User reviews

DEAD SPACE (1991) is your garden variety ALIEN rip-off about a remote research laboratory on a distant planet trying to find a virus to destroy another even more deadly contagion decimating mankind. They succeed, only to inadvertently create a xenomorph-style monster that quickly works its way through the assembled scientists. Right from the outset you get an outer space battle lifted from BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS so you know this one's going to be cheap and cheerful, and it certainly is.

Muscle star Marc Singer (THE BEASTMASTER) is the hero come to save the day, complete with android sidekick, and amusingly enough BREAKING BAD star Bryan Cranston also features right at the outset of his career. There's a bit of sex, a bit of nudity, some gore and a rather stiff monster that's only seen briefly. Don't go expecting much from this one.

So let me get this straight, Roger Corman for reasons only he himself knows decided to remake the film "Forbidden World". Not only did he remake it, he apparently decided to take out most of the nudity, make it less gory and make it a bit more talkative. Why? I am sure everyone out there would like an answer to this, but I am guessing he wanted to make a more serious version or something. This one is basically a lot less fun version, you have Marc Singer and his robot pal going to a planet cause an experiment has gone array. So yes, like "Forbidden World" only with all the fun stripped from it. It was not all bad as there was one rather good jump moment I was not expecting and there was a couple of good gore effects, but overall "Forbidden World" has this one beat in nearly every possible way. I mean the effects were even better in that one, as was the music. In that one it was a really nifty 80's sounding set of tracks while this was very forgettable. Stupid twists and the ending was not as cool either. That and another thing that made this film kind of hard to watch was the fact it featured more creature in the air vent scenes. I have watched a lot of horror movies the past few weeks and this theme is getting old. The monster does not look as good, the robot looks dreadful (though it did not look great in the original) just not enough here. Even the girls were more attractive in the other film. Though this film features one of the most unheroic moments I have ever seen near the end that had me chuckling too. Still, if I did not get this on a double feature set of movies along with "The Terror Within" I would be a bit more ticked off.

From the Roger Corman factory comes this extremely forgettable remake of his 1982 production "Forbidden World". The Beastmaster himself, Marc Singer, stars as Commander Steve Krieger. Exactly what he's a commander of, I don't know, but he picks up a distress signal from the scientists on the planet Phaebon. These morons have been monkeying around with genetics and viruses and they've managed to create a mutating, evolving life form. It's up to Steve to save the day, with some occasional assistance from the doofuses around him.

If people seek out "Dead Space" for any reason, it's likely because they learned that it was a very early credit for the Emmy winning actor Bryan Cranston. Because of him, the acting is a hair better than you'd usually be subject to in a LOW rent production like this one. Directed (not so well) by Fred Gallo, it's routine through and through, and highly uninspired. The makeup and creature effects are actually not that bad, thanks to the efforts of Gabe Bartalos, an old pro at this sort of thing. If one is already familiar with "Forbidden World", they'll experience a fair bit of deja vu, as this version sticks pretty close to the original plot.

Singer is passable as the hero, and the ladies (Laura Mae Tate, Judith Chapman, Lori Lively) are pretty. Randy Reinholz delivers a useless performance as an equally useless character named Tim. Cranston does his best given the circumstances.

"Forbidden World" wasn't exactly a movie crying out to be redone, and "Dead Space" itself isn't a movie crying out to be watched very often - if indeed one watches it more than once.

Four out of 10.

I saw Alien. I loved Alien. Dead Space is no Alien. Take Alien and leave out Sigourney Weaver and other credible actors, remove artful direction by Ridley Scott, eliminate wonderful special effects, extract suspense, banish a sensible, thought-provoking script, exile any kind of passion in the material and you have this mess of a film called Dead Space. What a complete bore! Master thespian Marc Singer stars as the space vigilante out to help a space station in the middle of cheesy special-effects land. Soon due to biological testing, a metamorphic mutant is created to fight disease only it ends up becoming a behemoth of evil trying to kill every person alive. The mutant goes through several excrutiating special effect stages including an adolescent stage where it resembles not a little a mini-Godzilla. The film was a test of my endurance not to fall asleep or fast forward or turn the television off. Roger Corman produced this innate rip-off and he should be ashamed. At least if you are not going to use something original, try and do some justice to your source. The film is so bad that there is even a softcore sex scene which happens in a dream! The only dead space in this film was the 80 minute void that I can never replace! Whew! Bow Wow!

