In 2006, Stag Films released “Pervert,” a throwback to the heady days of sexploitation. Directed by Jonathan Yudis and written by Mike Davis, “Pervert” proved there was still room in today’s stodgy, PG-13 world for a hard-R sex comedy, even one starring Mary Carey.
The boys from Stag Films are back again, this time with “Sex Galaxy,” a similarly ribald look at a horrific future, some 100 years from now, where sex has been outlawed on Earth thanks to extreme overpopulation and drought. In the midst of all this, a spaceship loaded with…deprived astronauts sets out to make repairs to Space Station Six. While away from their oppressive home, world weary Capt. Grayson (Anthony Jenkins), randy Texan “Big” Ben Dorsett (Stephen Heiser), and wet-behind-the-ears Billy (Ben Phillips) decide to make a detour to the legendary Sex Galaxy, home to a planet rumored to be awash in alien poontang. There they will contend with telepathic blonde aliens, fearsome dinosaurs (that – curiously – turn out to be lizards shot in close-up), and a robot pimp.
Admittedly, the plot is a bit thin, and the script is mostly an excuse for an unrelenting series of double entendres, but the narrative is secondary to the deft way in which Davis works with his footage. For “Sex Galaxy” bills itself as the first ‘green’ movie, made from 100% recycled public domain and stock footage. It relies heavily on Peter Bogdanovich’s “Voyage to the Planet of the Prehistoric Women,” itself a 1968 recut of an earlier Russian movie, but draws from everything from U.S. Army sex ed filmstrips to – appropriately enough – old stag reels.
Unlike a lot of these kinds of efforts, where little attention is paid to the script beyond lame one-liners and obvious gags, Davis has put a lot of thought into at least trying to come up with distinct characters and decent jokes. The voice acting is uniformly respectable, coming up with unexpectedly amusing perspectives on the crew’s motivations. The soundtrack also delivers, evoking memories of Cold War era space epics as well as 1970s science fiction.
If there’s a complaint to be made about “Sex Galaxy,” it’s that there isn’t a hell of a lot of sex in it. This may be in keeping with its inspiration, as plenty of allegedly naughty sci-fi escapades advertised sinful delights but fell a little short in the delivery (I’m looking at you, “Galaxina”). And there are times when it feels like things are being stretched out, but all in all “Sex Galaxy” is a solid effort from the guys at Stag Films, marking a nice departure from previous efforts and showing the studio’s versatility. Whatever flaws “Sex Galaxy” has, it’s an interesting experiment and a welcome departute from the same old comedy template.
