Forensic Science Movie Reviews

If you want a good laugh, get this. If you wanna see how bad movies can get, watch this...Still very fun to watch but make sure you're not tired..or...you will pass out...

Ok another 80's post nuclear holocaust movie. The humans are racing to re-populate the human race faster than the 'toadies' which are frog mutants. Problem is all the nuclear radiation has made most men sterile. Not our man Sam Hell, aka Rowdy Rodney Piper, the WWF wrestler. He has the highest sperm count the government has ever seen in one man. So they bolt him up with a government chastity belt and now he must mate with as many females as he can. Rough job huh?

Well a handful of seductive young maiden have been captured by the frog-people and the government sends Sam, a female corporal, and a hot blond scientist into Frogtown to rescue them. Get this they arrive in a hot-pink Mercedes with an M60 mounted on top.

The absolute lowpoint of this flick is the scientist dancing to arouse the 'Three Snakes'. I won't go into detail on this. You'll just have to see it to believe it. Words cannot describe. For those who lived through the 80's and loved it as much as I did, then you know there were many songs and movies that just made us lower our heads in shame. This is one such movie.

Roddy Piper (wrestler and star of They Live) is back in another science fiction thriller. This time it is the future and very few men are fertile. Roddy leaves pregnant women wherever he goes. Because of this, Med-Tech wants him to help with the repopulation of the country so that they can carry on the war that created the mess.

But no sooner does Hellman (piper) sign on the dotted line than he is railroaded into an attempt to rescue a group of fertile women from the mutants of Frogtown.

What follows is a pretty good film although it is obvious that the budget was not huge. The acting is pretty good and Piper appears more boyish and less sharp-edged than he does in They Live. I particularly liked the frog mutant playing at Sydney Greenstreet's The Fatman. The only thing I did miss was that there was no great one-liner from Piper. He had one of the great lines of all time in They Live.

Sure it's campy and low budget but it is also very fun.

George Romero's contributions to the horror genre are legendary. Here is the guy who made "Night of the Living Dead" in the late 1960s, single-handedly bringing flesh-eating zombies into the lexicon of millions of horror fans. Two sequels followed with differing levels of success, but Romero's zombie films also inspired several Italian directors, most notably Lucio Fulci and Umberto Lenzi, to churn out a plethora of grue drenched films featuring the shambling dead. Of course, Romero didn't just sit around during the intervals between zombie films; he made other films that, while not as well known as the trilogy of "Dead" films, are eerie in there own right. One of these movies is "The Crazies," sometimes referred to by its alternate title "Codename: Trixie" (a title I like better, for some inexplicable reason). I sing the praises of the DVD revolution in nearly every movie review I write, but seeing an early Romero film with some extra goodies really makes my day. Getting background on a film like this one would never have been possible in the old VHS days.

"The Crazies," shows the deadly implications of a biological weapons accident on a small American town named Evans City, Pennsylvania. An army plane carrying a weapons grade virus known as Trixie crashes in a field outside of town. The military dispatches a team of specialists and cleaners to inspect the damage, and the technicians do their thing and declare the area safe for the residents. In typical paranoid, Vietnam era style, the military hides the potential dangers of the crash, but since no contamination took place the only results are a few wiped brows and some sighs of reassurance. Only a small circle of military high ups will ever realize how close America came to total destruction, for Trixie is a highly communicable virus with no known cure. What a relief!

You didn't think it would end there, did you? C'mon, this is a Romero film! As it turns out, a small quantity of Trixie did leak into the town's water supply. By the time the military realizes this actuality, some of the residents in town start showing signs of infection: a pasty complexion and a propensity to suddenly indulge in bloody violence. The army answers with a bunch of troops decked out in white detox suits armed with automatic weapons. The colonel in charge of the town quickly sets up a quarantine line around the town in an effort to stop the spread of Trixie, but try as he might, he simply lacks the necessary manpower and equipment to know for sure if his efforts are working. No one knows if Trixie moved beyond the borders of the town between the time of the crash to the first signs of infection. Since the army needs to keep the townspeople placated, they put a tight rein on any potentially damaging information. As long as the townspeople play like good little American citizens, everything will turn out for the best. As for Trixie, the army brings in a doctor who helped build the virus in the laboratory, and he starts working on a vaccination right away despite his pessimism about the communicability of the virus and the high probability that it did indeed escape the town's borders. His only hope is to find someone with immunity to the disease and thereby acquire the necessary immunological materials needed to fashion a cure.

