Irwin Yablans Company released Laserblast to the world on 1 March 1978.
It was one of Charles Band’s first productions. And it shows that he came out of the gate knowing what the kids would like. In this case, young kids — tweens even.
Everyone knows this film sucks. That’s because the people on Mystery Science Theater 3000 told them so! They mock Leonard Maltin throughout for giving the film 2.5 out of 4 stars. Don’t get me wrong. Maltin is an idiot. But I don’t find that rating out of order. Despite the vitriol, the film is quite watchable.
The film gets the standard complaints. The acting is bad! The film features professional and even great actors. But I’ve come to see complaints about acting as almost always useless. Can you tell me how the acting is bad? If not, who cares? And critics are particularly harsh with poor Kim Milford. But that isn’t the acting. That’s people not liking the character. The character is immature. He’s a middle-school kid. Don’t let him being in his mid-20s confuse you!
But the main thing that really works in this film is the special effects. David Allen did the main stop-motion effects as he did in much better Charles Band productions like Puppet Master, Dolls, and Oblivion. And these alone make the film worth watching.
The film has a major problem. The script is a comedy. But it isn’t directed that way. Much of the first act is funny as written. But it just lays there on the screen. And I say this knowing full well that it is overall well-directed.
So as usual in situations like this, I’m not saying Laserblast is a great film. And it certainly isn’t a film that is aimed at me. But I suspect there were a lot of 13-year-old boys in 1978 who would enjoy a film about a soft-spoken young man getting revenge on all the people who were mean to him. And the science fiction stuff just makes it that much better.
What I hate is the way people equate a film made for others with a bad film. There is much to like in Laserblast. You can dismiss it all you like. But it doesn’t make you smart or cool to recycle old and mostly invalid criticisms as if you came up with them.
So here are the options. You can watch Dolls, which features even more David Allen stop-motion work in a perfect and ridiculously fun film. Click here! Or you can watch Laserblast with an open mind and try to find what’s good in it.
Laserblast (1978) poster via Wikipedia under Fair Use.
