The Adventures of Taura: Prison Ship Star Slammer

There is a leech-eating scene.... need I say more? At one point, during the requisite prison cafeteria food-fight scene, several of the actresses literally crack up and start giggling during their lines.

One of the actresses, a doctor, was actually not half bad (in comparison), and I felt very sad for her; the rest of the actresses didn't seem to take the script seriously at all, and who can blame them? They were probably coeds promised free beer if they showed up and read from cue cards.

This movie is so very bad that it's actually hysterically funny.

Star Slammer (1986)

** (out of 4)

Taura (Sandy Brooke) is sentenced to serve some time on a prison ship that floats around in outer space. As soon as she arrives she has to deal with not only a nasty warden but also the other women including one who plans on making Taura's life a living Hell.

STAR SLAMMER, also known as PRISON SHIP, is an ultra low-budget movie from director Fred Olen Ray, which might not be the most original thing you'll ever watch but it's at least slightly entertaining as long as you're not expecting something like Kubrick's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY.

The film is basically just a lot of silly action scenes as the film wants to not only cash in on the sci-fi genre but also the women-in-prison one. The two work quite well with one another but as I said, there's certainly nothing original going on here. You've got the lesbian and mean warden, you've got outsiders causing trouble, there are the ladies fighting one another and you get the idea.

I will say that Brooke was a lot of fun in the lead role and she certainly helps push the film along. Suzy Stokey, Marya Gant and Dawn Wildsmith are all entertaining as well. You've also got Aldo Ray in a small role and one of the final apperances by John Carradine whose total screentime is around a minute. In fact, Carradine shot a bunch of scenes in one day several years earlier and those were scattered throughout several Ray pictures including JACK-O, which was released years after the actor's death!

STAR SLAMMER is pretty much low-budget junk but it's certainly fun enough to where fans of the genre should enjoy it.

The beginning is awful: trying to convince us that we are on an alien planet, Fred Olen Ray shoots everything through a red filter - it worked in "The Angry Red Planet", it's a pain on the eyes here. But soon enough the action moves in the Prison Ship of the title, and the film turns into a cross between sci-fi and WIP - and furthermore, the kind of WIP I like: less focus on torture and humiliation, more on catfights (there are 2, both very good) and the final escape. The special effects are enjoyably cheesy, though I, for one, would prefer to see as a climax a hand-to-hand fight between the heroine and the female warden instead of the laser space battles we do get (some of them apparently lifted from other sources). The girls are pretty sexy and put a lot of spirit and energy into their roles, especially Sandy Brooke who should have had a longer B-movie career. (**1/2)

The space fighting scenes are right out of Roger Cormens classic "Battle Beyond the Stars". (Like cut and paste out of it that is)Then for those of us who actually survive this epic to the end and make it to the credits, we seem to be misled, because at the beginning of the credits we are told to look for the next adventure of Tara in "Chain Gang Planet". What happened??? I realize this movie is bad, but hey, just for a good laugh I would pick up the next one on DVD. If you are a serious sci-fi fan, you might be better off to look to something else for your collection. If you are into low budget c-movies (I don't think of this as even a B movie) and are looking for a good laugh then look no further.

This is a cheesy,low budget late 80's piece of crap. The opening score is a direct rip-off from Raiders/Lost Ark but changes every few notes so as not to be sued. Awful acting, some good gore, always threats of lesbianism but nothing to show for it, some strange costumes and "little people" running around with awful speeded-up voices. A mess, but my friends and I love to get together and watch "bad" movies and we really hooted and hollered at most of this. It's No Star Crash or Space Mutiny (true low budget cheese sci-fi disaster classics) but it has some fun moments.