@Dominique Hardie Good Bad Flicks should do an Exploring video on Freaked - the Tom Stern/Alex Winter dark fantasy comedy; 20th Century Fox gave $13 million for that film and before it was prepare to move into post-production, Rupert Murdoch (CEO of Fox) and Peter Cherin cut almost all of the funds of marketing for Freaked because they claimed it was "too weird".
Plus as well, for video game companies, I hear in the UK alot of the bigger publishers while not paying their fair share of tax, they are also are stealing tax payer money that is supposed to be set aside for smaller developers and publishers who are looking at trying to make a go of it. So basically if you're in the UK and you don't plan on giving the likes of EA or Activision your money, due to their greedy lootboxes and mircotransactions too bad because we've got it already! I would say that the UK government should do something about this, but considering that it's the Tories in charge they don't give a shit about stuff like this, as after all its only tax payer money, and they'd sooner burn it themselves rather than actually use it to help the country. metro.co.uk/2019/10/02/sony-sega-warner-took-110-million-tax-breaks-meant-indie-developers-10850083/
This is such a great discussion of all these films. I did about 10 films for Corman before he bought the lumberyard. Did Piranha for New World Pictures and Joe Dante. I knew all these people a million years ago. What a time to be making films. Good memories
Haha Scorsese, Coppola, Ron Howard as well. Wow. And then Coppola financed George Lucas's first two films, and Tarantino claims inspiration from Corman, oh my. Thank MST3K for exposing Corman's films for a new audience. A shame he doesn't feel the same way.
Same as with Troma. Some of the industry giants right now started slinging fake blood for Lloyd Kaufman. James Gunn, Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Vincent D'Onofrio, Samuel L. Jackson, JJ Abrams, Billy Bob Thornton, Oliver Stone, Kevin Costner, Marissa Tomei, Michael Jai White... It's pretty crazy how many careers that goofy old man has launched.
Because of video rentals. When he started, VHS rentals were new and movie critics were never really accountable. When it became easier for the public to rent, or even watch movies on cable, he had to update his more obviously stupid reviews.
I'm a new subscriber and an industry effects veteran. I loved this movie when it has released. Then I moved to LA in 89 to start working as a model maker/ prop effects artiest. How did you get all this detail information on this movie. Over the years I've met people who worked this movie, and I would beg them to tell me stories. Thank you for this Video.
This is an amazing story of a man who was willing to take the opportunity presented to him and work hard to get to the position he wanted in life. James Cameron's story on this film is inspiring.
I watched this video, then started to watch "The Movies That Made Us" about Ghostbusters. Good Bad Flicks made a far more enjoyable and informative video about the making of a movie than a show on Netflix did.
It's always funny when you play the Roger Coreman origin game. So many big stars and directors owe him everything for their first roles because he's so willing to take risks and hire the inexperienced.
And/or, he had such low standards. I think you could find many more failures and flops, it's just no one cares what happened to them. A stopped clock still tells the right time, twice a day.
"Battle Beyond the Stars" was NOT a Star Wars knockoff. Go watch a western called "The Magnificent Seven". Robert Vaughn even plays the same character!
Gene was right about "Blue Velvet," but Roger gave it a thumbs-down. And if I'm not mistaken, they thought "The Terminator" was a routine action flick. And Roger said "Aliens" exhausted him. There were great films they liked, of course, but they missed out on some of them like "Reservoir Dogs."
Wait WHAT? Are you kidding? NOOOOOO! JFC no. If you didn't mention it here I never would've known. Well, not really "never"but you know what I mean. Sorry. So weird And thank you, random person. I gotta go make some phone calls.
he did indeed live and die, BY THE CRYSTALS. i LOVE that line, i'm glad they made him say it, even though he was still a little bitter about it on the DVD special features when he recorded them all those years later.
@‘The Faustmeister’ Rest Roddington You can't say one of the biggest movies of the year was a financial failure if you're talking gross, that strategy only works if you're talking net and using "creative accounting" to make the profit invisible.
This was pretty damn interesting. But I will admit while thinking "wow, so crazy he went from low budget horror to the biggest box office hits ever" I kind of forgot that I do in fact know Peter Jackson started with stuff like Dead/Alive lol. Or even Sam Raimi going from Evil Dead to Spiderman. All kind of had parallels in their careers I guess.
I love Dead/Alive, one of my favorite B movies growing up and I still watch it every now and then. I couldnt believe the same guy directed the LotR movies
Jackson should have gone back to making stuff like Braindead IMO. The Lord of the Rings trilogy was a case of 'lightning in a bottle'. The Hobbit trilogy and those crappy Kong movies were just embarrassing following TLotR.
If you don't have an already famous relative or big connections, but you have talent, you have to start way at the bottom and prove yourself to the industry, basically
The movie studios claiming Alien lost them money just reiterates my belief that Hollywood studios have been rife with shady financial undertakings for a long time.
He didn't. Film critics like Ebert are paid to basically tell people their own opinions on the film based on standards that they may or may not apply to every film they review. Though, in fairness to them, when you see so many movies so often then the formulas and tropes quickly become old hat and while something maybe refreshing to audiences the truth is you'll be so jaded that you'll only see the underlying said formulas and tropes.
@@DrForrester87 Yes. Although when Ebert mentions that sci-fi films at the time were basically retreading themes from the 50's he was on point-- Alien's basic plot is clearly "inspired" (to put it mildly) by "It! The Terror from Beyond Space". Leonard Maltin was another popular and prolific film critic who infamously trashed Alien on release, only to recant his views in later years.
@@DrForrester87 Ebert was semi-famous in critic circles for passing off scifi and fantasy films to his underlings and interns, then basing his review off his own opinions of what they wrote. Worse, at time's he'd make a show of attending, but then sneak out during previews or shortly into the credits. Siskel routinely jabs at him over it by trying to discuss details he knows Ebert doesn't have. Fun fact, Ebert's one contribution to actual film is writing Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, an X-rated rock opera Russ Meyer film.
