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.
