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Laserblast
01/08/2007 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
Region 2 DVD. pub: Cult Video CUV-DVD 8016. 120 minute film with minor extras. Price: £ 2.70(UK) simply if you look) stars: Kim Milford, Cheryl Smith, Gianni Russo, Roddy McDowall and Keenan Wynn. Buy Laserblast in the USA - or Buy Laserblast in the UK  Back in 1978 at a British comicon, when I was running a fan club, my stall was next to something or other that had one of those new-fangled video recorders running a copy of the film 'Laserblast'. I didn't actually see it but just had a request that when it was over, to wind the tape back and let it play again. That wasn't to say I didn't discover later what it was about. Indeed, a couple of my wallpapers on my computer actually includes stills from the Charles Brand produced film mostly cos of the startling look of its star and the shell-less tortoise-like look of the aliens animated by Dave Allen, not the Irish comedian but whose stop-motion animation technique had an influence on the second 'Star Wars' film. Seeing it available for less than a fiver finally decided me that I ought to give this film a look at long last.
'Laserblast' starts off with an alien with a futuristic gun on Earth being killed by two aliens who rush off, leaving behind the gun and its activator. It is discovered much later by Billy Duncan (actor Kim Milford), a some times put upon teenager, who although getting it to work with its activator, doesn't really play with it very much, especially as he develops a metallic disk on his chest where the activator touches him. Asleep, though, it's a different thing and the alien takes over and does the things he could only wish for, destroying various cars and the occupants who didn't like him. This all stops when the aliens return.
That's it in a nutshell. For a low budget film, it seems odd that actors like McDowall and Wynn were involved but based on something I once read about another low budget producer, Fred Olin Ray, a couple days filming with recognisable actors helped to sell the picture. Milford's acting was mostly wooden but as the slowly changing alien, he actually did a lot better. The strength of the film was that it was actually not that badly written and left a lot for you to work out from what was shown. You couldn't understand the language of the aliens but by implication certainly could work out their motivations. There was plenty of things showing what human teens got up to, not to mention the local constabulary of middle America, combined with some comic moments that weren't too painful to watch, even after all this time. Its certainly a lot less shylocky compared to some of the offerings from previews elsewhere on this DVD. 'Laserblast' was released to capture the same kind of audience into SF cos of a certain George Lucas film series starting out at the time and yet went its own way.
'Laserblast' is the kind of film you'd expect to have been re-made by now with a bigger budget. Yet, as it is, its still quite a fun way to pass 80 minutes and seeing how low budget movies were made long before CGI entered the fray. Ambitious for its time and certainly must have been a wow at American drive-ins. Just be careful about what you pick up in the desert.
GF Willmetts
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