STARCRASH (1979) dir. Luigi Cozzi
- IT CAME FROM THE RENTAL STORE II

Over at the Telekino Blog is the original trailer for kinky Italian Star Wars rip-off StarCrash - and what a great trailer it is too. I concur that any free-thinking movie audience would go ga-ga over the crinkly sub-Harryhausen stop motion effects, relentlessly recycled laser-based hijinks and the delectable Caroline Munro smartly attired in a succession of revealing outfits. Of course, they'd also have to suffer through the histrionics of afro-permed Marjoe Gortner and David Hasselhoff, not to mention a wisecracking robot and a slumming Christopher Plummer. Admittedly, at times Starcrash feels like it's been stitched together from a bunch of random out-takes and unfinished sequences - but that, of course, is all part of the charm.

The film has crept out onto DVD in both France and America, but I must confess I've stuck with my old Pre-cert VHS from Vipco, who had the decency to release this Spaghetti Sci-Fi in widescreen before such things were considered fashionable. A shame about the somewhat less than inspiring cover art though...

Starcrash even had a sequel, of sorts - Starcrash II aka Escape From Galaxy III (1981), featuring Sherry Buchanan as Bellastar. This dispensed with the more costly aspects of the original and upped the kink-quota by throwing in a bunch of sex scenes. It also features a fantastic bad guy in the shape of Don Powell, decked out like a drag queen at a Studio 54 Mardi Gras. A review at the IMDB calls it "Later Period Italian Disco Peplum Star Wars Garbage, With Nudity", which pretty much hits the nail on the head.

If curiosity gets the better of you, both films are available on one DVD from Xploited Cinema, although Starcrash II is in French only (then again, if you must spend your time watching such low grade filth the least you could do is better yourself by learning another language).

Not one, but two websites have sprung up extolling the virtues of Starcrash from individuals with unhealthy obsessions - here and here. Kudos to them both.