Star Slammer (1986)

Star Slammer (AKA Prison Ship) is a 1986 Fred Olen Ray movie so you know it’s going to be crazy goofy fun. It’s a women-in-prison movie set on a prison spaceship but done in tongue-in-cheek fashion.

The fact that the movie is divided into chapters and carries the subtitle Adventures of Taura is the result of Ray’s enthusiasm at the time for old movie serials. He wanted to capture the same sort of flavour and to an extent he succeeds.

Taura (Sandy Brooke) is a miner on a remote planet and her problems begin when Bantor (Ross Hagen) arrives with his henchmen. Bantor is collecting taxes on behalf of The Sovereign, who rules this part of the galaxy. During a struggle Taura plunged Bantor’s hand into an acid bath. Bantor was evil and crazy to begin with but this pushes him over the edge into out-and-out madness.

Taura finds herself sentenced to the prison ship Vehement. She was convicted of murdering a crazy old priest who was actually murdered by Bantor.

The prisoners are all women and they’re the tough lot you expect in a women-in-prison movie. The toughest is Mike (Suzy Stokey). Against the odds Taura and Mike become friends.

The Vehement is run by sex-crazed head warder Exene (Marya Gant) although day-to-day discipline is in the hands of insane and sadistic trusty Muffin (Dawn Wildsmith).

Experiments in mind control are being conducted on the Vehement.

Things start to get violent and crazy when Bantor arrives. He’s out for revenge. He’s also completely insane and obsessed with the idea that he’s battling demons. The girls are going to have to find a way to get off that prison ship.

Lots of mayhem ensues, with a great deal of running down corridors blasting away with zap guns.

This movie lacks some of the features you generally expect in a women-in-prison movie. There’s very little nudity and very little sex. Ray had hired a bunch of girls to make the movie without really knowing what kind of movie he was going to make so he didn’t have girls willing to do nudity.

They might not have been prepared to take their clothes off but they give enthusiastic performances and are obviously having fun doing the bad girl stuff.

Ross Hagen is wildly over-the-top as Bantor and he’s a joy to watch. The two standout performances are by Dawn Wildsmith and Marya Gant. Wildsmith is delightfully unhinged as Muffin. Marya Gant oozes twisted degenerate sexuality as Exene. These two performances are enough to justify the price of admission on their own.

The movie was going to need some cool space battle scenes but that was hopelessly beyond the limits of the available budget so Ray cut a deal with Roger Corman to use footage from Battle Beyond the Stars. It is cool footage and it’s integrated perfectly in the movie. There’s also at least one shot from John Carpenter’s Dark Star.

The costumes were done on the cheap or rented or borrowed from other productions but they look right and they look fun.

There was enough money to build a couple of sets which look quite OK. The prison ship is supposed to be dark and grungy and claustrophobic so having small sets that look dark and grungy works just fine.

The movie works because Fred Olen Ray understands that if you have a really small budget the things to do is to keep the pacing as frantic as possible. That way people won’t notice the plot holes and cheap sets and iffy production values. And in this movie the pace never lets up.

A sequel which would continue Taura's adventures, Chain Gang Planet, was planned but never made (although a script was written).

The Kino Lorber Blu-Ray offers a lovely anamorphic transfer with a typically entertaining and informative audio commentary by Fred Olen Ray.

Star Slammer is fun and silly and exciting and amusing. It does manage to have a bit of a serial feel, but like an old movie serial done with an 80s sensibility. It works for me. Highly recommended.