Customer Ratings & Reviews

Oh where do I even begin... This was another on my list of bad movies to watch and I tell you what, this may not be the worst of them, but it certainly is the laziest. I do wonder at some point if Roger Corman said "screw it, don't even write a plot, just start filming people doing things". Some movies go out of their way to find inspiration from other movies (Star Wars influenced by the Hidden Fortress). Some movies blatantly rip off other movies (Any Star Wars clone after '77, mostly Corman films). Then there are some movies that prove it's ok to outright steal one film to make another (Turkish Star Wars, using actual footage and music from Star Wars and more). Space Raiders proves that you can do all that at once and not even give it a second thought. As I said, not quite the worst, but it is the laziest of the movies I have bought recently. With character so bland, you actually root for them to be knocked off just to make them more interesting. One crew member gets bumped off in the first ten minutes and they spend the next ten trying to make us feel bad for it when we didn't even know his name. None of the characters are even remotely interesting or entertaining. The "main" character is a 10yo boy named Peter, who stows away on a cargo ship while the space raiders (they actually don't have a name) try to steal it. What ensues is downright pathetic as far as movie making goes. Every bit of action that doesn't involve humans is literally ripped right from Battle Beyond The Stars, another Corman wonder. They don't even try to hide the fact that you're literally just watching re-cut scenes from that movie. What's worse, James Horner's entire score is also re-cut from Battle Beyond The Stars, with bits from Humanoids From The Deep (one I've yet to see). Would you like to know more? (Bonus points if you get that reference, since we're talking about ripping things off) You'll recognize a lot of the same stage sets from both BBtS AND Forbidden World (yes, Corman again). In fact, Forbidden World uses some of the same ship battle sequences as BBtS as well. So, why the 5 stars? I'm not rating this on just how bad it is, but more for how fun it is (like all the others I've reviewed). You just have to shut your brain off and not think about all the plot holes and major errors you see, otherwise you'll have a heart attack from the stress. It's fun in a way that it will make you appreciate much better made movies that will last for decades to come while ones like this are forgotten, though they shouldn't be, just because it makes the goods ones look so much better.

Space Raiders has some elements of Star Wars. Good space adventure “B” rated movie. For the ones who remember the “Ben Casey” show, Vince Edwards does a short sequence being a doctor, trying to save one of the crew members.

It was my son's favorite movie, when he was little. He's been waiting for over 25 years for it to be on DVD.