Dead Space, a remake of Forbidden World(aka Mutant), is SLOW and a complete snooze fest. Forbidden World, in all its sci-fi cheesiness, is WAAAAY BETTER, silly(in a good way) and FUN TO WATCH. Pass by this weak version and stick to the original.

The filmmakers apparently had enough money to be able to afford decent makeup effects, but not enough for a creature that would move around and attack convincingly. We never get a chance to see the "monster" move from one place to another - whenever that happens (supposedly), the camera focuses on the "terrified" reactions of the humans that are nearby. And when a man is attacked by it, he simply seems to be holding an inanimate object against himself so that it won't fall to the ground. This is still not the worst "Alien" rip-off around (the two "Xtro" films are even worse, for example); it's actually sufficiently entertaining if you've got 68 (!!) minutes to spare. (*1/2)

The first thing about "Dead Space" I couldn't help noticing immediately was the running time displayed on the back of the VHS-cover. It states 70 minutes! Okay here on the IMDb the running time is supposedly 80 minutes, but that probably includes trailers and/or full closing credits. 70 minutes is practically nothing. How can you possibly tell a proper Sci-Fi tale in such a short period? Well, see below this review for a couple of tips on how to make your film shorter, but usually it's not the best idea. But hey, "Dead Space" is a very redundant movie in general. It is more than obvious that this thing got made in probably even less than a week, under the strict surveillance of Roger Corman. It's a remake of "Forbidden World", which was released also by Corman not even ten years earlier. That movie was a shameless "Alien" rip-off, so basically "Dead Space" is the remake of a rip-off. Only Corman is shameless enough to make the exact same film twice and then still include footage from his other work, like "Battle Beyond the Stars". Marc Singer, who here looks like he might be Kevin Bacon's older brother, plays a lone space macho cowboy who arrives on the research facility planet Phaebon together with his pet-robot Tinpan after they picked up an S.O.S signal. He literally crash-lands amidst a group of scientists that are trying to develop a virus to destroy another virus; namely the lethal Delta-5 disease. Little problem, however, their anti- virus developed itself into a monster and finds pleasure in killing off the crew members. One of the main reasons why I liked "Forbidden World" so much was because of the awesomely cheesy monster design and special effects. That film had an amazing low-budgeted B-atmosphere going for it! "Dead Space" is also very low-budgeted and cheesy, but it never manages to bring forward the same irresistible charm or outrageous enthusiasm. I guess that's a privilege exclusively for 80's movies. The mutant monster looks like a clay dragon and the killings are very uninspired. This is one film that can easily be skipped, except of course if you're a sucker for cheap and amateurishly directed "Alien" rip-offs like there are literally hundreds of out there.

As promised, I'm going to reveal some tips about how to make your movie fit right into the 70 minutes limit. For example: combine sequences! Director Fred Gallo knows that every self-respecting Sci-Fi movie needs (A) a sex sequence, (B) a dream sequence and (C) a monster-bursting- through-the-chest moment. In "Dead Space", these three classic scenes are one and the same! The lead girl dreams she has sex with Marc Singers and witnesses the creature bursting through her chest right before waking up! Secondly, if you have a eight-headed cast but not the time to introduce them, start by killing two of them before the cause of the problem is even properly established. If you don't want to waste too much time on the remaining six neither, then make sure they live up to the most commonly known stereotypical trademarks of cinema. One of them needs to be an obsessed scientist who'll continue with the experiments no matter what, one of them needs to be an insufferable coward and you also need one strong female cast member to put the link with Ellen Ripley in "Alien". See, it's easy.

I am the kind of person who can enjoy a good B Movie if it has some kind of redeeming value to it, but Dead Space has nothing to redeem it! This is the kind of film that will make you frustrated, restless and sick to your stomach.

Bad acting. Lame story. Terrible effects. Horrible, excruciating dialogue. Dead Space has it all!

This is a horrible Corman remake of his own movie Forbidden World. It's the worst. Don't bother with it unless you happen to like really bad sci-fi movies.

I love this movie, and even own it on laserdisc.