@JDH87 _"you'll be so jaded that you'll only see the underlying said formulas and tropes"_ Good point, but I would not or only partially agree. I love movie as a medium, my guess is that I have watched more (and more obscure) movies than the average moviegoer over the decades and when I quite often I can tell right from the start what the plot twist will be, who is the murderer or who will stay alive. And this can be immensely annoying, quite entertaining or, in the best case, of no concern at all, depending on the quality of the script and the direction and acting, but I don't feel annoyed per se. Sure, I am not a movie critic, but then again, it's not that those people are forced to watch _that_ (bad) many movies.
I’m really sad that this James Cameron never continued in this Movie Business. I feel like his talent could be used on a Actual Aliens movies. Or even a movie about a sinking ship.
jgfjgfify Both Cameron and Miller have given interviews, and only said they disagreed on whether the humans should be winning in the future. Cameron wanted the humans to be winning. Since it’s an alternate timeline/future created, why not switch it up. Cameron said Poole was stubborn and difficult, but that never was reported when in production, and Poole seemed very happy with it in prerelease press. Other than some much more minor issues, both talked about the film as if they just didn’t understand why people didn’t love it. I just watched it thinking, “are they really making a movie so close to how T3 turned out?....Yep they did.” And they add the “enhanced” character, who is too reminiscent of the worst part of Salvation. Add the overdone CGI, and it’s another letdown. I liked it better than Genysis and most of Salvation, but not by a lot.
That's interesting about Roger Ebert's "turnaround" on Alien. I think Alien is one of those movies you have watch at least twice to appreciate. Living in Chicago, I met Ebert a few times. He was very nice and friendly. But I had to ask him why he gave such a lukewarm review to "Deliverance". He told me that the movie wasn't "deep enough" for him. Still don't understand that criticism, to be honest with you.
I did a similar turnaround on Big Lebowski and Fear and Loathing. I HATED those on first watch, but fell in love with them on the rewatch. Can you believe my MOM wanted to see Fear and Loathing, and was willing to take a 12 year old me to see it? I didn't dodge a cringe bullet, but a cringe GRENADE there.
This was the first GoodBadFlicks video I've seen, and I'm very impressed. I was expecting the typical UA-cam review where they just rehash the plot of the movie, but this was well researched and provided a lot of background on aspects of James Cameron's early years that I only vaguely knew.
Gave this a thumbs up before the title intro wasn't even over yet. I live this film even for being a supposed rip off. I've obsessed over this film even getting the poster signed by three of the actors. Alien is one of my favorite films. But shockingly this film is also in my favorites.
Screw what anyone else says... it WAS an awesome film! Great actors, great script! I loved it. A bit cheesy but that's ok. I mean, it's no Alien.... but it sure as hell kept me entertained and engrossed in it and that's all that counts.
I feel like whoever came up with that was clearly watching Hentai at the time.... The late 70s were around the time when Japan's laws started censoring everything and tentacles became a way to avoid that since no one could say an octopus was being kinky.
Correct. This is why I didn't listen to them ripping the Twilight films a new one. Wait a minute... I think one of the greatest things about the internet is how regular people always are masters at displaying their unashamed confirmation bias. Funny how they also never praise critics for loving the same movies they love (again negative confirmation bias). But short-sighted fools always sound the same. Internet gives them a voice.
Now ever neckbeard and spastic thinks they are a critic, it's the worst thing about the Internet, any moron can have a platform to be an insufferable pos with an inflated ego
Well, a professional critic is an insufferable dweeb with an inflated sense of worth from big words that matter not to anybody who did not major in the arts, while neckbeards can provide a more common sense approach, even if it is crude. For most , lets say not so cerebral films that are today's favoured style, the neckbeard is the correct choice. This is because most moviegoers have the neckbeard's taste, and don't exactly care about artistic tools and such, they just want a fun popcorn flick. Indeed a lot of films that became successive franchises got nailed by critics for being "too crude." The problem is, after a decade of fart sniffing most critics forgot the whole idea of "dumb fun" and think every film must absolutely be an arts festival social commentary with all the subversions and zero fun. Which most people find boring, snobbish and preachy.
The terrific special effects were definitely the stand out of this movie. Few films, especially this cheaply made manage to nail the look and atmosphere of Alien so well. I was also glad the plot doesn't do a copy and paste of alien like so many of the knock offs did. It almost feels more like Bava's Planet of the Vampires which clearly had a huge influence on Ridley Scott.
True, I used to feed them to my pet-lizard. Also even WHEN they use real maggots (Event horizon for example) they use the white maggots (green flies) instead of the red maggots (meat flies) that are actually found on corpses.
Meticulously Detailed Documentary! Taaffe O'Connell’s refusal to turn her nose up at shooting an Alien-Rape Scene makes her the true heroine of Galaxy of Terror. But talk about an absolute crime 17:44
The bit about the maggots taking Cameron’s direction got a good laugh from me. And in all, this is one of the most entertaining Exploring videos to date on your channel. Keep up the great work.
Crazy how this was the jumping off point for successful careers. Pretty cool. I also love how Cameron brought back people he worked with throughout his early career after he became huge. True bro.
Sam Raimi - "My new movie has a tree rape scene!" James Cameron - "Hold my cold KY jelly and watch this" Both this and Evil Dead released the same month I found out, pretty cool.
The reactions were caution, puzzlement and fear. Assuming you’re talking about Alien, they knew the transmission may not be human in origin, and if you’ve seen the extended cut they actually listened to the message which is thought to be an Extraterrestrial Voice. At no point in the movie is it ever suggested that Extraterrestrial Life had previously never been encountered. Granted it would be safe to assume that the “Space Jockey” Species and the Alien/Xenomorph Species had yet to be encountered.
Well, I mean, the entire theory was clearly stated and all the info was completely laid out in front of you, so if you couldn't piece this together, you must be brain damaged.
Strange how the movie consumers gave all power to the famous movie reviewers that could not make a award winning film themselves, strange times back then
Dude, this one is cool! You focus more of the history of Cameron. You should do more like this where it's 'person' centered instead of 'movie' centered
Galaxy of terror has nothing to do with Alien. It's a rewrite of the 1952 classic Forbidden planet. Forbidden planet Spaceship goes to planet. Finds ancient city People mysteriously die in strange circumstances. It is revealed that a machine creates anything that the ship crew think of. This is the same story line as Galaxy of terror.
