Laserblast



Laserblast is a 1978 low-budget sci-fi movie.

The movie begins with two aliens landing on Earth in pursuit of a third alien. After a pathetic attempt to hide behind a bush, the third alien's pursuers unceremoniously disintegrate him and then leave. Short movie, huh?

...Well, not exactly. See, the bad guy alien was carrying a rather large laser cannon with him, which the other aliens neglected to pick up (we get to see their boss flip out at them over this later). Said cannon is later found by put-down teenager Billy Duncan. Billy then starts using the cannon to gain revenge on those who wronged him. The laser cannon turns out to have an evil influence over its user, because Billy not only grows addicted to the cannon's destructive power, he also starts to undergo some kind of strange mutation. Meanwhile, the aliens have realized their mistake and are heading back to Earth to retrieve the cannon...

This was one of the first film scoring assignments of Joel Goldsmith (Jerry's son), who went on to become the musical voice of Stargate SG-1 and its spinoffs.

For the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode see here .

Laserblast provides examples of:

 * The Alleged Car
 * Amulet of Dependency: The alien amulet, which powers the cannon and slowly turns Billy into a monster.
 * Arm Cannon
 * Attempted Rape: The two nerd-bullies do this to Kathy. Billy busts in just in time and beats them up (sort of).
 * BFG: The laser cannon, which is worn around the entire arm.
 * Bizarrchitecture: One scene has a door with its knob placed higher than normal, while another has a window with its drapes placed lower than normal.
 * Butt Monkey: Billy, when nerds pick on you, you're low on the totem pole of teenage status.
 * Getting picked on by Eddie Deezen is the penultimate low. Only being picked on by Toby Radloff could be worse.
 * Who's Laughing Now??
 * Dawson Casting: 27-year-old Kim Milford as the teenage Billy Duncan.
 * Downer Ending:
 * Dude Looks Like a Lady: The laboratory technician, due to his odd haircut.
 * Even Nerds Have Standards: Even the nerds think Billy is a loser.
 * Hey, It's That Guy!: Colonel Farley played by Colonel 'Bat' Guano, Doctor Mellon is played by Cornelius/Ceasar/Galen, and Froggy is played by "Mr. Potato Head" Malvin.
 * Kathy was played by popular exploitation film actress Cheryl "Rainbeaux" Smith, who later said that it was difficult landing roles with this film on her resume. She also complained about the difficulty in turning in a good performance, as the actors weren't given a proper script to work from.
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: Mandark makes his first ever film appearance as Froggy.
 * Human Alien: The bad guy alien vaporized in the prologue. The other aliens may owe their appearance to Dale Russel's Dinosauroid (see the Human Alien trope page for more on him).
 * The Men in Black: Gianni Russo's character vaguely following the trail of the alien gun, although he wears a green seventies casual suit instead of basic black.
 * Money, Dear Boy: Keenan Wynn and Roddy McDowall.
 * Playing Against Type: Though this is his film debut and thus not an actual example, Eddie Deezen (best known for nerd roles like Eugene in Grease and Mandark on Dexter's Laboratory) as a bully certainly gives off this vibe.
 * Police Are Useless: The Sheriff's Department here makes Roscoe and Enos look like Walker and Trivette.
 * If the boss alien's rant is any indication, the two hunter aliens aren't much better.
 * Product Placement: The protagonist is seen drinking Coca-Cola in a few shots. Mike and the Bots theorize it was done by Pepsi to discredit Coke.
 * A can of Pepsi can be seen at the pool party. An act of revenge by Coke?
 * Repeat Cut
 * The Seventies: And how.
 * Shell Shocked Senior: Grandpa's never been the same since the Spanish-American War...
 * The Stoner: Everyone, including the police.
 * Stunt Casting: Roddy McDowall's cameo as Doctor Mellon.
 * Take That: Billy destroys a Star Wars "billboard" with his cannon. Thanks to this movie's budget, it's not even an actual billboard -- just a sign upon which someone stenciled the Star Wars logo. Yeah, this movie totally gave Star Wars a run for its money.
 * Oddly enough, the actor who played Billy Duncan co-starred with Mark Hamill in the film Corvette Summer, which was released the same year as Laserblast.
 * This may be one of the reasons why, for a brief time, people took Laserblast seriously, compared it to Star Wars and discussed which film was better and why.
 * The Unintelligible: The aliens.
 * Villain Protagonist: Billy. Maybe.
 * Walking Shirtless Scene: Billy always has his shirt open, for...some reason.
 * What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: "I'm gonna drink the hell out of this Coke!"
 * What Happened to the Mouse?: Colonel Farley.
 * With Great Power Comes Great Insanity