Most critics of this movie miss what I think is the real point of this hilarious spoof. Here is an alien monster out to wipe out the bunch of them, and to a man (and woman!) they are acting more like teenagers in the back seat of a car than interstellar warriors! The cast is totally concerned with making out with each other, and to heck with the monster, or anything else for that matter, in a truly bizarre attempt to commit group suicide. The Dead Space is really between their ears!

Yes, it is basically a remake of Corman's Forbidden World, but effects (especially the robot) are better and Marc Singer is more believable as the heroic (?) Ranger.

This is great stuff, and it becomes more of a hoot each time you watch it! It's one of the most entertaining travesties you'll ever see!

This is a pretty good B list movie. If you're into that kind of stuff, you will like it. It's a good way to kill an hour on a workday evening with some pizza. As a B movie it's like a 7/10. If you're not into those, it's like a 3/10. It's clearly an Alien ripoff. The effects are worse than Star Trek TNG TV episodes of that same timeframe, but they try! I liked Tin Pan. It's cute.

STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs

The plot,as it were,has Marc Singer as a character called Captain Krieger who along with his robot,er,Tinpan (Rodger Hall), zooms about the universe doing not a very lot,it would seem.Until,that is,he answers a distress call from a research facility by the name of Phaebon,where a potentially lethal virus has been discovered.Before long,all manner of hell has broken loose and the virus (that,by the end,has somehow inexplicably taken the form of a giant monster) must be stopped.

Only 70 minutes long.Only 10 characters featured.Yet Dead Space still manages to be a total Dead Zone of a film.

I was enticed to view this very obvious B movie on account of a nice looking cover of a skeleton in a spacesuit.Needless to say,none of the characters featured are ever seen in spacesuits and neither are any of the characters astronauts.Misleading advertising or what?

And the actual film itself is nothing worth watching,despite it's (extremely) compact running time,with it's droll script,bland characters and special effects that could be bettered by the standards of a Wrigley's Spearmint Gum advert.

Tinpan was cool,but that was a robot who belonged in a much better movie.Actually,he's a very,very poor man's C-3PO,but I've got a thing for robots (nothing sexual,but,you know).

12 year old DTV garbage is still garbage.Tinny and one mildly effective jump scene are the only reasons why I feel in any way lucky to have seen what should by rights be in it's DTV grave yard by now.*

It's funny seeing a young Bryan Cranston act circles around what is commonly accepted in a movie of this stature and everyone else in a film that ultimately is a fairly underwhelming and extremely routine Alien clone. Notable for its title just as much as Cranston, Dead Space is a confusing experience because the movie is undecided as to whether it wants to be a spoof of the man v monster cosmic horror or a lazy cash-in. Granted the visual effects are extremely charming, even some of the special effects are recycled from other movies in that typical Corman fashion, it's at least sufficiently entertaining and pretty short meaning it won't take up too much of your time to view this little oddity. If nothing else, it's good for a laugh.

It started cheap looking, then it continued cheap looking, and it ended cheap looking.

This movie is pretty much Alien without Ripley, on a $30 production budget.

The story and the monster are both Alien. A small group of people, hunted by a xenomorph looking monster.

I think they had blank shooting guns on set, and I thought the malfunctions were part of the script, but they had so many, maybe their prop-guns were just bad and they didn't work right.

The movie was illogical, the guns (even when they were operating) didn't hurt the monster(s).

I would say 2 stars, but I add +1, because of the "Walter White" actor (Bryan Cranston). So... 3/10.

I thought it was a great. Like a slightly longer outer limits episode. 😆

Dead Space (Video 1991) 6 out of 10 stars Time to Read: 1:09

BASIC PLOT: Commander Steve Krieger (Marc Singer) has just received a distress call from a "forbidden planet". When he arrives, his greeting is less than stellar. Dr. Marissa Salinger (Laura Mae Tate) seems to be the only scientist who wants him there. It seems these researchers have created a super virus, and it's spawned a creature, who's now on the loose. Can Commander Steve Krieger and his robot Tim, (Randy Reinholz) save them all from destruction?

WHAT WORKS: *MARC SINGER-FULL STOP

*MARC SINGER'S FACIAL EXPRESSIONS WHEN VIRUS HAS BABY Omg! That's hilarious, and he knows it. That's why it works, folks. Marc Singer is always in on the joke, and he's always having a good time, when making these low budget movies. It shows too, just like in Droid Gunner (1995). He's the low-rent Gary Cole, and he knows it. He's ok with it, and he has fun with it. Why can't you?