Unfortunately for the army, one of the locals is a nurse at the doctor's office. She quickly learns what's going on and takes off to find her husband, a firefighter who is currently battling a blaze that resulted because a Trixie victim went on a rampage. The husband has a few questions himself before he ever meets up with his wife: why are there soldiers dressed in detox suits exchanging gunfire with a local? Why is it so tough to get any answers about what is going on in town? Eventually, husband and wife hook up with a few other locals and the group decides to make a break for the edge of town. The biggest problem with this plan is that several people in the group have Trixie and are slowly wasting away as the hours pass. Simultaneously, the town descends into anarchy, with soldiers and locals blazing away at each other with firearms and explosives. "The Crazies" concludes with the customary Romero ambiguity, as we wonder what will happen to the rest of the country if and when Trixie gets loose.

"The Crazies" is a low budget production that manages to put across a chilling scenario of "what if"? The soldiers do look ominous in those containment suits, and the performances of the cast are quite good considering the no name talent, with special mention going to Lynn Lowry, an amazingly sexy Sissy Spacek look alike who plays Kathy Bolan, a young lady infected with Trixie. Her death scene constitutes one of the more memorable, and upsetting, scenes in the film. A few good gun battles help move the film along, as does the occasional cutaway to officials in Washington, D.C. who consider dropping a nuclear bomb on the town if it looks like Trixie will spread. What really helps the DVD version of the film are the extras: a short interview with Lynn Lowry, a commentary track with Romero, trailers, tons of production stills from the movie, and an informative George Romero biography. "The Crazies" might well be low budget '70s fare, but it's never cheesy thanks to a claustrophobic atmosphere, capable performances, and a great plot.

What I love about Romero movies (meaning the "Dead" series and the "Crazies") is that when you remove the horror there is always a great underlying story about group dynamics. The Crazies delievers on this. It is one of the reasons I find myself constantly going back and watching these movies again and again ... And, yes, I watch them for the gore too.

The main reason I bought this was because of the 14 minute Lynn Lowry documentary. She is obscure even for a cult film star, so many people don't know about her. I first saw her in David Cronenberg's SHIVERS (Highly recomended).

But anyways, about the movie. I watched it with the audio commentary of George Romero and Bill Lustick (he dosn't say who he is) and it was really fun listening to. This is a great movie if you grew up watching horror films on friday or saturday nights. It also has Richard France, who you might recognize as the zombie expert with the eye patch in Dawn of the Dead, as a scientist trying to find a cure for the epidemic.

This movie is great to watch alone on a stormy night, or to put on in the background of a Halloween party. Worth it, buy it.

If only I could ever find the original: the dubbed version is just too much. I had to turn the sound off at times. Otherwise it's a sci-fi of surprising quality proving that East Germany has managed some pretty decent films in its 50's and 60's cinematic heyday. I love the genuine PC (not our fake one!) detail: the spaceship crew include an African and a Chinese scientist something unimaginable in Hollywood not only back in its 50's sci-fi schlok era. However, this film is not all peaches and cream: it drags a bit, and at times feels chopped up. I don't know how much of the original was edited out but it feels as if it needs a longer time frame. Overall, fun to watch and compare to other sci-fi films from the same period.

