Laserblast is a 1978 American independent science fiction film directed by Michael Rae and produced by Charles Band, widely known for producing B movies. Starring Kim Milford, Cheryl Smith, Gianni Russo, Keenan Wynn, Roddy McDowall, and Eddie Deezen (marking his screen debut), the plot follows an unhappy teenage loner who discovers an alien laser cannon and goes on a murderous rampage, seeking revenge against those who he feels have wronged him.
The reptilian alien creatures in the film were works of stop motion animation by animator David W. Allen, beginning a decades-long collaboration between Allen and Band. The featured alien spacecraft model was designed and built by Greg Jein in two weeks, and the musical score was written in five days by Joel Goldsmith and Richard Band, the first film score for both composers.
Laserblast has received overwhelmingly negative reviews and consistently ranks among the Bottom 100 list of films on the Internet Movie Database. Many critical reviews, however, cited Allen's stop motion animation as one of its only redeeming qualities. A sequel was planned for 1988, but was ultimately abandoned due to financial difficulties. Laserblast was featured in the seventh season finale of the comedy television series Mystery Science Theater 3000 in its Comedy Central Run, before moving to SciFi Channel.
Plot A green-skinned man wanders aimlessly through the desert with a mysterious laser cannon attached to his arm. Nearby, an alien spacecraft lands and two reptilian creatures emerge carrying weapons. After a brief firefight, the aliens disintegrate the man. Spotting an airplane, they return to their spacecraft and fly away, leaving behind the laser cannon and a pendant the man was wearing. Elsewhere, teenager Billy Duncan wakes up in his bed. He goes outside to find his mother has been invited to a trip to Acapulco and, despite her son's protests, she leaves her son behind. A dejected Billy goes to visit his girlfriend Kathy, but her grandfather Colonel Farley, a disheveled military veteran, rants about conspiracy theories to Billy and tells him to leave Kathy alone. Billy is soon harassed by a bully named Chuck Boran and his nerdy friend Froggy as well as by two sheriff deputies who give him a speeding ticket.
Billy wanders into the desert alone and discovers the laser cannon and the mysterious pendant. Realizing he is able to use the cannon only while wearing the pendant, Billy starts firing randomly at things in the desert. Meanwhile, on the alien spacecraft, the two aliens converse (in an unsubtitled alien language) with their leader, who orders them to return to Earth and recover the cannon. Meanwhile, Billy and Kathy attend a pool party with other teens, where Chuck makes unwanted advances on Kathy, resulting in Billy fighting with Chuck and Froggy. That night, Billy fires at Chuck's car with the laser cannon, resulting in an explosion that Chuck and Froggy barely escape. Later, a government official named Tony Craig arrives to investigate both the explosion and the area of desert where Billy found the cannon. Tony informs the local sheriff that news related to the explosion and its cause must not leave the town.
Billy eventually develops an unusual growth on his chest. At Kathy's urging, he visits Doctor Mellon, who surgically removes a metallic disc from Billy's sternum. He calls the police laboratory technician Mike London to arrange for the disc to be evaluated. However, later that night, a green-skinned and seemingly crazed Billy opens fire on Mellon's car, killing him in an explosion. The next day, Tony investigates the wreckage and recovers unusual material, which he brings to Mike London. After some experiments, Mike concludes it is made of inorganic material not found on Earth. Later that night, Billy, once again appearing deranged and grotesque, attacks and kills the two sheriff deputies who harassed him earlier.
Billy sleeps with Kathy next to his van. While he is sleeping, Kathy discovers the alien pendant and puts it on Billy's chest, which turns his skin green and deforms his face. Billy attacks Kathy, but she escapes. Billy goes on a rampage, shooting things at random with the laser cannon. A small airplane with law enforcement officials opens fire on Billy, but he destroys the plane. Next, he kills Chuck and Froggy by destroying their new car with the cannon. Meanwhile, Tony Craig questions Colonel Farley and Kathy about Billy, while elsewhere the two aliens land on Earth and begin searching for Billy themselves. After killing a hippie and stealing his van, Billy travels to an empty city block where he fires indiscriminately at his surroundings. Kathy and Tony arrive and find Billy in an alley, just as one of the aliens shoots Billy with a ray from atop a nearby building. Billy is killed, the laser cannon and the pendant are destroyed, and the aliens depart in their spacecraft. Kathy cries over Billy's corpse as Tony looks on.
Cast
Background
Writing
Laserblast was produced by Charles Band, who is widely known as a writer, producer, and director of B movies. Band described the film as a "revenge story" with a simple premise that he thought would be fun for the audience. It was Band who conceived the title of the film with the hopes that it would grab the attention of audiences.
Band said, "Most of the films that I made, that I conceived, that I was very involved with and in some cases directed, definitely started with the title and usually a piece of artwork that made sense. Then I would work back to the script and the story and make the movie."