*BRYAN CRANSTON His 'super serial' portrayal of a Frankenstein like doctor, is also hilarious. His over acting is a throw back to '50's era monster movies. He's having fun with it, why can't you?

*THE B MOVIE MONSTER It is just good enough, perfect for a low budget monster. Just the right amount of scary, and gross, with a touch of humor too. It has a dragon's head, for pity's sake.

*THE DIRECTING AND CINEMATOGRAPHY ARE EXCEPTIONAL Fred Gallo and Mark Parry did an excellent job, especially since Gallo didn't see the script, until the day filming began. There are lots of quality shots. But the best scene is in the corridor. Commander Steve Krieger (Marc Singer) is hunting the monster down a smoky hallway. He jerks around, gun pointed, but the monster ducks out of site. Excellent!

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: *NEEDS MORE SEX SCENES WITH MARC SINGER This movie definitely needs more nudity. More Marc Singer nudity. But seriously, it needs more sex scenes to break things up. The addition of a few more sex scenes, and I don't think the people with no attention span, would be so bored.

TO RECOMMEND, OR NOT TO RECOMMEND, THAT IS THE QUESTION: *IF you have a sense of humor, and you like Roger Corman gold, you'll like this. If you're a fan of Marc Singer, you'll like this. If you are a humorless, stick in the mud, with NO attention span, give this a pass. Or, if you're only watching for nudity, you'll also be disappointed.

CLOSING NOTES: *This is a low budget, made for the video store movie. Please keep that in mind before you watch\rate it. Straight to video movies have a much lower budget, and so your expectations should be adjusted.

*I have no connection to the film, or production in ANY way. This review was NOT written in ANY way by a bot. I am just an honest viewer, who wishes for more straight forward reviews, and better entertainment. Hope I helped you out.

If I am to remember correctly this movie is not half bad until the alien 'hatches' then it goes so far downhill it'll make you feel like your on a rollercoaster.

One particular point sits in my memory, the 'alien' has just escaped and the scientists need to go to the surface for some reason. They make a big deal about how hostile the surface is and how no one could survive on it, but damn it he has to go out and fight the alien. Then they override the computer and open a hatch to ... the south western US! Now we get to see some dude in a suit walk around for like 5 minutes while they blow smoke infront of the camera to make you feel like your in an alien landscape. I believe you can even spot tire tracks on the ground and a rv in the back ground. Then we get a close up of the actor's face looking surprised, a close up of some purple weird dragon head going 'ROAAR' and then the scene of the dude running back to the hatch.

My friends in I had to break down and start laughing, it was one of the most inexplicatble sequences in film since the burlesque scene in Glenn or Glenda.

HEY EVERYBODY ITS ME (4) and today we review .... "breaking bad ...the prequel" ........

before malcom in the middle .... before breaking bad ..... there was ....... DEAD SPACE ..... no not the awesome video game .........but this creature feature sci fi extravaganza .....along side cranston however was some other b-level actors that had their own semi successful film lives during the 90s and then ....well kind of faded away .......

sadly there was a time when sci fi movies ALL WERE ALIEN .......rather they liked it or not ...... rather they tried to be just another rip off or were honestly trying to be their own sci fi monster movie and got lumped in / labeled another alien rip off ..either way .... during this time line ....if you were sci fi , and you had some kind of a monster in it ...you were .......ALIEN 2.0 .........the end ........in this case the monster is the literal inspiration of the "ZERG" from star craft lol..... i was playing my tyranids from warhammer 40k the other day and i was like ...you now what we should do .......... make a movie .......yea ............. the creature does look great i must say for what it is .....but it doesnt move much in the bigger form and thats sad i know they couldnt back then the way it was done so that sucks but still ...thumbs up .......

now this film DOES suffer from a few problems .... the biggest one HAS to be the inconsistent way the "virus monster transfers the flesh eating virus lol......i man ... it touches one guy and BAM he INSTANTLY starts to dissolve ........ BUT later on .it touches and latches onto the main dude and the chick ...it grabs and holds her for a while .... takes her on a date .... they make out for a while ... it takes her back to its place .... i dont want to "assume" BUT ....i mean .......... and YET she was FINE !!!!!!!!??????????? WHAT ?!?!?!?!? You cant do that ...you have to have the same rules for everyone OR explain it some how like some people are immune ? Sure okay but nope its just hey everyone except the main dude and his love interest ...SO standard 80/90s plot convenience .....

other wise this is a solid addition to ANY sci fi horror collection , its loaded with great cheese and horror from the era that REALLY made the 80/90s the best time line for films .......if you love monsters, live sci fi . Love horror , love cheesy old movies ....and boobs ........here ya go

solid 8/10.