Polish science fiction novelist Stanislaw Lem (born 1922) must take pride in the fact that his "Solaris" (1962) has now been twice filmed, first by Andrei Tarkovsky (1972) and more recently - also less effectively - by an American director whose name escapes me (2003); yet as early as 1960 Lem's first science fiction novel, "The Astronauts" (1952), had already appeared in an adaptation for the silver screen, directed by an East German, Kurt Maetzig. "First Spaceship on Venus" issued, in fact, from a Polish and East German collaboration, with contributions, in the ensemble of players, from three or four "third world" nations. Viewers will recognize Japanese actress Yoko Tani as the sole female crewmember of the space research vessel "Cosmostrator," the titular "First Spaceship" on earth's putative "twin," Venus. This is a mostly superb film, quite magical in its expressionistic special effects. Enticingly for audiences, almost half of the action takes place on Venus amidst sets that do justice to Lem's insistence that alien life will be incomprehensible to humanity. The story, briefly, is this: in 1985 excavations "to irrigate the Gobi Desert" discover extraterrestrial artifacts, one of which, a glassy "spool," contains the last message sent home from a spaceship engaged in reconnoitering the earth. The narration links this fictional incident to the actual 1908 Tunguska meteor impact. The "spool" has sustained damage and yields only a fraction of its contents, but from this bit scientists determine that the visitors originated on Venus, whereupon the "World Space Agency" determines to mount an expedition there. An international crew take command of the "Cosmostrator." The "Cosmostrator" itself demands some attention as one of the most unusual of silver-screen spaceships of the 1950s and 60s: its central silvery cylinder, housing the crew, is surrounded by four similarly hued cylinders of nearly equal dimension housing the engines; the sum of it is a kind of powerful elegance. But the real interest lies in the Venusian scenario itself. Maetzig gives us a shadowy, smoke-and-gas- shrouded landscape full of weird, half-obliterated shapes. One sequence shows the astronauts moving in their "ground cars" through what appears to be a street of melted skyscrapers; there are also huge underground spaces and indecipherable geodesic spheres and cones. The explorers gradually deduce that, on the verge of dousing the earth with radiation preparatory to invading and occupying it, the Venusians destroyed themselves in a fratricidal atomic war. We see the permanently etched shadows of the victims on a blasted wall. In an extremely alien episode, a lake of organic muck chases the terrestrials up the spiral ramp of a half-fused tower, only to retreat mysteriously before catching them fatally at the summit. The visuals elude adequate verbal description. If anyone knew the work of the 1950s and 60s science fiction illustrator Richard Powers, who did paperback covers in a semi-abstract style full of glassy-metallic quasi-biological and quasi-mechanical shapes, that might serve as a good reference. (Samples of Powers' work can be found on-line, should anyone care to go looking.) At the film's finale, in the prototypical Lem-gambit, the Venusians' automated defenses reverse the planet's gravity-field, hurling the "Cosmostrator" back into space, minus two or three unlucky casualties. Despite the Soviet-era utopian bravura, the mission has accomplished but little - the explorers are, in effect, defeated. Between the human and the non-human no genuine communication seems possible, especially where one party has insulated itself behind layers of electronics and automation and is long since a collective suicide. (This story of non-communication comes quite close to the plot of "Solaris," superficial differences notwithstanding - Tarkovsky must surely have known Maetzig's film; he would of course have been familiar with Lem's work beyond "Solaris.") One senses that this English version, with a dubbed soundtrack for American distribution, probably leaves a good many scenes on the cutting-room floor; neither can one tell much about the acting, which, in any case, is of less interest than the strangely realized other world. There is an amusing tracked robot named Omega. The source-print seems well preserved and the format is wide-screen. (A video-tape from a different producer derived from a faded print and cut the image down to television-screen dimensions.) On the strength of the scenic design, this movie should recommend itself to genre aficionados. Anyone who has never seen it is in for a treat.

Ok, I can see how some reviewers here can make the case for some kind of seriousness in this film. But all I'll say is, if you love Roger Corman goofy, funny sci-fi done for what looks like seriousness, then this is one of the best. I've watched it a few times and still laugh out loud. Like when they sink their spaceship to keep from getting smashed by a big fake pterodactyl creature, and then they drag the ship across the bottom of an aquarium, I mean like in your living room. Really funny. And it's dubbed to boot. ONe thing though, buy the other version that's a double feature with Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet. A HOT double feature. Hey I'm serious here. This is one funny movie.

This one is kind of a werewolf in reverse. Due to a dose of radiation, a scientist turns into a lizard man when exposed to sunlight. I kept waiting for something to happen. The monster looked ok for a rubber suit type creature but the movie moved pretty slowly to a predictable ending. A couple of cuties were the decoration and love interests (yes two of 'em)in this hollywood effort. The picture quality went from ok to terrible,then back to ok, as did the sound.