God I loved Cameron's early films. I don't know what it says about me but the larger the Box Office for his films the more I hated them. It's great to see him back in the day working magic within financial constraints. It'd be interesting to see what he could do now if he capped his budget at a couple of million.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Many accuse this film of ripping off Alien, but in terms of atmosphere and plot line, it actually bears a closer resemblance to Planet of the Vampires, an earlier Mario Bava film that inspired Alien, and that in turn always felt to me like a gothic horror variation on Forbidden Planet. Alien was an excellent and important film but, novel monster aside, it was never a giant feat of storytelling originality, and it’s kind of annoying that literally every sci-fi horror monster movie made in its wake is assumed to have ripped it off.
I remember catching this on VHS back in the 80s, always loved it for being energetic high concept sci-fi. Planet-Masters, alien teaching machines that use fear, the subtle ways the crew had their individual fears revealed then realised. Some of it was a bit cheesy, but still terrific value for a cheap Alien rip-off. Still prefer the original title, "Planet of Horrors", because it makes sense. It's just a planet, not an entire galaxy. I'd have called it Pyramid Of Neuroses.
The clip where he called Alien a haunted house in space - he wasn't really calling it a bad movie. It's fairly accurate if you think about it 🤔. He was probably better able to express and articulate his criticism about the movie as time went on and with subsequent viewings.
Good bad flicks , I love your historical accounts so much. It reminds me of all the times I'd nerd out about films with friends in the early 90's as a kid. I wish I could have had your videos as a map to the VHS rental store horror section.
You make such great videos. I usually watch four or five at a time. I think you're just so swell, one of my favorite creators. I think i started listening to you maybe four years ago. I'm always recommending you to film buffs i meet. Never found another series with as much extra info and details and little nuggets as good bad flicks. I think razorback was one of the first i saw of yours.
"They called it Planet of Horrors." Oh, okay. (Googles Planet of Horrors) Hmm. Not there. "He suggested changing the title to Quest." Oh. They changed the name to Quest. Hmm. Still not there. "After filming they changed the name of the production from Quest to Mind Warp." For God's sake! And it's still not there! What is up? "They recalled the prints and renamed the film to Galaxy of Terror." Ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
Wow, who would've known that this forgotten so-called Alien rip-off, would've been so important to many people's careers, as well as the Alien franchise??? Cecil, I LOVE your in depth reviews of forgotten classics, like this one. They are always super entertaining & always get me pumped up for making a film of my own!! There were ALOT of useful cost-cutting tips, featured in this video, as well. Nice job, man!! 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
GOT is one of my favorite B movies. I just love everything about it. I enjoy watching well-researched and well-narrated videos about it. This was perfect. And whatever anyone says, "I live and I die by the crystals" is one of the most badass lines ever 🤘
Cameron walks into the board meeting, saying nothing, and writes "Alien" on the board. Then changes it to "Aliens" Then "Alien$" Don't know if that's actually true but it's too funny not to repeat
You make a point that so many overlook. "low budget" movies provide a chance for young and inexperienced actors/crew/directors/producers to learn their craft in ways no formal schooling can. Many many times I've watched a 'cheap' movie and noticed an amazing camera shot or great costumes or interesting set design etc...Few people are born geniuses. The rest of us need time to hone and perfect our abilities.
Man, I thought fox's mismanagement of the x-men franchise was bad. After seeing this what became of the alien and predator franchises makes _sooooo_ much sense. Aliens always had the look of a big budget blockbuster studio tentpool movie bit, apparently, not. It was all passion and filmcraft.
I knew it! Every time you get sick you hit a grand slam! That flu is clutch! This Exploring documentary is nothing short of spectacular. Thanks, man. This is just brilliant content. Blessings to you and your fam and Happy Holidays! 😁
absolutely. no idea why roger ebert ever came to prominence... I imagine it was because there was not much in the way of movie reviewers on the relatively new platform of primetime TV, so people didn't have much else to go on
Well, he was a very well-lettered hack (no matter how much you wanna mock it, you don’t give the Pulitzer to just any guy who writes), and some of the films he reviewed ARE as big a POS as he talked about. The problem, of course, is how to actually divide “so bad it’s good” vs. genuinely bad. Thankfully, thanks to the benefit of time and Cecil’s amazing presentation, we have the benefit of this work having been made easier.
Normally I don't like videos like these where the narrator keeps blablabla with a lot of cuts without an end. But THIS video, the narrator feels more natural, listening of it is pleasant, it's not cut chaotically and the video was very informative. Thank you for this nice video!
I saw this on TCM 5 years ago as their midnight special where they show blaxploitation and low budget horror films. Thanks for the video!! See you later!! Happy Thanksgiving!!
I now know everything I need to know about 'Galaxy of Terror', probably more. Thank you for your sterling work (and dedicated picture research) in making this so watchable.
Damn you and your channel. There are not enough hours in my days to watch all the movies and TV shows I love AND these missed treasures. Also, you do an excellent job in the narrative.
Dang, you really did your homework on this. Your report makes me appreciate the movie more now. I just watched this the other day for nostalgic reasons from back in the 80's but wow, I really like your detailed description! I had no idea.
Studios always say films lost money so they don't have to pay people. But this backfired once. For Forrest Gump. The original writer of the book. Was told that the first movie lost money so he didn't get what was owed to him. But then the studio tried to buy the sequel book to make another movie. But the writer said "why the first one didn't make any money" and refused to sell.
As a fan of good filmmaking, and of all things sci/fi- regardless of the budget- its so interesting to watch how Cameron evolved his style through these productions. You can make a similar comparison with Richard Donner, who cut his teeth directing on a ton of television series in the 60's. The one that's memorable for me was the serial Danger Island from The Banana Splits Adventure Hour (which featured a young Jan-Michael Vincent).
Claimed it lost money?
Creative accounting?
Sequel not warranted?
Sounds like those movie execs are in the video game industry today.
