User reviews

To my surprise this is actually a Fullmoon movie, the company well known only for cheesy horror films. Apparently they do sci-fi even worse.

Laserblast presently sits with a 2.6 rating on IMDB, which is astoundingly low. I didn't think for a second it would be that bad, it actually is.

It tells the story of a young man who finds a laser cannon in the desert, after wielding it and the necklace that came with it he is periodically transformed into a creature hellbent on destruction.

Looking at the cover you'd think the "Creature" was Gary Busey, in the film it's more an early Romero zombie.

The special effects are embarassing even for the time, the plot is riddled with holes and the whole thing comes off amateurish.

One of the worst films every made? No. Deserving of 2.6? Absolutely.

The Good:

Erm.....

The Bad:

Looks hideous

Just can't take it seriously

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Aliens are just giant turtles without shells who wear shiney gloves

Teenagers just want to have a little innocent fun, so when one of them comes across and alien weapon, he tries it out on a few people who aren't cool. This excites The Man, who want kids to be miserable.

There's some nice stop-motion animation by Harry Walton, who seems to have come up with E.T. before Steven Spielberg thought of it. The other effects are a bit cheesier. Keenan Wynn does no favor to his long career of more than 140 features by appearing in this one.

I was expecting Laserblast to be awful, judging by its position in the "Mystery Science Theater 3000: 10 Worst Movies They Riffed" list and its reputation. It is a bad movie- though I can see why people would find it entertaining to watch- but it is much better than the likes of Monster A-Go Go, Manos the Hands of Fate, The Wild World of Batwoman, Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders and Hobgoblins, and in general there are far worse as well. The best asset of Laserblast is the music score, which pulsates through the movie with great energy and atmosphere that is not matched with the rest of the movie. Cheryl Smith is sweet and sympathetic and Keenan Wynn is appropriately gruff. And I personally though the stop-motion and the aliens were quite good, of any of the movies on the "10 Movies they Riffed" list it is Laserblast that has the best special effects. Everything else comes up painfully short though, Roddy MacDowell is wasted to the point that you question why was he even in it, and Eddie Deezen has to be the most annoying bully ever seen in film. The story is a real drag as well, it makes very little sense if at all, has so much overlong filler that adds nothing to the storytelling and is one of those instances where the plot summary pretty much sums up the whole movie. It also doesn't know what to do with itself and takes forever to get going, it is half-an-hour until anything of the sort happens and then when the gun is found the rest of the movie is just stuff getting shot at. At best, the camera work and editing are haphazard, the dialogue is hysterically bad and the characters are not developed anywhere near enough or characterised very effectively to be believable or likewise. In conclusion, Laserblast is a bad movie that is rather dull and senseless and wastes McDowell but a great score, better-than-average stop-motion and effects and two decent performances make it not as bad as all that. 3/10 Bethany Cox

I swear every time I see that Star Wars billboard get blown up I almost wet myself. What more can you ask of cheap Sci-Fi than Laserblast? Granted it doesn't have that 50's kitch like Angry Red Planet, but it WAS the 70's. Personally I love and own this film. If you can see the true beauty in astoundingly bad film making, then you should see Laserblast. I mean one character gets mutated into a green laser-blasting monster by a salt shaker he wears around his neck!! and there's bad stop-action aliens!! YES! it took 2 guys to write it!!! 2!!! and they called it LASERBLAST!

I think if you consider the general aesthetic of the seventies, you will see that this is the ULTIMATE 70's movie. I regret never seeing it at a drive in.

I actually saw this in the theater when it came out. After all these years, I can still say it is the worst movie I have ever seen. And I LIKE campy, cheesy B-Movies! Look out Kraft; you are not the cheesiest. If you think the special effects are bad because the movie is old, think again. Sitting in the movie theater in 1978 my friend and I both thought the effects were the worst we'd ever seen. And the acting. And the plot(?). The filmography sucks. It's not even interesting like a train wreck. It's about as interesting as watching sidewalks crack. Without ants. At night. No moon.

I could go on, but I've already put more creativity into this review than the movie had. And I'm not creative.

I'd give it negative stars if possible. Ten black holes. I had to give it a one though, and that hurt.

Bad movie. Anguishly bad. I still want my money back.

Laserblast (1978) was one of my childhood favorites. I saw a lot of these movies on a small black and white t.v. later Friday or Saturday night. The best of the bunch were bad sci-fi and horror films. Well this one still brings back memories of my youth. The movie is about a young guy who picks up a funky medallion and a ray gun. Then one day he goes berserk and runs amok blasting everything in sight. A sub-plot of the movie is about a couple of creepy looking aliens who speak a dialect that sounds like space-mandarin. The duo spend most of the movie's running time trying to find their lost toy. What will happen to the boy? Will the cheesy looking aliens find their little gizmo? To find out you'll have to watch LASERBLAST!!! The F/X, budget and acting is pure 70's cheese and I like it! and so will you!