The story in this cheezy atom-age film, a man is involved in a radioactive accident, the doctor then tells him not to go into the sun or drink any alchoholic beverages, so then he does what he was told not to do. When going out into the sun for a "tan", he turns into the Hideous Sun Demon, it's a kind of Jekyll and Hyde tranformation in the sense that when he turns into this monster he starts to lose it. This movie is boring, trust me I have seen enough classic horror films and I have the right to call this one boring(I am not saying classic horror films are boring if that the impression you got). This movie just doesn't have that creepy atmosphere that the Universal classic horror collection had, not at all, nothing ever really sets the mood in this film either, it could have been great, I loved the idea and the design of the monster still remains one of my all-time favorites but I just didn't find myself enjoying this, maybe Robert Clark shouldn't have tried to do too much at once. I loved the design of the navigation menu, it looked really classic, there is a trailer for your viewing pleasure, enjoy at your own risk. The Hideous Sun Demon! Hideous indeed.

I could go on ad infinitum about all the things that are wrong with this film, those that make it so earnestly campy or inept or histrionic or unintentionally funny or even surreal. I could tell you it's 'so bad it's good.' But that wouldn't really fill you in, as such a statement can be interpreted many ways by many different people.

There are also a surprising number of things the film manages to do competently. Listing those to someone contemplating purchasing this dvd might even be counterproductive. So I will refrain.

The simplest, most telling review I can write is this:

The star, Robert Clarke, while wearing the rubber Sun Demon costume during filming in the hot Southern California sun, sweated profusely. The sweat ran down his torso and to his trousers. This gives the appearance during the latter stages of this movie that the Hideous Sun Demon was unable to control his bladder.

If the above sounds funny to you, you will like the movie.

See also: Village of the Giants; Astounding She-Monster; Teenagers From Outer Space; Attack of the 50-Foot Woman (1958)

I am truly shocked that there are people out there that thought this movie good, and for saying it could be a reality? I mean the plot of this movie is sooooooooo pathetic it was almost enjoyable to watch. But the dog jumping the police cars, and climbing trees, swallowing a cat whole, and turning colors so well that it became invisible, were pathetic. this movie would be enjoyable to those who like really bad horror/sci-fi films. I would only recommend it to watch so you could see how stupid it is.

This film just goes to show that when Hollywood wants to make money they turn everyone into a tramp. This happened to all involved in "Friend" (hardly an appropriate title). I only hope the ASPCA stepped in sometime and sued because of animal cruelty and the film's promoting of the perpetuation of cruelty to animals. And I hope writer/director John Lafia is real proud of himself. He just sent the need for and recognition of animal rights back to the stone age. Only redeming factor was Lance Henriksen's work. He did the best with what he had to work with as usual.

I saw this movie years ago when stationed in Germany, although I was impressed by it then, and still believe it to be an acceptable movie it does a great injustice to the Tibetan Mastiff.As a Tibetan Mastiff owner I can assure you that the breed does not behave as portrayed in this movie.Tibetian Mastiffs are a loyal gentle breed as a norm and good with children, mine is a former therapy dog.THIS BREED IS NOT FOR EVERYONE. If you saw this movie and think you want to run right out and get your self a really cool trophy dog you are going to be in for a very big shock. TM's have a mind of they're own and are very stubborn when they want to be. They DO NOT COME WHEN CALLED and CANNOT BE ALLOWED OFF LEASH, EVER. When they are young they can be very destructive if not properly supervised and will eat anything they can get hold of including furniture, dry wall, and chain link fences, they will also provide you with tunnels to Tibet in your yard. As this is an extremly rare breed they are hard to find and are not available in pet shops. Most breeders are extremely picky as to who can adopt they're dogs and require a screening process, I had to fill out an application and had many on-line and e-mail conversations with the breeder before I was accepted. If you think you are interested in this breed and would like to adopt a TM, do your reasearch a good place to start is the Tibetan Mastiff club of America.

