Star Crystal (1986) - Archive

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Believe it or not, I actually enjoyed this obscure B-movie as a child. But, one sees a film differently with more astute eyes. The film seems outdone by everything all at once. The budget is perhaps(next to simply bad writing and overall story development)the main culprit in this film's demise. You can tell how things are elevated(you can tell a part is being picked up by a wire), not to mention in one shot you can actually see the rod that moves the model space ship. The cast for the film are simply not very good at exposing the trauma within the characters and the dialogue, which is sheet-thin and unimaginative doesn't assist them. The story seems to be two separate films..one horror and the other a weeper. This makes the film completely uneven. It starts as an alien clone as this creature and these crystals "birth" from a rock taken by two astronauts from Mars. They want to put a laser to it, but perish thanks to such thinking. As an act of survival, the alien defends by killing..basic fundamentals for defense against anything violent. Once it is on board a space shuttle, several crew members feel threatened and react with hostility against something they don't understand. Somehow, the alien starts out as goo and begins to shape and form over the course of the movie. Also, these crystals seem to provide the alien the basic fundamentals of learning and power. The alien, through the power of the crystals, is able to elevate and control anything. The crew are at the mercy of this alien as it kills three of them when they try to kill it(not to mention exploding a space station early in the film). Yet, once the alien begins to read, through the memory banks of the computer, the Bible, it comes to know Jesus and becomes much more understanding and kind to the two crew members that remain. The film is pretty preposterous for it just doesn't know where to go..it's as if we see the director is throwing all kinds of ideas at us expecting us to enjoy the botched narrative. It seems to be a real horror film, with some pretty good gore with goo and blood. Then comes a morality play which just seems to be an unfortunate detour which is just laughable. If you read through the credits on this film, it's clear that no one made it very far..the whole film is quite amateurish and bad. There does seem to be ambition, but ambition needs talent to fully evolve into a good movie for which this film lacks greatly.

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|April 20, 2006|
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