@Dominique Hardie Good Bad Flicks should do an Exploring video on Freaked - the Tom Stern/Alex Winter dark fantasy comedy; 20th Century Fox gave $13 million for that film and before it was prepare to move into post-production, Rupert Murdoch (CEO of Fox) and Peter Cherin cut almost all of the funds of marketing for Freaked because they claimed it was "too weird".
Dominique Hardie it’s funny what happened to Fox now that they were bought by Disney.
Really video games are non stop sequels...
More corrupt than a military junta
Plus as well, for video game companies, I hear in the UK alot of the bigger publishers while not paying their fair share of tax, they are also are stealing tax payer money that is supposed to be set aside for smaller developers and publishers who are looking at trying to make a go of it. So basically if you're in the UK and you don't plan on giving the likes of EA or Activision your money, due to their greedy lootboxes and mircotransactions too bad because we've got it already! I would say that the UK government should do something about this, but considering that it's the Tories in charge they don't give a shit about stuff like this, as after all its only tax payer money, and they'd sooner burn it themselves rather than actually use it to help the country.
metro.co.uk/2019/10/02/sony-sega-warner-took-110-million-tax-breaks-meant-indie-developers-10850083/
This is such a great discussion of all these films. I did about 10 films for Corman before he bought the lumberyard. Did Piranha for New World Pictures and Joe Dante. I knew all these people a million years ago. What a time to be making films. Good memories
I loved Piranha... thank you!
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The number of Oscar winners who started working for Roger Corman over the years would put most major film schools to shame.
Haha Scorsese, Coppola, Ron Howard as well. Wow. And then Coppola financed George Lucas's first two films, and Tarantino claims inspiration from Corman, oh my.
Thank MST3K for exposing Corman's films for a new audience. A shame he doesn't feel the same way.
Fuck yeah
Same as with Troma. Some of the industry giants right now started slinging fake blood for Lloyd Kaufman. James Gunn, Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Vincent D'Onofrio, Samuel L. Jackson, JJ Abrams, Billy Bob Thornton, Oliver Stone, Kevin Costner, Marissa Tomei, Michael Jai White... It's pretty crazy how many careers that goofy old man has launched.
I wonder if any studios still do this apprentice style hiring?
@@ManScoutsofAmerica Kathleen Kennedy/ Rian Johnson? Ow my balls.
Roger Ebert spent a lot of his career dismissing genre movies, only to admit many of them were classics years later
Because of video rentals. When he started, VHS rentals were new and movie critics were never really accountable. When it became easier for the public to rent, or even watch movies on cable, he had to update his more obviously stupid reviews.
Probably like many critics it starts with trying to appear picky and get attention.
That's why you never trust critics see the movies for yourself don't read reviews
Roger Ebert was a narrow minded hack right to the moment he thankfully kicked it. Good riddance.
@@diverguy3556 He's just giving his opinion. And BTW, Siskel was the better of the two.
- 2nd highest international box-office of the year
- considered a flop
You'd think this were EA or Activision we were talking about
Nah, they studied Fox's fuckery as a template for how they do business.
Fox's buyout at the hands of Disney feels karmic.
It beat Rocky 2!!!!
@@LinkMarioSamus Disney is even worse with this shit.
They were no different than the record companies, legally stealing the money from their artists
I'm a new subscriber and an industry effects veteran. I loved this movie when it has released. Then I moved to LA in 89 to start working as a model maker/ prop effects artiest. How did you get all this detail information on this movie. Over the years I've met people who worked this movie, and I would beg them to tell me stories. Thank you for this Video.
I guess it’s all made up.
@@kittenburger_prime 😆
Wow evil ted! Small world 👍🏻
20th Century Fox:
We're not saying the film didn't make any money. We're saying the film didn't make YOU any money! BWAHAHAHAHAAAAA!
😂
😆😆😆
LMFAO!
"Now let me close with that old 20th Century Fox saying - Get the fuck out of my building!"
@@bobbyb6053
😂
This is an amazing story of a man who was willing to take the opportunity presented to him and work hard to get to the position he wanted in life. James Cameron's story on this film is inspiring.
8:50, RIP, Bill Paxton.
@Thomas Emilio He passed away due to complications from open heart surgery in 2016.
@@shainewhite2781 No way!?!
...
I'm sorry but I gotta...
...game over, man! GAME OVER!
Frailty is outstanding
"Well why dont you put her in charge"
~Bill the fucking man Paxton
@@shainewhite2781 murdered
I watched this video, then started to watch "The Movies That Made Us" about Ghostbusters. Good Bad Flicks made a far more enjoyable and informative video about the making of a movie than a show on Netflix did.
Budget: 5-10 million dollars
Returns: 150-200 million dollars
Final verdict: profit loss?
Conclusion: FOX IS BAD AT MATH!
I personally think studios still do this.
Same Fox Execs that said, "Star Wars isn't going to go anywhere so let Lucas keep all the merchandising rights."
"Bad at math" is code for "flat out stealing".
That's how Hollywood works.
All studios do this. They transfer losses from flop films to hit films and cook the books.
with Hollywood's "creative accounting" no movie has EVER made any money.
it's the only creativity in hollywood.
Savage AF!!! 😆😆😆
@@shawnarthur5921 Whats more disturbing is that the lawsuits didn't find any fraud. Weird.
@@MrBottlecapBill the lawyers, accountants, and executives were all probably related.
Oy vey
It happens in the music industry as well.
It's always funny when you play the Roger Coreman origin game. So many big stars and directors owe him everything for their first roles because he's so willing to take risks and hire the inexperienced.
And/or, he had such low standards. I think you could find many more failures and flops, it's just no one cares what happened to them. A stopped clock still tells the right time, twice a day.
@@squirlmy you are simply wrong,what you have said in no way disproves the original commenters point
@@squirlmy Not low standards, just low budget. The same amount of care and effort went into these movies as they would for a major Hollywood feature.
"Battle Beyond the Stars" was NOT a Star Wars knockoff. Go watch a western called "The Magnificent Seven". Robert Vaughn even plays the same character!