Very disappointed! This video has been edited to qualify for a PG rating. I noticed at least 2 incidents of bad dubbing for language, plus a key sequence at the end was completely omitted. After watching this version, did you wonder why Peter Coyote's character quit shooting at the helicopter??? Well, that's because in the ORIGINAL version, he came to a bloody end. This version has that sequence edited out completely, leaving you wondering what happened to his character. I REALLY hate edited movies - Ted Turner, are you listening?

I give the movie 4 stars; the DVD, 2. I wish I had read the Amazon reviews before I picked this DVD up last night--but then, why would I have expected that anything had changed? I've been a fan of this flick since its theatrical release, so I was very happy to have TIMERIDER on DVD finally, and pleased with the transfer, but the TV/airline-version ending completely BITES. "Okay, here comes the tail rotor...and I can hear Reese (Coyote) screaming...and all those squishy sound effects...but...but...YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!!" (Good thing I was home alone.) According to sources, the DVD was made from the "only usable negative available." Uh...sure. I find it impossible to believe that Michael "Mr. Video" Nesmith couldn't find a single viable source in his files for THREE WHOLE SECONDS of film. Laserdisc? How about digitally cleaning up a VHS tape? Unfreakinbelievable.

Am I upset? You're darn tootin' I am. Sometimes "little" things matter A LOT.

Interesting movie, but I was disappointed that a scene at the end got cut short. This is your basic fish out of water story with a motocross racer, Lyle Swan (played by Fred Ward) gets unknowingly caught in a time travel experiment and launched about 100 years in the past. The general reaction, due to his attire and motorized horse is that he is some kind of devil, but one person he comes across, Porter Reese, a criminal outlaw played by Peter Coyote, sees the potential in owning this amazing contraption for himself. All of this takes place in the southern California desert, and Lyle is unaware of what has happened to him. He thinks he just got lost during a race, and tries to find his way back home. I thought it was interesting that he never really gets clued into the fact that he is 100 years out of time. As I said in the beginning, and I think another reviewer mentions this, that a few critical seconds were cut out of a scene at the end. These few seconds of missing footage include a helicopter, its rear rotor blade, and the main antagonist. I think this part was edited out for a television release and never put back in for the DVD release, which is a real shame. You wouldn't think 3 to 5 seconds of footage could impact a movie as much as it does, but it does here. This is the reason why I am giving the release 3 stars instead of four. Other than that, this was a fun sci-fi/western/action movie.

So,the revealing scenes of Kate Capshaw's breasts in a sex scene in Dreamscape have been censored.
I wonder if the powerful Mr Spielberg had anything to do with this?After all,she is now his wife and may have been uncomfortable with the scene.
The idea of a recent(1980s)film being censored is quite unique.

I still can't believe they edited this DVD. I remember this movie well - I saw it 5 times in the theater. It is a good oldfashioned B movie. Decent plot you can follow with poor special effects trying to be 'top notch'. I was suprised at the quality of the acting at the time, and not shocked when I saw Quaid break through soon after.

The plot is basic horror stuff. A man (Van Sydow at his 'nerdy proffesor' best) studys dreams, to determine if one person can actually enter another's dream. Then comes in the Government agent (Christopher Plummer at his most evil) representing the true source of the study's funding. They want to use this information to attempt to determine if they kill someone in their sleep will the person die. If so the plan is to use this information to assassinate those not 'helpful' to America. Dennis Quaid plays the young college dropout who is recruited for the study, and Kate Capshaw his love interest. The battles are fought in dreams.

If you've never seen it in theaters, rent this one tonight.

I saw the film now for the first time and were very surprised with the argument. A lot of parts are very similar to the "Elm Street" movies, which began one year later, even the knife-fingernails of the murderer, but especially that all victims were killed in their dreams.
I agree with the other reviews, the film has great performanes.
On the other hand there're a lot of mistakes and contradictions in the argument. For example, the last victim (the bad guy from the government) is killed although the protagonist is far away and can't influence his dream. But all in all I think you'll not loose your time seeing this movie, especially if you're a great science fiction/horror fan.

If you are a fan of the old Japanese Godzilla movies you might just enjoy this rip-off. Most everyone else with brain cells intact will cringe, unless they find the dialogue so hideously bad that its inadvertently funny. I have to admit to roaring over the lines "The bones are from a non-Carbon based life form. Carbon dating makes it 200 million years old!" Honestly, this movie has the WORST dialogue I have EVER come across in a film. And it's not just one or two howlers, but its consistently awful.

