Galaxy of Terror (1981) on Netflix
R19811h 21mActionAdventureHorror
The spaceship Quest lands on Morganthus, where another expedition's vessel has crashed. Baelon's rescue team includes his rival Cabren, Alluma and Cos. Their own ship is damaged in the landing.
- Netflix2.6/5
- IMDb5.0/1010,766 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes27%
Clip
Plot summary
The Planet Master, his face hidden by an aura, orders a military commander to send the spaceship Quest to Morganthus, the planet where an earlier vessel has crashed. Mitri, the old woman who plays a chess-like game with him, warns that his plans will bring ruin. Captain Trantor, scarred by an earlier space disaster, pilots the Quest; as it nears the atmosphere the ship veers out of control, and she sets it down. Baelon leads the rescue team, among them his rival Cabren, Alluma, Dameia, Quuhod and the rookie Cos. They find victims aboard the other ship, apparently massacred, and carry one body back. The landing has left the Quest damaged, and a force from a pyramid on the planet prevents it from lifting off.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Galaxy of Terror (1981)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
SPOILER
Producer Roger Corman had promised financial backers a sex scene, so he rewrote Dameia's death to include a 12-foot maggot that rapes her; when director Bruce D. Clark and actress Taaffe O'Connell both balked, Corman directed the worm scene himself and hired a body double for the full-nudity shots.- The maggot prop weighed over a ton and almost collapsed on top of Taaffe O'Connell during filming, which could have potentially killed her.
- The MPAA initially gave Galaxy of Terror an X rating for the Alluma and Dameia scenes; editor R.J. Kizer removed erotic facial expressions and the worm's humping movements, cutting as little as a single frame, to secure an R rating.
- James Cameron, working as production designer and second unit director on a tight budget, built a metal plate and ran an electric current through it to make maggots wiggle on cue whenever filming began.
- The worm scene reappears in the opening credits of the 1988 Corman-produced remake of Not of This Earth, directed by Jim Wynorski and starring Traci Lords, as part of a montage of earlier Corman films, with the audio redone by an uncredited actress.
- The X-rated clipped materials from Galaxy of Terror were lost over time and are not included in any release, though red-band trailers still hint at some changes, including sound effects of O'Connell's uniform being ripped that were later removed.
- The director, Bruce D. Clark, said that adding the worm scene, which he strongly opposed, is what finally made the film a commercial success.