@@kowaigaijin8880 And Star Wars was a remake of the Samurai movie the Hidden Fortress by Kurosawa. Some next degree circle of life shit going on here!
dafuq
@@kowaigaijin8880 And "Seven Samurai" is a Japanese reimagining of Shakespeare's MacBeth. There are no new stories, just new retellings.
@@searcherfortruthlayton1665 Have you ever watched Hidden Fortress? It's not a whole lot like Star Wars.
@@kowaigaijin8880 Kurosawa acknowledged that 7 Samurai was influenced by the Western genre so again circle of life...
"John Carpenter came to the lumberyard" That seems about right
john carpenter came from space in the enterprise with PALE captain kirk and jamee lee curtis
With his famous white mask blue jumpsuit and butcher knife
...six cigarettes dangling from his mouth
... and a hangover that could kill a Kennedy
The DVD comments section of GALAXY OF TERROR never mentioned Carpenters name!
wow, first Alien, then The Thing... were Siskel & Ebert ever right about anything?
Not sci-fi horror by the sounds of it.
NO
@@Vaultboy101 guess it was a really misunderstood genre
No
Gene was right about "Blue Velvet," but Roger gave it a thumbs-down. And if I'm not mistaken, they thought "The Terminator" was a routine action flick. And Roger said "Aliens" exhausted him. There were great films they liked, of course, but they missed out on some of them like "Reservoir Dogs."
4:38, RIP Sid Haig. 1939-2019
He is slinging his Crystal Pepsi throwing stars in heaven.
also, woah, he looked iconic now, but he was DEFINITELY ruggedly handsome back then too. RIP 💫 i didn’t recognize him at first! 😄
Dragos was the man.
Wait WHAT? Are you kidding? NOOOOOO! JFC no.
If you didn't mention it here I never would've known. Well, not really "never"but you know what I mean. Sorry. So weird
And thank you, random person. I gotta go make some phone calls.
he did indeed live and die, BY THE CRYSTALS. i LOVE that line, i'm glad they made him say it, even though he was still a little bitter about it on the DVD special features when he recorded them all those years later.
Cameron proves not just being in the right place at the right time counts, but busting your ass and showing effort with a product is key
There's an old strategy when dealing with a studio; never take points on the net - ALWAYS take your cut from gross.
Always a favorite little self aware line from Freakazoid, "...always ask for a piece of the gross. The. Net. Is. Fantasy."
This was standard practice at the time and most studios did it. James Garner famously fought battles with "creative accounting" studios.
"Obfuscation protects the Vig."
@‘The Faustmeister’ Rest Roddington
You can't say one of the biggest movies of the year was a financial failure if you're talking gross, that strategy only works if you're talking net and using "creative accounting" to make the profit invisible.
...and residuals. Like Yogurt said in Spaceballs, "Moichendising, moichendising, moichendising!"
This was pretty damn interesting. But I will admit while thinking "wow, so crazy he went from low budget horror to the biggest box office hits ever" I kind of forgot that I do in fact know Peter Jackson started with stuff like Dead/Alive lol. Or even Sam Raimi going from Evil Dead to Spiderman. All kind of had parallels in their careers I guess.
I love Dead/Alive, one of my favorite B movies growing up and I still watch it every now and then. I couldnt believe the same guy directed the LotR movies
Jackson should have gone back to making stuff like Braindead IMO. The Lord of the Rings trilogy was a case of 'lightning in a bottle'. The Hobbit trilogy and those crappy Kong movies were just embarrassing following TLotR.
A lot of directors normally have that path, also look at Steven Spielberg.
I loved Jackson's movie Bad Taste.
If you don't have an already famous relative or big connections, but you have talent, you have to start way at the bottom and prove yourself to the industry, basically
The film that jumpstarted James Cameron's career!
James Cameron said if he hadn't worked on this movie. Then he would have had a hard time with the Queen in Aliens.
Thank god it did. We wouldn’t have had two of my favourite movies, Aliens and Terminator 2.
It's cursed
@23:40, if you look in the top half of the screen. The maquette is that of the unused Godzilla design for Jan De Bont's unproduced 1994-1996 film.
23:05, RIP Stan Winston. 1946-2008.
23:01
The movie studios claiming Alien lost them money just reiterates my belief that Hollywood studios have been rife with shady financial undertakings for a long time.
Hollywood has been run by the mafia for decades.
Even for a low budget for Corman standards. The special effects look really good and you could tell.
Just watched Galaxy of Terror for the first time yesterday. LOVED IT. This was a great behind the scenes- well done.
Thanks for watching!
I love that despite the fact that Cameron grew to one of the biggest power players in the movie industry, he believed in loyalty to his friends.
seems like ebert didnt know wtf he was talking about
He didn't. Film critics like Ebert are paid to basically tell people their own opinions on the film based on standards that they may or may not apply to every film they review. Though, in fairness to them, when you see so many movies so often then the formulas and tropes quickly become old hat and while something maybe refreshing to audiences the truth is you'll be so jaded that you'll only see the underlying said formulas and tropes.
@@DrForrester87 Yes. Although when Ebert mentions that sci-fi films at the time were basically retreading themes from the 50's he was on point-- Alien's basic plot is clearly "inspired" (to put it mildly) by "It! The Terror from Beyond Space". Leonard Maltin was another popular and prolific film critic who infamously trashed Alien on release, only to recant his views in later years.
@@DrForrester87 Ebert was semi-famous in critic circles for passing off scifi and fantasy films to his underlings and interns, then basing his review off his own opinions of what they wrote. Worse, at time's he'd make a show of attending, but then sneak out during previews or shortly into the credits. Siskel routinely jabs at him over it by trying to discuss details he knows Ebert doesn't have. Fun fact, Ebert's one contribution to actual film is writing Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, an X-rated rock opera Russ Meyer film.
@JDH87
_"you'll be so jaded that you'll only see the underlying said formulas and tropes"_
Good point, but I would not or only partially agree. I love movie as a medium, my guess is that I have watched more (and more obscure) movies than the average moviegoer over the decades and when I quite often I can tell right from the start what the plot twist will be, who is the murderer or who will stay alive.
And this can be immensely annoying, quite entertaining or, in the best case, of no concern at all, depending on the quality of the script and the direction and acting, but I don't feel annoyed per se. Sure, I am not a movie critic, but then again, it's not that those people are forced to watch _that_ (bad) many movies.