So, the plot's stolen--Godzilla meets Mothra or some such, with space aliens thrown in for fun. Nonsensical things happen throughout, and one of the monsters can even attack the other without his head! The effects aren't entirely terrible, just mostly so. The acting is as wooden as a casket. Dialogue stupid. Film awful. See only for its camp value. Even better, avoid entirely--your life will be enriched.

Not the worst movie in the world, but close.

First of all, let me just tell you that I am a big fan of the Godzilla-movies- which was perhaps why I rented this horrible film. In plain words- this movie [is bad]! As noted by other reviewers, the plot is extremely boring and even nonsensical, the special effects are poor, the monster itself looks more like a dino-toy, not like a dinosaur. I kept thinking of this movie as of an unfortunate version of the two aforementioned films- "Independence Day" and "Godzilla," both of which had at least something to offer. The dialogue in the "Reptilian" is extremely stupid- nothing smart was ever said by any of the characters. I had a feeling this movie was written for 5-year-olds- so simplistic and meaningless it was. The dumbest thing however was the director's decision to make the aliens speak English. There was nothing alien about them except, of course, their tiny heads with big dark eyes. Trust me on this one- don't even rent this piece of junk. I don't care about the money- but to think I lost 1 1/2 hours watching this ... really freaks me out.

I purchased this movie not knowing anything about it, and overall it is fun, but the plot has more holes than OJ Simpson's alibi and as for the acting, it really has to be seen to be believed (a friend of mine threw a "bad movie" contest last night, and "Reptilian" was my entry...after everyone saw the first scene of this film, I was the unanimous winner!). The English dialogue is so stiffly delivered that I wondered if this was done deliberately so the Korean language overdubs (for the home market) would more closely match the actors' mouths.

In any event, the effects are pretty cool, and what is a big monster film without good visuals? The redesigned Yongary was clearly influenced by the Tristar-reengineered Godzilla - he has a muscular, kind of reptile/humanoid look (but he did retain the ability to breathe fire, while Godzilla was dumbed down). I actually liked the original Yongary film and hoped the remake would stick to the original storyline (the aliens in "Reptilian" are more a distraction than a useful plot device; they have another monster at their disposal but choose to 'resurrect' Yongary instead). You just might like this film, warts and all.

When the First Man Into Space gets a cosmic dusting it does some strange things to his mind and body. Pretty good monster and a very good leading man, Marshall Thompson make for a better than average 50's genre sci-fi story. Close to a classic. There was some light speckling in the transfer but all in all the DVD played well and the sound ( Mono ) was acceptable.

Let me first say,if not for the last ten minutes of this film I would have given this movie a five star rating and proclaimed it one of the all-time classics of 50's sci-fi.But because of poor execution in the finaly I am unable to give it my highest recommendation.

As for the rest of the picture,I was thoroughly pleased.From the cast to the spfx,it was apparent that the film-makers were doing there best to make a good film.

The cast is lead by Marshall Thompson;a veteran of 50's sci-fi;and other than a few moments of "gee whiz" delivery he turns in one of his best on-screen performances.The rest of the cast is solid as well.From the leads to the bit parts,everyone was adequate or better.

The spfx were effective and superior to what you would normally expect from this type of film.Also,the stock footage was seamlessly blended into the movie.As for the monster,it was actually very effective looking in the night time scenes.The first time you get a look at it coming through the bushes I was very impressed.Unfortanetly,it isnt nearly as frightening in the well-lit scenes.And who told the guy in the monster suit to walk around like he had ... in his pants?

Which brings me to the reason the ending disappointed me so much.In an effort to place their film above the pack,the movie makers attempted a more thoughtful ending rather than the typical "destroy the monster" ending.It just doesnt work because the monster looks so cheezy in the well-lit room its hard to forget your just seeing some actor in a rubber suit.Its also difficult to feel sorry for someone who killed so many innocent people,despite the extenuating circumstances.

Even though the ending was such a let down I still think this would be a solid addition to anyones sci-fi collection. ...you'll definetly be getting your moneys worth.

