Rating: G
Starring:
Robert Horton as Commander Jack Rankin
Luciana Paluzzi as Dr. Lisa Benson
Richard Jaeckel as Commander Vince Elliott
Bud Widom as General Jonathan B. Thompson
Ted Gunther as Dr. Hans Halvorsen
David Yorston as Lt. Curtis
Robert Dunham as Capt. Martin
Gary Randolf as Cordier
Jack Morris as Lt. Morris, Rocket Pilot
Directed by Kinji Fukasaku
Special Features:
None
Other Info:
Widescreen (2.35:1)
Dolby Digital Mono Sound
Running Time: 90 Minutes
The Details:
The following is the official description of the film:
“After a perilous mission to a huge asteroid, a crew returns to its space station, unaware a bit of ooze from the asteroid clings to a crewman’s uniform. The green goop grows into murderous, tentacled monsters. And as station members fight to live, gunk from the monsters’ wounds turns into more monsters! That’s the story. Now enjoy as our heroes fight to preserve Earth and, unintentionally, our own senses of humor with a movie that Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called ‘one of the funniest made-in-Japan sci-fi monster movies ever.’ Kinji Fukasaku, whose later work was championed by Quentin Tarantino, directs. The world would be a far more bleak and joyless place without marvels like ‘The Green Slime.'”
“The Green Slime” is rated G.
Mini-Review:
Back in the mid-’80s in Dallas, they used to show awful, old sci-fi movies on TV in the summer. The marathon was hosted by “Jungle Jim Zippo” and a gorilla. That’s where I first saw “The Green Slime.” The main thing I remembered about it was the funky theme song that repeatedly sang “Green Sliiiiimmmmme! Green Sliiimmmmmme!” If you hear it you will literally have it stuck in your head 25 years later. I kid you not.
The other thing I remember about “The Green Slime” is the monsters. They look like men in horrible rubber suits with tentacles ending in sparklers waving around. They also have a horrific squeaking sound that can drive you mad.
Watching “The Green Slime” all these years later, I was struck by several things. The first was that the plot was more familiar than I realized. The movie opens with an asteroid hurtling towards Earth. A group of astronauts are dispatched to land a spaceship on the asteroid, set explosives, and blow it up. Sound familiar? Yeah, it’s like “Armageddon.” The second half of “The Green Slime” features the alien creatures running amok on a space station killing people off one by one. They have to escape before they destroy the station. It’s similar in many respects to “Alien.” It just goes to show that there are no original ideas under the sun. What matters is how you execute those ideas.
The other noteworthy thing is the look of the special effects. They’re a lot like all the Japanese sci-fi films using models on wires, miniatures, etc. Some of the scenes are quite cheesy, but there are a few scenes here and there where even these low-tech models look pretty good all things considered.
This film was used in an unaired pilot for “Mystery Science Theater 3000.” And while the movie is that caliber of bad, I’ve seen worse movies. If you’re a fan of cheesy sci-fi movies, then this is one you’re going to want to check out. Unfortunately there are no bonus features included on this DVD and I believe the only place you can buy it is at the Warner Brothers store online.