He did, then he didn't, then he did again lol
James Cameron was never heard again after this movie
James who?
I’m really sad that this James Cameron never continued in this Movie Business. I feel like his talent could be used on a Actual Aliens movies. Or even a movie about a sinking ship.
jgfjgfify
Both Cameron and Miller have given interviews, and only said they disagreed on whether the humans should be winning in the future. Cameron wanted the humans to be winning. Since it’s an alternate timeline/future created, why not switch it up. Cameron said Poole was stubborn and difficult, but that never was reported when in production, and Poole seemed very happy with it in prerelease press.
Other than some much more minor issues, both talked about the film as if they just didn’t understand why people didn’t love it.
I just watched it thinking, “are they really making a movie so close to how T3 turned out?....Yep they did.” And they add the “enhanced” character, who is too reminiscent of the worst part of Salvation.
Add the overdone CGI, and it’s another letdown. I liked it better than Genysis and most of Salvation, but not by a lot.
Im our timeline, he was Terminated in a bar in Mexico, wearing a terrible shirt.
@@jgfjgfify In all seriousness Jim Cameron's involvement in the new Terminator movie reminds me of George Lucas and the prequels.
"I live and I die by the crystals."
I saw this during first run. The theater burst out laughing.
That's interesting about Roger Ebert's "turnaround" on Alien. I think Alien is one of those movies you have watch at least twice to appreciate. Living in Chicago, I met Ebert a few times. He was very nice and friendly. But I had to ask him why he gave such a lukewarm review to "Deliverance". He told me that the movie wasn't "deep enough" for him. Still don't understand that criticism, to be honest with you.
I did a similar turnaround on Big Lebowski and Fear and Loathing. I HATED those on first watch, but fell in love with them on the rewatch.
Can you believe my MOM wanted to see Fear and Loathing, and was willing to take a 12 year old me to see it?
I didn't dodge a cringe bullet, but a cringe GRENADE there.
This was the first GoodBadFlicks video I've seen, and I'm very impressed. I was expecting the typical UA-cam review where they just rehash the plot of the movie, but this was well researched and provided a lot of background on aspects of James Cameron's early years that I only vaguely knew.
Gave this a thumbs up before the title intro wasn't even over yet. I live this film even for being a supposed rip off. I've obsessed over this film even getting the poster signed by three of the actors. Alien is one of my favorite films. But shockingly this film is also in my favorites.
Screw what anyone else says... it WAS an awesome film! Great actors, great script! I loved it. A bit cheesy but that's ok. I mean, it's no Alien.... but it sure as hell kept me entertained and engrossed in it and that's all that counts.
I'm amazed how rare it was when I first watched it. Had to get an imported bootleg before they released it on Blu-ray.
Let's talk about the real issue here.
How to find Maggy the Maggot's lost footage. 🧐
I feel like whoever came up with that was clearly watching Hentai at the time....
The late 70s were around the time when Japan's laws started censoring everything and tentacles became a way to avoid that since no one could say an octopus was being kinky.
That alien slug scene was just crazy.
that scene was originally longer and gave it an X-rating
I know right? I only masturbated twice
Still less of a monster than Harvey Weinstein.
Good I wasn't the only one.
Sure. It inspired so many......animes.
"he promised the investors that there was gonna be a rape in the film"
Ah, the 80's... Good times.
Yes, but she would LIE on the floor. She was LYING on the floor! Where was something to lay on the floor? Peace.
Cecil you've outdone yourself. This deep dive was amazing, I never get tired of watching your channel.
I think one of the greatest things about the internet is that professional critics are rendered entirely useless.
Correct. This is why I didn't listen to them ripping the Twilight films a new one. Wait a minute...
I think one of the greatest things about the internet is how regular people always are masters at displaying their unashamed confirmation bias. Funny how they also never praise critics for loving the same movies they love (again negative confirmation bias). But short-sighted fools always sound the same. Internet gives them a voice.
@@paulallen8109 lol that was one of the saddest comments i have ever had the misfortune to read. I actually feel sorry for you.
Now ever neckbeard and spastic thinks they are a critic, it's the worst thing about the Internet, any moron can have a platform to be an insufferable pos with an inflated ego
Well, a professional critic is an insufferable dweeb with an inflated sense of worth from big words that matter not to anybody who did not major in the arts, while neckbeards can provide a more common sense approach, even if it is crude. For most , lets say not so cerebral films that are today's favoured style, the neckbeard is the correct choice. This is because most moviegoers have the neckbeard's taste, and don't exactly care about artistic tools and such, they just want a fun popcorn flick.
Indeed a lot of films that became successive franchises got nailed by critics for being "too crude." The problem is, after a decade of fart sniffing most critics forgot the whole idea of "dumb fun" and think every film must absolutely be an arts festival social commentary with all the subversions and zero fun.
Which most people find boring, snobbish and preachy.
@@rocoe9019
Lol. Ok boomer.
The terrific special effects were definitely the stand out of this movie. Few films, especially this cheaply made manage to nail the look and atmosphere of Alien so well. I was also glad the plot doesn't do a copy and paste of alien like so many of the knock offs did. It almost feels more like Bava's Planet of the Vampires which clearly had a huge influence on Ridley Scott.
So to review. Fox was terrible then and terrible now.
Fox is Disney now.
@@maxant4285 Doesn't refute his statement
Every Hollywood major studios are...
The worms on the prop arm are not maggots. They're mealworms.
Yup, which is what they almost always use instead of real maggots and the real ones are tiny and boring.
@Florian Held
RULE OF ACQUISITION
#
" NEVER MAKE FUN OF A
FERENGI'S FOOD "
@@andrewblanchard2398 as long as they are "pre-chewed" it's fine. lol
@@mbrando4403
😂
True, I used to feed them to my pet-lizard.
Also even WHEN they use real maggots (Event horizon for example) they use the white maggots (green flies) instead of the red maggots (meat flies) that are actually found on corpses.
