Inseminoid (1981) Almi Cinema 5/Sci-Fi-Horror RT: 93 minutes Rated R (violence, gore, rape, nudity, language) Director: Norman J. Warren Screenplay: Nick and Gloria Maley Music: John Scott Cinematography: John Metcalfe Release date: November 1982 (US) Cast: Robin Clarke, Jennifer Ashley, Stephanie Beacham, Steven Grives, Barry Houghton, Rosalind Lloyd, Victoria Tennant, Trevor Thomas, Heather Wright, David Baxt, Judy Geeson, Dominic Jephcott, John Segal, Kevin O’Shea, Robert Pugh. Box Office: N/A
Rating: ***
I have no idea why the American distributor of the British sci-fi-horror movie Inseminoid changed the title to something as generic as Horror Planet for release in the US in ’82. Perhaps it’s because they thought nobody would understand the meaning. Or maybe it was because respectable theaters would likely refuse to display such a title on their marquees. Whatever the reason, it was a bad call. It came and went with nary a notice. It might have done a little better under its original title; Inseminoid is definitely the better of the two. It’s certainly the one more likely to grab my attention. As for the movie itself, it’s pretty good.
I tried to watch Horror Planet in ’92, but never made it all the way through. As far as I know, my old VHS copy is sitting in a box in my basement still only half-rewound. It wasn’t that I didn’t like it; I just wasn’t all that interested. I finally decided to give Inseminoid a second chance this past week; I made it part of my weekly grindhouse package. I’ve made worse choices.
As you might expect, Inseminoid is an Alien knock-off with its story of a space crew being killed off by a malevolent alien creature. Well, there’s a bit of a twist; it hasn’t actually been born yet. Let me start from the top. The story centers of a group of archeologists and scientists stationed on a freezing planet studying the ruins of an ancient civilization, one apparently founded on the concept of dualism. The energy field surrounding crystals discovered in a cave further suggest it was controlled by some form of chemical intelligence.
A mysterious explosion triggers a few tragic events including the deaths of three team members. The worst is yet to come however. While collecting more crystals, Sandy (Geeson, To Sir with Love) is raped and impregnated by an alien. She’s taken back to the base where the doctor Karl (Houghton, Firefox) discovers it’s an accelerated pregnancy. Then it takes her over completely. She proceeds to go on a killing spree, bumping off her colleagues and feeding on their flesh. Will the remaining team members be able to stop her before she gives birth to a bloodthirsty alien monster?
Where do I go from here? I could comment on Inseminoid preying on pregnant women’s fears of giving birth to a monster, especially if the pregnancy is the result of rape. This aspect of it caused local papers in the UK to be besieged by letters from irate women offended by the material. The only thing it accomplished was increasing the film’s box office. Whatever the filmmaker’s intentions, I don’t want to ascribe political or social importance to Inseminoid. That’s not why I watched it.
I already mentioned its similarity to Alien so no need to go there. I will, however, say that it does its source material proud (more or less). Director Norman J. Warren (Satan’s Slave) infuses Inseminoid with a fair amount of suspense. He even manages to elicit a jump or two with a few decent “BOO!” scenes. It also has a few nice gory scenes. The pacing is a little off with a slow-ish beginning. Once it gets into the action, it’s fairly steady. Considering the low budget, the production design is rather impressive. The special effects are cheap, but that’s not a bad thing. That’s one of the things I love about B-level sci-fi flicks from the 70s and 80s. Besides, the animatronic alien effects in Inseminoid are cool. They’re vicious buggers they are (to put it like an Englishman).
The acting is about what you’d expect from both the British and American cast members. Stephanie Beacham (And Now the Screaming Starts) fares best as the Ripley character Kate. She’s no Sigourney Weaver, but she’ll do. The cast also includes Robin Clarke (The Greek Tycoon) as the team leader Mark, Rosalind Lloyd (The Wild Geese) as an early fatality and a young Victoria Tennant (All of Me) as Barbara who meets her fate at the pointed end of a pair of scissors. Other than that, there’s really not a lot to say on the performance front. The actors do their job effectively enough, that’s it.
As far as this type of movie goes, Inseminoid is decent. It’s not as gory as I would have liked, but that’s life. It tells a good albeit familiar story. It’s a good fit on a grindhouse triple bill. Even with its faults, it’s still more entertaining than a lot of today’s mammoth budget sci-fi movies.