THIS MOVIE SCARED THE HELL OUT OF ME WHEN I SAW IT IN THE MOVIES IN THE BRONX NY ,WHEN I WAS EIGHT YRS OLD.I HAD NIGHTMARES FOR A WEEK. THE PART WHEN HE COMES THRU THE BUSHES I FELL OFF MY SEAT.BLACK AN WHITE FILMING MADE IT EVEN BETTER.THIS IS A MUST HAVE.

A good, but slow-moving, fatalistic sci-fi thriller from 1969... sort of a pop culture Rosetta Stone between "Star Trek" and "The Six Million Dollar Man," wherein a hidden, doppelganger Earth threatens our own, and all the space-racing might of the our species can do nothing to prevent the inevitable. Slightly strained, but worth checking out.

In the near future, a routine mission by an unmanned solar probe detects a planet sharing Earth's orbital plane, but orbiting exactly opposite to it. Plans to land an expedition to the mysterious planet are initially shelved because of the cost - but then reinstated and rushed forward when the existence of Earth's twin is discovered by a secret agent (Herbert Lom). Jason Web, a ruthless visionary of space exploration, manages the program as if he's going up. Instead, the two-man crew is headed by a stoic American astronaut named Glenn Ross, a man who seems to have nothing to come back to. Ironically, Ross does return back to Earth - apparently having turned around midway and crashlanding. But Ross is perplexed - his last memories are approaching the mystery planet and landing, having no explanation for his return.

Okay, so there is an explanation [] and on reflection it's not an entirely intelligent one. Actually, the idea of a parallel Earth poses an interesting (likely unintentional) cold war metaphor: scientists and politicians are spurred to expend outrageous sums to conquer and explore a mysterious region or enemy only to find it that the enemy is no different than themselves. Scientifically, it's even less acceptable: everything on this other world is a reverse-mirror image of our Earth, from human anatomy, electric polarity to written language. Luckily, dialog is not reversed though - since the reverse Earth lives within our universe, complete with the same laws of physics - why anything should be reversed at all is a mystery. Instead our hero hits on the twin-earth solution and even sells it to the otherwise immovable Web, though you get the sense that they might have had some reservations about the idea. The thinness of the idea is underscored in the film's unsatisfying climax. The film even junks the promising cold-war undertones after they provided a convenient device for spurring the expedition (Web allows Lom's character to reveal the existence of the other Earth to his foreign masters, knowing that his own superiors will now be forced to pony up the "thousand, million pounds" the expedition will cost).

If "Journey" has a thin idea, it's still a stand-out delivery. Gerry Anderson's vision and Derek Meddings's effects are lovely. Though you know that they're working with models, the exacting attention to detail creates a world you don't want to dismiss as simple elaborate miniatures. Aside from eye-candy, the flick also centers on the strong-willed performances of (vet sci-fi fixture )Roy Thinnes as Ross, and Pat Wymark as the tough-talking Web. For a great piece of glamorous 60's sci-fi, this is your flick.

The story: Earth scientists discover another planet in our solar system -- orbiting on exactly the opposite side of the sun from Earth. A mission is hastily put together and, despite espionagic (Is that a word? Should be.) attempts to stop it, it succeeds. However, when Ian Hendry and Roy Thinnes crash-land on the other planet, they find . . . Earth. Except, it's not. It's exactly like Earth, but in mirror-image. Of, course, the people of htraE had launched a mission to the "other" planet (Earth) at the same time, crewed by yrdneH naI and sennihT yoR, and they believe that the two astronauts who just crashed are their own people who aborted their mission, without good reason, and came back. How do Ian and Roy prove they're not naI and yoR?

Commentary: Good acting, good direction, and great special effects, but this movie is grim, bleak, serious, gray, tense . . . you get the idea. Of course, it's trying to be serious, but it becomes 100% and life is seldom 100% serious (there are a few jokes and a few smiles even in "Saving Private Ryan"). The film loses some of its realism by taking realism too seriously. The makers of this film were probably trying to avoid the ... stereotype of many science-fiction movies, but took it one step too far.

Overall: Despite all my gripes in the previous paragraph, I like this film and remember it vividly years later.