There are some sci-fi films like 'Star Wars, Aliens' and 'Terminator 2' - all created before (or in) 1991. All of which are timeless and even look better than some movies and TV shows today. So, if they could produce something so great, you'd think that other movies could at least try and get a little bit close to their look and feel.

It's effectively an 'Alien' rip-off, i.e. A giant monster running round a space base (instead of the Nostromo spaceship) and gradually killing off the cast one by one. Only, instead of Sigourney Weaver running around with a cat and a flamethrower, you have Marc Singer ('V' and 'Beastmaster') wielding a puny pistol while protecting a crew of expendables dressed in true nineties wardrobe, plus an early role from Walter White himself, Bryan Cranston (who - believe it or not - manages to actually turn in a good performance with the dire script he's given).

Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed 'Dead Space.' And, just to prove it, I'm going to basically list all (well, nearly all - there are probably quite a few I've forgotten) the things wrong with it.

It looks cheap. The sets are all just darkened rooms that could be the drama hall in your local senior school, just with added smoke to hide the lack of details sets.

The monster looks good. It's practical effects, but the problem is that the puppeteers don't seem to know how best to make it move. Therefore when it's on screen and shown in all its glory, it's sort of anchored to a wall with only its limbs flailing, meaning characters have to actually run towards it and let it catch them, rather than be mercilessly pursued by it.

The script is basically what you'd expect from a first-time film-studies student would write. There's nothing new and only the better actors - or should that be just ACTOR - Bryan Cranston - can make work.

The 'droid' is goofy. Again, he mask actually looks okay, but when he stands up you can clearly see it's just a man in an - albeit decent - mask.

Much of the gore is ripped from 'Alien' with the obligatory 'chestbursting' scene.

So, with all this that's wrong with it, why did I like it? Because it's dumb, cheesy and generally fun. It's not really self-knowing, but it's just a relic of a bygone age and, if you're in the mood for - yet another - 'Alien' rip-off, then this one will kill an hour and a half (or if you just want to see what Bryan Cranston had to do to earn a living before he hit the big time in 'Breaking Bad' then this is amusing).

My review was written in June 1991 after watching the movie on video cassette.

An okay clone of "Alien", "Dead Space" has been in regional release since January but is mainly for sci-fi fans who haunt video stores.

Debuting helmer Fred Gallo has carefully watched the Ridley Scott 1979 monster hit and has smoky sets, chest-bursting monsters and the other ingredients. Film was shot as "Biohazard", a moniker used in 1983 by Fred Olen Ray.

Marc Singer toplines as a space jockey investigating a distress call from a research lab on the planet Phabon. Beautiful genetic researcher Laura Tate is worried after a research assistant died working on creting a new virus to combat the deadly Delta 5 virus. The other scientists, led by Judith Chapman and Bryan Cranston, want to hush up the incident and continue their research.

It turns out that the new virus is a "metamorphic mutant", changing its own genetic structure as it grows. Soon it gets loose, keeps changing form and starts killing people. Gabe Bartalos' makeup effects are okay in the gore department, but the little puppets representing the monster aren't scary. Full-grown monster resembles a huge praying mantis.

Leads Singer and Tate make an attractive team. Outer space scenes look like stock footage from "Battle Beyond the Stars", a 1980 production from Roger Corman who backed this one as well.

There's so much fog machine and neon lights in this film, together with the awkward staggered dialogue and cheesy 80s synthwave music, its impossible not to develop fond nostalgic feelings of Sunday night horror/sci-fi TV... The monster looks great even tho its clearly made from coat hangers covered in paper mache and silicone paint, like some kind of school project Queen Alien, but somehow its still awesomely bad/good!!

Hahaha I found this one so much better than the almost identically structured 'Forbidden World' which just fell flat at every turn, that monster was total rubbish.. this somehow just got better and better and even more hilarious as I watched on!!!

Loved it!!!

Great bargain bucket sci-fi!!!!

6/10.