The script was written by Frank Ray Perilli and Franne Schacht. Elements of the story were inspired by science fiction films, such as Star Wars (1977), and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), while the characteristics of protagonist Billy Duncan—a disenchanted middle-class teen from a suburban setting—mirror those of James Dean's character in Rebel Without a Cause (1955).
Band wanted Laserblast to be a "mini-Star Wars", and at one point in the film, a disparaging reference is made when Billy fires his laser cannon at a Star Wars billboard, resulting in a tremendous explosion. During another scene, a police officer is confronted by a frightened teenager, who the officer dismisses as crazy by saying, "He's seen Star Wars five times!"
Billy is ignored and abandoned by his mother early in the film, demonstrating the dangers that can result from uncaring parents, one of the major themes of the script. The film also highlights the hypocrisy of police officers, particularly during a scene in which the two deputies smoke marijuana that they obtained from teenagers. Commentators have pointed out several inaccuracies and plot holes in the Laserblast script. John Kenneth Muir raised several of these issues in his book, Horror Films of the 1970s: "How does Kathy's dad know Craig, the government agent? Why do the aliens leave behind the rifle and the pendant in the first place? Why does the weapon turn its owner into a monstrous green-skinned brute?" Band explained in a 2006 interview that the more Billy uses the gun, "the more it sort of takes over his soul". Janet Maslin, film critic with The New York Times, pointed out that when Billy wakes up at the beginning of the film, it is implied that the preceding scene in the desert was a dream. Later, however, it turns out to have happened after all.
Casting Kim Milford, who had previously appeared in the original Broadway theatre production of Hair and the first production of The Rocky Horror Show, starred in the leading role of Laserblast, marking his first major motion picture appearance. Cheryl Smith, who later received greater recognition for her appearances in B movies and exploitation films, appeared in the lead female role of Kathy Farley. Smith disliked the role because she felt it was poorly written and that she did not receive enough rehearsal time. Gianni Russo, best known for playing Carlo Rizzi in The Godfather (1972), was cast as government investigator Tony Craig.
Laserblast marks the screen debut of Eddie Deezen, who went on to play other archetypal nerd roles in films like Grease (1978), which was filmed before Laserblast started production, 1941 (1979), Grease 2 (1982), and Midnight Madness (1980). During a 2009 interview, Deezen remembered little about Laserblast, other than that it was a "shoddy production". Roddy McDowall portrays Dr. Mellon in the film, whose name is misspelled "McDowell" in the end credits. Keenan Wynn, a long-time character actor and a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player during the 1940s, portrayed Colonel Farley, who provides comic relief as Kathy's crazed, paranoid, delusional grandfather and veteran. The filming for Wynn's small role was finished in one day. Screenwriter Franne Schacht made a cameo appearance as the sheriff's secretary in the film.
Production
Laserblast was directed by Michael Rae, marking his only directorial credit. Filming took place over three weekends and was made "for virtually no money", according to producer Band. The makeup effects in the film, including the gradual discoloration and degeneration of Kim Milford, were handled by makeup artist Steve Neill, who had previously worked with Band on the science fiction film End of the World (1977). Neill makes a cameo appearance in Laserblast as the mutated man who was killed by the aliens in the opening scene. Neill introduced Band to David W. Allen, the film animator who created the stop motion alien creatures in Laserblast. When Band and Neill met, the former was working full-time on his fantasy film The Primevals, which was ultimately never completed. Band had developed an interest and familiarity with animation, particularly the works of Ray Harryhausen, and wanted Allen to animate the reptilian creatures for his film. Although eager to work on The Primevals, Allen said he was not yet "sufficiently mature professionally" to undertake a project of that size, and he felt Laserblast was "something that was more manageable". Band and Allen would go on to work together on several other films and projects over the next 20 years.
The alien creatures were featured in 39 cuts of the film through five scenes. The first scene was in the beginning of the film where the aliens emerge from their spacecraft into the desert to shoot Neill's character. Two matte set-ups were used for effects, including one used to create the illusion of depth with Neill's character in the foreground and the aliens in the background. The sequence where Neill's character shoots the gun out of the hand of one of the aliens was done through wire-supported animation. In the second and third sequences, the two aliens are on board their spaceship, which is a miniature set designed by Dave Carson. The aliens speak with their commander through a monitor in the second sequence, and animations of the alien commander were shot separately and implemented into the scene using a rear projection effect. Both sequences also used rear projection to show footage of Billy and his destruction on Earth. The fourth sequence shows the aliens on Earth, looking at a burnt-out car destroyed by Billy. Footage of the car was rear projected behind the alien models; however, the projected footage was shot at night and the scene took place between two daytime live-action scenes, thus creating a continuity error in the film. The final scene is the shortest, and features a confrontation between the aliens and Billy. Matting was again used for the sequence where Billy is shot with a gun by one of the aliens from the top of a building. The aliens then fly off in their spaceship at the end of the scene through a cutout animation effect.