I love this idea. The Bad Movie Police (Ariauna Albright and Lilith Stabs) hunt down and present truly awful movies for our viewing displeasure. First on the list? “Galaxy of the Dinosaurs,” which is produced by J.R. Bookwalter, the man behind the idea of the Bad Movie Police. The premise here just screams fun.
In all fairness, “Galaxy of the Dinosaurs” isn’t the worst film ever made. It’s a sci-fi comedy, which means anything bad may actually be intentional. Case in point: the splicing of 35mm footage from “Planet of the Dinosaurs” with the Super VHS footage that makes up the bulk of this film. I don’t mind when directors do this, but they should at least try to match the environments. The film takes place in the woods, but all of the dinosaur scenes director Lance Randas steals are set in some kind of desert. It may be meant to be funny, or it could be incompetence. We’ll never know. We do know one thing, though, the plot isn’t anything new.
The story centers around a group of astronauts who apparently crash land on a planet and have to survive. There’s a twist at the end, too, which is revealed by the normally enjoyable James L. Edwards, who does his James L. Edwards bit here. (If you’ve watched more than one film with Edwards, whom I actually like, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Edwards, who seems to write his own material, plays almost every character the same. You can tell he loves dialogue, but it rarely varies in tone.)
With an average plot and a twist stolen from a more successful sci-fi film, this movie has little going for it other than its “badness.”
The special effects are laughable at best, and the acting (especially Tom Hoover) is so poor that it looks to be purposefully done that way. Honestly, there are no redeeming qualities other than the fact that it is so horrible that it actually becomes fun to watch.
The “Bad Movie Police” series is a good idea, and Bookwalter starts it off right by poking fun at a movie he produced, so you know there’s no ill will here. And to sweeten the deal, the DVDs, which feature a few choice extras, are priced at $9.99 each. You can’t go wrong with that.
I’m a firm believer that there are lessons to be learned in almost every movie. This one is no exception. Up and coming directors and writers can look at this as a blueprint of what not to do if making a sci-fi comedy. The rest of us can just sit back and mock everyone on the screen, and wait eagerly for the next case.