Recommended for a slow night. Watch it with some friends for total satisfaction!

A teenager (Kim Milford) stumbles upon an alien weapon, which transform him into a grotesque killer.

I would love to say nice things about this, given the appearance of Roddy McDowall and such decent effects work from Randall Cook ("The Gate"). But the acting, plot and directing is just so poor that nothing could really save this.

Most people who have seen this probably saw it through "Mystery Science Theater 3000", and that is for the best. They not only do a great job, but this is among their funniest episodes. I would love to know if Leonard Maltin has ever rescinded his 2 1/2 stars...

I cannot believe the low rating this film has. First of all, I have to give credit to the stop-motion animation. When I first saw this in 1978 in the theatre, I was impressed, just a touch below Harryhausen quality. Too bad if you disagree! Second, the adolescent setting is just fine. Teen angst, bullying, small-town doldrums in the 1970's. I remember the 70's and it was about this dirt-poor culturally. We didn't have Internet, plasma TV, cell phones, or CD's. We had portable tape players and we used pay phones. Third, you have to love Kim Milford's impression of a cooked Mark Hamill. Come on! Fourth, Eddie Deezen is about as annoying as you've ever seen him. High marks. Fifth, the story is good. Aliens returning for their lost weapon. Gives us all hope. I've seen the movie several times and it's always a satisfying time. 8 of 10

Laserblast occupies the absolute bottom rung of film. There is absolutely nothing to like, and I do mean Nothing. To call the acting sub-par would be a massive understatement and the plot would have been much stronger if it had been held together with shoestrings and chewing gum. I would never choose to watch this film for any reason if it wasn't being lampooned by MST3K. The MST3K version is absolutely hysterical though, so at least this poorly thought-out disaster of a film served some higher purpose. The best parts are where you can actually see members of the film crew and cameras, so much for editing I guess. This movie came out the year I was born and if I were the superstitious type I would consider it a bad omen. If you are given the choice between torture and seeing this film I would strongly recommend you at least consider the torture, the film is really that bad.

As I saw that, I was stunned. Leonard Maltin rates movies on a scale of one to four. I'll give it 2 1/2 stars out of ten, maybe. The plot is stupid and full of holes. Aliens fight on earth for some reason and kill this guy with green skin, who drops his laser gun. A loser that everyone picks on (for good reason) finds this gun and starts blasting everyone and everything that did him wrong. Especially hilarious are when he blows up a pinball machine (did it take his quarter?) and when he blows up a billboard that says simply "Star Wars" (Huh?). It's every bit as bad as it sounds. Roddy McDowell actually appeared in this movie - he must have been hurting bad for a movie role. Just remember, according to Leonard Maltin, this is better than "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" (which only got two stars). Worth watching once on its own for camp, but recommended especially for MST3K. The episode doesn't run on TV anymore and can't be found on Rhino, though, so it's tough to find. Pretty bad. This movie marked the point I stopped trusting Leonard Maltin altogether.

Yes, anyone who saw the MST3K version is aware that Leonard Maltin gave Laserblast two and a half stars, and this simply proves that he is insane. Now, the film itself centers on Billy, a young man who looks like he has problems with heroin and shirt buttons. Billy is sort of taunted by Sherrif Fuzzy Marshmallow, then Eddie Deezen & Co., so he goes to the desert. Seems logical. Upon arrival in the desert, Billy finds a laser gun that was left behind by two turtles minus shells. Billy soon begins destroying things, and Bill Bixby shows up in town. Billy's thinner than life girlfriend insists Billy go to Dr. Roddy McDowall, and the good doctor removes a lump of metal from his chest and calls a Lenscrafter technician.

Confused yet?

Don't bother trying to understand what's going on in this movie, it will just make your head hurt. No good acting, I don't even think it was directed, and written by a chimp with ADD. Do not watch without the safety net of MST3K. 1/10

I have been searching for this film for the past few years since I've been a fan of IMdB. I thought it was entitled something else and was perplexed why I couldn't find it. I was hoping the film wasn't really done...but here it is.

This film should be inducted into the "Worse Films of All Time" honorable mention category. It's a bad film, but it's one of those bad films you keep watching as if watching it again may show something different to make it better.

It's pure 70's schlock. There are actors and actresses in it you've seen in much better films before. The story is kinda interesting, but it fizzles.

This film was shown all over the place in the 80's on TV and Cable and everytime it came on, it provided nothing but unintentional laughs for me.

For those who wonder if drugs run rampid in the Entertainment Executive Greenlighting Departments of film studios, all you have to do is look at this film to know it is.

Either that or -- someone was getting fired and thought this would be the best revenge to greenlight this mess.

Either way..unless you're a fan of bad movies and want to see the ones that are bubbling close for the top spot, skip this one.

