago

You can get it officially, but only on Region 1 DVD. Amazon usually have it available.

I cannot speak for the (ahem) 'unofficial' versions, though ;-)

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[–] MuggySphere 13 years ago

It's one of my faovurites on regular rotation along with other 80s fare ....

Also love

Flight of the navigator
The last starfighter
The adventures of Buckaroo Banzai across the 8th dimension

to name a few

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] ttaskmaster 12 years ago

Ivan Reitman also did Heavy Metal, the movie....

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[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] westpac-1 12 years ago

Recorded it last night. Never heard of it back in the day and will be screening it this evening for my first ever viewing.

[–] Two-HeadedBoy 12 years ago

That's what I thought too, Mad Max in space! Especially when I saw that big boat/train thing all those people were living on.

Only saw it for the first time last night as well (on Crackle), all those familar names popping up in the titles at the start... Who'd've thought just seeing so many familiar names could induce such happiness?

Loved it, it was completely new to me yet felt so familiar at the same time. Those fat things that attacked them in the tower, think that was my favourite bit.

[–] westpac-1 12 years ago

Watched it last night and mid-way through I think I did see this back in the day. Quite familiar and a nice little nostalgia piece for the early eighties. Had a bit of pace to it.

[–] ttaskmaster 12 years ago

The rumour is that the original concept for this film was pretty much what Mad Max was (then called Road Gangs) and was being shown around at Cannes in the late 70s to source distributors. One Australian distributor saw it, but declined... That same distributor then 'suddenly' released Mad Max a short while later.
Road Gangs then 'suddenly' underwent a heavy and hurried re-write to meet deadlines and the result was Spacehunter.

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[–] brightfamouscucumber 12 years ago

That sounds to me like a pretty wild rumor. Exactly how does a "suddenly ... heavy and hurried re-write" translate into a release dates exactly four years, one month, and eight days apart? I would be a whole lot more willing to believe the opposite: that Road Warrior saw some heavy and hurried re-writes, to get released two short years after the first Mad Max, and Beyond Thunderdome saw an unusual four-year delay after Road Warrior, so as to avoid anybody thinking them to be any kind of a rip-off of this film.

[–] ttaskmaster 12 years ago

'Suddenly', as in it was all set to film as Road Gangs when Mad Max came out and for no obvious reason, Columbia sent in four of their own scriptwriters to change things.

It's rumour because it's the word of (IIRC) one of the original writers and the producer in various interviews. We'll never know for sure.

I *do* know the original screenplay (at the time called either Convoy or Road Gangs) was being shown around in 1975, predating Mad Max and that the original plot was one of main character Jarrett taking revenge against the Overdog for murdering his brother, with everything set on post-apocalypse USA and an amazingly similar narrative to Mad Max. It's been a while since I saw it, but I think even some character names were the same.

So, assuming Mad Max was essentially a confidence breach and stolen screenplay - Low budget, fast release rip-off.
By then, Road Gangs was starting pre-production, so was hurriedly rewritten to avoid obvious similarities and started to become Spacehunter.

Further delays ensued for other reasons, but not related to other productions aside from the release date - When The Empire Strike Back came out, the final ill-chosen release date of May 1983 was then set in stone and they started production. Budget increases came with the price of changing things, from cast to plot to technology, resulting in reshoots redundancies and even threats of legal action against cast who nearly walked after seeing the new script.

But yes - Screenplay rip-offs have happened and continue to happen quite frequently.
For example - Dante's Peak, released around the same time as Inferno. Armageddon and Deep Impact, around similar times. Twister and another similar hurricane film that I can't even remember now.

Someone gets a whiff of a forthcoming film with XYZ in it and they go and make one with ZYX and a lower budget so it can be released first. Happens a lot more than you think, especially inside the industry.

But many films can take years in pre-production while they source studio funding, distributors, cast & crew, filming permission, builds, etc. This leaves them open to inside information leaking and, in many cases, competing films.

[–] timmytoo2001-2 9 years ago

Wellll!!! This is only available on Region 1 DVD for viewing in Canada and USA and as I'm in the UK (Region 2) I thought Oh shucks! BUT I have found a hack for my Sony BDP player that makes it region free for DVD's so I did the hack, bought the DVD and watched it last night. Brilliant and stands up well even after 30-odd years. Oh man, those legs of Chalmers-worth buying for that alone!

PS.I'm not going to post the hack on here-it's easy to find on the web, but I will say that you have to use a One-For-All remote to make it work.

Mind your own biscuits and life will be gravy (Kacey Musgraves)

[–] Woodyanders 8 years ago

This film is a whole lot of pulpy Grade B sci-fi fun. I totally dig how straightforward and unpretentious it is.

I am the Duke of IMDb bio writers! I am A#1!

[–] warren-87235 8 years ago

As the subject says, I simply cannot resist watching this movie whenever it is repeated on TV, as it was this very day. Yes I know it's cheesy, yes I know the special effects are pretty poor, yes it's not really very good, BUT, having said all that, I find it strangely hypnotic. Perhaps it's Molly Ringwald's odd performance or the total lack of background music (and a lot of films would be MUCH improved by having no background music).
Anyway, whatever the reason, I simply love it!.

I love Spacehunter! It's one of my guilty please movies, alongside the likes of Saturn 3 and Lifeforce. Like someone else mentioned, I've got the proper-ratio (for non-3D) DVD, rather than the bad Pan&Scan. It's just a shame that no company has released it on Blu Ray yet (and they could now release in 3D! I'd buy that in an instant!).

I thought the effects were pretty damn good for the most part. Sure, they suffer from the usual imperfections of movies at the time (no perfect digital compositing here!), but they're pretty good. I especially love the design of Wolf's ship and car/truck.

...or the total lack of background music (and a lot of films would be MUCH improved by having no background music).

No offence... but that's a slightly odd comment. ;-) Spacehunter actually has a great musical soundtrack by Elmer Bernstein. I enjoyed it that much, I have the CD and quite regularly enjoy listening to it.

Either way, though, I agree! I love it!