Laserblast (1978)

Laserblast was one of those low-budget science fiction films which were released in the wake of Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. As the late seventies effectively re-dated the direct-to-video market, these movies enjoyed cinema releases, showing on the big screen to paying audiences.  Which is possibly where Laserblast acquired its poor reputation, often being cited as one of the worst films ever made.  If I'd paid to see this film in a cinema, I probably would have felt cheated but, in reality, it is nowhere near as poor as many of the bad film cultists would have you believe. (Damn it, I saw two films, albeit both direct-to-video releases, back-to-back on American horrors the other night which made Laserblast look like Citizen Kane).  To be sure, director Michael Rae is no Spielberg, or even George Lucas,but his film does look professional: everything is in focus, shots look composed, the editing doesn't jump, the sound is audible and it doesn't look like a random assemblage of footage roughly approximating a story, (unlike most 'classic' bad films).  Moreover, the plot more or less makes sense and the acting of the main cast, if not great, is adequate for this sort of film.  Best of all, despite what appears to be a virtually zero budget, the special effects work is especially good for its era.  Not Star Wars good, obviously, but it does boast some decently stop motion animated aliens (much better than men in rubber suits) and spaceship.

Produced by low-budget maestro Charles Band, (one of his earliest productions), Laserblast is basically a seventies equivalent to the sort of B-movies churned out by the likes AIP in the fifties and early sixties and should be judged on those terms, rather than compared to the likes of Star Wars and Close Encounters.  Like those B-movies, Laserblast is clearly aimed at an adolescent demographic, with its young leads, disaffected protagonist and local bully sub-plot.  The story is simple, opening with a green skinned alien, armed with a ray gun, being hunted down and disintegrated in the desert by a pair of reptilian aliens.  All that's left of the alien is a pile of ashes, his ray gun and a medallion.  These are found by local misfit Billy, who finds that when wearing the medallion, he can fire the gun.  Inevitably, the medallion seems to possess him, his skin turning green when he wears it, and he uses the ray gun against his enemies: the local bully and his sidekick, a pair of Sheriff's deputies who keep harassing him.  Meanwhile, the two aliens aliens, seeing the carnage being caused by Billy, return to earth to try and find him, while a Federal agent also turns up in town investigating the goings on.  Billy eventually completely loses his mind, ends up looking like the alien at the beginning of the film and goes on a rampage in the city. Pursued by his girlfriend and the Fed, they arrive just in time to see him blasted to death by one of the aliens.  (For some reason, unlike the fugitive alien in the opening, he doesn't turn to ashes).

It all moves along smartly enough, with lots of explosions, mainly of vehicles, but also a few buildings, (including a filling station), which are all filmed from multiple angles, (the director clearly enjoyed his explosions) and quite a few car crashes.  Veteran character actors Kennan Wynn and Roddy McDowall put in cameos to help bring a touch of class and professionalism to the goings on, while Gianni Russo from The Godfather plays the Fed and Ron Masak limbers up for his future tenure as Sheriff Metzger of Cabot Cove in Murder, She Wrote, by playing, well, the Sheriff.  It is tempting to try and read some kind of moral into the story. to see at as some sort of analogy for gun violence in the US, or a fable about the corrupting influence of power.  At base, however, it is really an adolescent power fantasy, of the underdog suddenly finding themselves empowered to gain redress against perceived wrongs.  It is basically the same theme that most superhero stories are built around.  Morally, it is quite ambivalent - while Billy's eventual rampage and his killings are presented as being ostensibly a 'bad thing', there's no doubt that most of those he destroys deserve it.  The two deputies and the bully and his sidekick are presented as truly vile characters, their demises unlikely to evoke any audience sympathy. 

Laserblast is one of those films which, while I was aware of its release, I never saw at the cinema when released.  I also managed to miss its VHS and DVD appearances, becoming one of those movies from my youth thatI always meant to watch, but never got around to.  I've gradually been checking off a long list of such films, so was happy to finally catch up with Laserblast courtesy of the Pluto TV streaming service. As I say, it is nowhere near as bad as some people would have you believe.  Just approach it as the B-movie it actually is and you'll find it a relatively diverting ninety minutes or so.