LASERBLAST is one of the very worst films of the 1970s--and that's saying a lot because they made a huge number of terrible films that decade. From start to finish, the movie is unbelievably inept and just plain stupid.

The film begins with some horribly rendered stop-motion alien lizards stalking some creature and killing him. However, inexplicably, they didn't bother to take their prey's weapon with them. Later, when the main character (the actor's named was Kim--and it's a guy) wanders into the vast desert, he just happens to find this laser cannon right.

Speaking of Kim Milford, he plays 'Bobby', a guy so cool and sexy he spends most of the movie running about without shirts or with button-up shirts unbuttoned. I guess they did this so you'd always know it was him. You could also recognize him as the guy whose acting range includes sneering and acting petulant.

Anyway, after Kim uses the gun, he begins to change personality and at times he even appears in silly green makeup with contacts. Later, he has some facial prosthetics that only look semi-shabby. What I really liked, though, was that the makeup only covered his face and there was an obvious demarcation where the paint ended on his neck. Perhaps the makeup artists(?) was a fan of "The Mask", as he looked like a much cheaper version of this character minus the cool clothes. During these rage periods, he runs around town blowing things up--and mostly cars. And, interestingly enough, every time he blows up a car, the car is shown blowing up again and again--as many as four or five times. Maybe the director thought if they did this it would seem like he had blown up more cars than he actually did! Everything about this film is super-cheap and shabby.

Somehow, however, they managed to get Roddy McDowell to appear in it (ever so briefly) as well as Keenan Wynn (who, during this period in his career would appear in anything). Oddly, Wynn's scenes seem practically irrelevant and really aren't well integrated into the film at all. You just have no idea why he's there. Apparently they only had him for a day or so and just filmed--regardless of its relevance--sort of the way Ed Wood filmed Bela Lugosi for footage he used in PLAN 9. In addition to these down-and-out stars, the film marks the screen debut of one of the most annoying one-note performers in screen history (Eddie Deezen). You may remember his as the 'Mr. Potatohead' character from WARGAMES as well as being the inspiration for the character 'Carl' on "Johnny Bravo". His shtick is to act super-geeky. Here, oddly, he's a sidekick for a bully--a case of strange casting indeed.

So is it worth seeing this film? Well, if you like laughing at rotten films, yes. There sure is a lot to laugh at during the film. Otherwise, stay away at all costs as everything about this film is the lowest quality imaginable--the acting, direction, script and especially the horrid stop-motion creatures. I think using plastic dinosaurs that are manipulated by a hand would have been more realistic!

Strangely I never saw this picture, just come out in DVD in Brazil, one the most weirdo Sci-Fi production ever seen, mixing a small stop motion mixing, science fiction & horror genres, where the unique novelty really is a advanced laser gun, heaven only knows appears a young guy holding a powerful Laserblast until appear two Aliens very similar with Spielberg's E. T. (Should him copied those Aliens?) vaporizing him instantly, worst these two dumbest Aliens didn't collect the weapon and a necklace on the ground, out of the blue shows up a bullied guy got the gun and aftermaths start blasting everyone who harassed him lately, to worsen every time he got the gun attached with the necklace such guy turns into in a monster.

Silly plot indeed, some gorgeous girls around, two moronic deputies splitting forcibly a lunch, a cigarette, whatever they eat, what a couple of jerk guys, also the Sheriff as well, the flash appearance of Roddy McDowall, quite sure to commodify the picture afterwards and the screen debut of iconic Eddie Deezen, in other hand it somehow plenty of fun if we forgot the holes and mismatches as well.

Thanks for reading

Resume:

First watch: 2023 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 4.5.

I am one of those few who liked this movie. I was always reluctant to get this on DVD, but during a Full Moon Valentine's Day Sale, I bought it. A solid little cult sci-fi film with some decent special effects. I liked the development of Billy and how he slowly is possessed and driven completely mad. My only gripe with the movie has to do with the storytelling. How did the original alien in the beginning get on earth and why? Also, what was the deal with that alien being wanted from the other space aliens? That is never explained, however, it's easy to not think about it.

Too many people take movies seriously these days. Time for people to lighten up and realize that movies don't have to be perfect in order to be fun. Glad Billy blows up a billboard with "Star Wars" on it! Take that Star Wars nerds!

Some awesome stop-motion animation in a bad film. The only good live action in this movie in every scene Eddie Dezen is in. He plays a real dork in this movie, so he is funny. The aliens in the movie, on the other hand, are fabulous. They were designed by David Allen ( *batteries not included ) and Jon Berg ( star wars ). They were animated by Randall Wiliam Cook The Gate ) and David Allen. With all of this talent on board, these aliens are truly majestic and awesome. Stop-motion animation fans need to check this one out for the aliens. I love them! The movie, however, is a drag. 4 out of 10.