Meticulously Detailed Documentary! Taaffe O'Connell’s refusal to turn her nose up at shooting an Alien-Rape Scene makes her the true heroine of Galaxy of Terror. But talk about an absolute crime 17:44
The bit about the maggots taking Cameron’s direction got a good laugh from me. And in all, this is one of the most entertaining Exploring videos to date on your channel. Keep up the great work.
Crazy how this was the jumping off point for successful careers. Pretty cool. I also love how Cameron brought back people he worked with throughout his early career after he became huge. True bro.
Sam Raimi - "My new movie has a tree rape scene!"
James Cameron - "Hold my cold KY jelly and watch this"
Both this and Evil Dead released the same month I found out, pretty cool.
I was thinking ... Dear Jim, introduce the warm KY then spray with the cold. The reaction ... cmon
The tree may have raped but what was the girl doing in the woods at night anyway? Haha
One word. Splinters.
There was only a "Book of the Dead" showing when this was released in '81..."The Evil Dead" was released in 1983.
It was a big time for inanimate objects like trees and oversized insects, like maggots sodomizing young women in movies.
Your knowledge and research into these films is truly commendable.
PREDATOR and Pumpkin head are awesome!!!
The lack of reaction to the giant skeleton bothers me. Alien life was unknown. They see an alien skeleton an nobody talks about it.
The reactions were caution, puzzlement and fear. Assuming you’re talking about Alien, they knew the transmission may not be human in origin, and if you’ve seen the extended cut they actually listened to the message which is thought to be an Extraterrestrial Voice. At no point in the movie is it ever suggested that Extraterrestrial Life had previously never been encountered. Granted it would be safe to assume that the “Space Jockey” Species and the Alien/Xenomorph Species had yet to be encountered.
Suddenly I can see where Cameron got a lot of practice and ideas used in Aliens.
Well, I mean, the entire theory was clearly stated and all the info was completely laid out in front of you, so if you couldn't piece this together, you must be brain damaged.
@@231mac : ROFL LMFAO !! BAAAHAAAHAAAHAAAHAAAA !!! : D
@@231mac tldr... No shit
@@sticky4158 Damn you're lazy, lol
@@231mac efficient... Not lazy lol
11:20 shows something that looks nothing like alien.
Apparently the Xenomorph looks like a bat after bad taxidermy 🤷
IKR... not sure how that is supposed to resemble a xenomorph.
Great film, one bit I like is the evil version of Englund's character is basically a sneak preview of Freddie.
Saw you on PKA and came to check out this video. Good stuff man, thought it was really interesting and well produced.
Thank you! If you would like to see more like this you should check out my videos on The Black Hole, The Thing and Mortal Kombat.
This was obviously an epic passion project. The culmination of a lot of work. Good job!
Strange how the movie consumers gave all power to the famous movie reviewers that could not make a award winning film themselves, strange times back then
Dude, this one is cool! You focus more of the history of Cameron. You should do more like this where it's 'person' centered instead of 'movie' centered
Tbh this sounds like it was just tons of fun to work on.
Always liked Galaxy of Terror. It's just over the top weird SciFi in a good way. Awesome video btw !
Galaxy of terror has nothing to do with Alien.
It's a rewrite of the 1952 classic Forbidden planet.
Forbidden planet
Spaceship goes to planet.
Finds ancient city
People mysteriously die in strange circumstances.
It is revealed that a machine creates anything that the ship crew think of.
This is the same story line as Galaxy of terror.
Sounds kinda like Sphere in a way
Sounds like a lot of movies.
God I loved Cameron's early films. I don't know what it says about me but the larger the Box Office for his films the more I hated them. It's great to see him back in the day working magic within financial constraints. It'd be interesting to see what he could do now if he capped his budget at a couple of million.
It would be hard to with his inflated ego now
@@blackgold63 He was actually much worse in the 90s compared to today
I've always wanted to know James Cameron's story during and after this film. Thanks for the video, this was excellent research.
New movie idea: "Galaxy Quest of Terror", a rip-off Star Trek and Alien mashup.
they're calling it "Picard" though and it's a series on a failing pay access streaming service. Alex Kurtzman developed the concept so good luck.
This unfortunately made me think of Alan Rickman and I got sad. But that's cause Galaxy Quest is fucking awesome.
Would that mean the giant worm tries to tickle the woman to death?
@@stegwise you take that back
that actually sounds pretty good :D
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again.
Many accuse this film of ripping off Alien, but in terms of atmosphere and plot line, it actually bears a closer resemblance to Planet of the Vampires, an earlier Mario Bava film that inspired Alien, and that in turn always felt to me like a gothic horror variation on Forbidden Planet. Alien was an excellent and important film but, novel monster aside, it was never a giant feat of storytelling originality, and it’s kind of annoying that literally every sci-fi horror monster movie made in its wake is assumed to have ripped it off.
I remember catching this on VHS back in the 80s, always loved it for being energetic high concept sci-fi. Planet-Masters, alien teaching machines that use fear, the subtle ways the crew had their individual fears revealed then realised. Some of it was a bit cheesy, but still terrific value for a cheap Alien rip-off. Still prefer the original title, "Planet of Horrors", because it makes sense. It's just a planet, not an entire galaxy. I'd have called it Pyramid Of Neuroses.
This was one of the movies we would watch in Jeff Farley's makeup effects shop in Van Nuys, while working on other film effects.
That's unusual for Ebert to flip-flop like that. Industry pressure perhaps?
The clip where he called Alien a haunted house in space - he wasn't really calling it a bad movie. It's fairly accurate if you think about it 🤔. He was probably better able to express and articulate his criticism about the movie as time went on and with subsequent viewings.
Good bad flicks , I love your historical accounts so much. It reminds me of all the times I'd nerd out about films with friends in the early 90's as a kid.
I wish I could have had your videos as a map to the VHS rental store horror section.
The original Star Wars costumes had painted wood.
No way!? Hahaha I gotta look that up, that's cool.
Still painting Mickey's wood.
Easily one of your best reviews/breakdowns/documentaries so far. The amount of insane research you had to do must have been ridiculous.
Galaxy of terror. The best of the Alien rip off films of the 80s
You make such great videos. I usually watch four or five at a time. I think you're just so swell, one of my favorite creators. I think i started listening to you maybe four years ago. I'm always recommending you to film buffs i meet. Never found another series with as much extra info and details and little nuggets as good bad flicks. I think razorback was one of the first i saw of yours.
Thanks so much! I really work hard to try to make these as informative as possible. :)
"They called it Planet of Horrors."
Oh, okay. (Googles Planet of Horrors) Hmm. Not there.
"He suggested changing the title to Quest."
Oh. They changed the name to Quest. Hmm. Still not there.
"After filming they changed the name of the production from Quest to Mind Warp."
For God's sake! And it's still not there! What is up?
"They recalled the prints and renamed the film to Galaxy of Terror."
Ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
I mean the final title was literally in the title of the video. Shouldn't have been a surprise.
I knew about the actors involved in Galaxy of Terror, but I had no idea there were so many bright minds behind the scenes. Crazy.
Ray Walston will always be "Poopdeck Pappy" in my heart
Wow, who would've known that this forgotten so-called Alien rip-off, would've been so important to many people's careers, as well as the Alien franchise??? Cecil, I LOVE your in depth reviews of forgotten classics, like this one. They are always super entertaining & always get me pumped up for making a film of my own!! There were ALOT of useful cost-cutting tips, featured in this video, as well. Nice job, man!! 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Thank you for making this video, for a Cameron fan like me, this is really awesome to see
GOT is one of my favorite B movies. I just love everything about it. I enjoy watching well-researched and well-narrated videos about it. This was perfect.
And whatever anyone says, "I live and I die by the crystals" is one of the most badass lines ever 🤘
Aw, the bromance between Lance Henrikson and James Cameron is kind of cute, lol.
Cameron walks into the board meeting, saying nothing, and writes "Alien" on the board.
Then changes it to "Aliens"
Then "Alien$"
Don't know if that's actually true but it's too funny not to repeat
Alien was, and is the best movie ever made!
The sequels while good, are not even close to it's greatness.
You make a point that so many overlook. "low budget" movies provide a chance for young and inexperienced actors/crew/directors/producers to learn their craft in ways no formal schooling can. Many many times I've watched a 'cheap' movie and noticed an amazing camera shot or great costumes or interesting set design etc...Few people are born geniuses. The rest of us need time to hone and perfect our abilities.
Man, I thought fox's mismanagement of the x-men franchise was bad. After seeing this what became of the alien and predator franchises makes _sooooo_ much sense. Aliens always had the look of a big budget blockbuster studio tentpool movie bit, apparently, not. It was all passion and filmcraft.
One of the best ones yet, it’s like two explores in one
Sweet, I never heard of this movie and it has Sid Hauge.
* Add to cart *
I knew it! Every time you get sick you hit a grand slam! That flu is clutch! This Exploring documentary is nothing short of spectacular. Thanks, man. This is just brilliant content. Blessings to you and your fam and Happy Holidays! 😁
Every time I hear a Roger Ebert review it solidifies my belief that he's just a complete hack
Those who can't *do* often *criticize* instead.
was
absolutely. no idea why roger ebert ever came to prominence... I imagine it was because there was not much in the way of movie reviewers on the relatively new platform of primetime TV, so people didn't have much else to go on
hack and hypocrite...thye are unfortunately famous because no internet and yt back in their days so they had no competition
Well, he was a very well-lettered hack (no matter how much you wanna mock it, you don’t give the Pulitzer to just any guy who writes), and some of the films he reviewed ARE as big a POS as he talked about. The problem, of course, is how to actually divide “so bad it’s good” vs. genuinely bad.
Thankfully, thanks to the benefit of time and Cecil’s amazing presentation, we have the benefit of this work having been made easier.
Normally I don't like videos like these where the narrator keeps blablabla with a lot of cuts without an end. But THIS video, the narrator feels more natural, listening of it is pleasant, it's not cut chaotically and the video was very informative. Thank you for this nice video!
I saw this on TCM 5 years ago as their midnight special where they show blaxploitation and low budget horror films. Thanks for the video!! See you later!! Happy Thanksgiving!!
I love blacksploitation films
I now know everything I need to know about 'Galaxy of Terror', probably more. Thank you for your sterling work (and dedicated picture research) in making this so watchable.
The Ratings Board / ESRB is such a gathering of Karens.
Excellent videos, GBF.
Thanks!
Galactica was proven in court to not be a Star Wars Knockoff. While it was green lit in the wake of Star Wars, the show was created back in 1972
I found this very interesting and fascinating. The progression of different people in the film world.
I watched this movie as a kid. I remember about that shuriken and the actor that was also in "V".
As a young girl, Erin Moran’s death in the movie traumatized me bc I remembered her as Joanie from happy days and it was gross lol
Actually had a real horrible death eventually
Phil Dawson yes...so said 😔
Why did she agree to this!? :-0
Damn you and your channel.
There are not enough hours in my days to watch all the movies and TV shows I love AND these missed treasures.
Also, you do an excellent job in the narrative.
That maggot death was TRULY disturbing, and not in the good way. Sid Haig's death on the other hand...
*shivers*
Dang, you really did your homework on this. Your report makes me appreciate the movie more now. I just watched this the other day for nostalgic reasons from back in the 80's but wow, I really like your detailed description! I had no idea.
I can never tell when a non sequitur is a surprising twist or a new random fact altogether.
Studios always say films lost money so they don't have to pay people. But this backfired once. For Forrest Gump. The original writer of the book. Was told that the first movie lost money so he didn't get what was owed to him. But then the studio tried to buy the sequel book to make another movie. But the writer said "why the first one didn't make any money" and refused to sell.
As a fan of good filmmaking, and of all things sci/fi- regardless of the budget- its so interesting to watch how Cameron evolved his style through these productions.
You can make a similar comparison with Richard Donner, who cut his teeth directing on a ton of television series in the 60's.
The one that's memorable for me was the serial Danger Island from The Banana Splits Adventure Hour (which featured a young Jan-Michael Vincent).
I’m a huge fan of Battle Beyond the Stars. The most informative, entertaining entry yet. Top notch to you sir!