Characters
Elizabeth Kaitan as Daria, a space prison escapee and impromptu leader
Cindy Beal as Tisa. A space prison escapee subordinate to Daria
Don Scribner as Zed, the hunter
Brinke Stevens as Shala, a castaway who becomes hunted with Daria and Tisa
Carl Horner as Rik, a castaway with a large hunting knife
Sheila White as Girl
Kirk Graves as Vak, a robot
Randoph Roehbling as Krel, a robot
Fred Tate as Alien Mutant, a hunchbacked alien with a laser rifle for an arm
(list taken from Wikipedia. Yes, the movie has a page)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_Girls_from_Beyond_Infinity
I mean, that honestly about does it for the characters, doesn't it? Though I wouldn't call Tisa a subordinate, just the pessimist of the two. She's the one who's resigned herself to being a slave at the beginning of the movie while Daria is struggling to break her bonds. Anyway, it's not really said how long they were together before being captured or how they were captured to begin with, but they've been together long enough to make little quips at one another and they aren't bashful about being seen in either scantily clad clothing or topless. So I'd put them in the very good friends with benefits to lovers category or even just sisters.
Shala doesn't really have much of a personality. She's just there to be the “victim girl” throughout the mid to late range of the movie. All the things that could happen to the main two happen to her. At least MOST things but we'll get to that. Rik is also her brother but if that wasn't mentioned upon first meeting them you wouldn't really know that.
Zed is the obvious antagonist of the movie and mostly hunts humans before cutting off their heads(?) and displaying them as trophies. Vak and Krel are his robot servants while the mutant is...I don't know. They're definitely not on the same team, that's for certain.
Basic Premise
So you can really just look at their wikipedia page for a proper synopsis but if you just want the basics...
Daria and Tisa are escaped slaves who crash land on a planet occupied by Zed and his robot servants. He seems kind at first but turns out he hunts humans for sport and while the girls all try to escape he confronts Rik giving him a chance to kill him during a hunt. He gives him a laser pistol with a ten minute delay to first charging up and then the hunt starts up. Rik gets killed and the girls are captured to where it's there turn to be hunted as a group. Shala gets killed (?) but Daria and Tisa find some weapons in an ancient vault but despite that wind up fighting Zed with more conventional weapons like swords. He gets wounded by the mutant and the girls escape. Zed then activates a self destruct of his base, or something that just makes it glow, and the girls fly off into the credits.
Costumes
Zed was evil black, Rik was Harlequin cover loose blouse. Okay, got them out of the way.
The first thing I wonder about the costumes in this movie is if all the girls were escaped slaves. Or at least most. The first girl we see being hunted is wearing the exact same outfit that we see Daria and Tisa wearing while they're enslaved. Shala isn't wearing it until she's being hunted, but that could be explained as it could've been taken off of another of those who were hunted previously. The outfits being the beige bikinis. There's also sultry dresses and lingerie. Another reason I think there's more to Daria and Tisa's relationship since Tisa is all about showing her body off in her bra and panty set despite having something of a robe to cover herself. It's sheer, but still.
The robots. They really did kinda look like they were supposed to. Props to them that they got a good bulky, almost metallic look to their outfits. I think a lot of it was plastic but still. So long as we know what they're supposed to be, right? The mutant is certainly scary and...I think it winked at the end? Hard to tell cause it was right after he attacked Zed but then went after the girls. So it was like “is he on their side or not?” Still, I wanna say they got the costume to wink. The zombies, however, yeah. Because they were only shown for brief glimpses it's clear that it's regular clothes with a white ghoulish mask. I mean, it works. You know they're not human. Just...yeah.
Foibles
Okay, so I'm going to be very quick with this part because I know the point of a B-Movie is to not take it so seriously but...I can't help it! There's a few things that bother me even by B-Movie standards. No, it's not Tisa convincing one of the robots to watch her skinny dip, no it's not the obvious rubber masks used for human heads, it's the final hunt.
When Rik was being hunted things kinda made sense for why he ran off instead of just killing Zed. His pistol was on a delay and Zed had his robot servants with him. Rik was not going to win that physical confrontation. However, when he's hunting the girls he gives them knives. Not switchblades with a delay on using them (although Rik showed he had a fairly large switchblade he could've used) but just knives. Sharpened, ready to puncture, able to cut flesh knives. How do we know they're able to cut flesh and weren't just dull blades? Cause they're later used to kill a couple of zombies in the vault. We even see a splatter of green blood on the knife after a zombie is killed. So why couldn't the three of them just lunge forward with their knives and kill him? Were they really honoring the spirit of the ten minute head start? But wait, because Shala wasn't interested in that. She was planning on ambushing him as soon as she could.
So yeah, that's the one part that bothered me. I could also say the first ten minutes were a bother too cause it didn't lead to anything but to allow the movie that science fiction tag. Oh well.
Cable Act of 1992
Honestly? I think this is why the movie even got a Wikipedia page to begin with because it was part of the basis for a US senator to try and enact a bill that would make such programming more difficult for viewers to watch at home. Basically, if that bill passed, people would have to write in to their cable companies letting them know they wanted to watch certain bits of programming. I mean, it sounds insane today what with the internet, streaming, digital cable packages, torrents, etc. And perhaps even moreso when you consider that just a few years after the bill was put in for debate, or whatever, some of these programs really got started. It's just funny to think the sort of world we'd have if that bill had passed. Would porn have then been entirely outlawed? What a cruel, cruel world that would be.
After the movie fanfic
So one of the biggest things unresolved from the whole movie was what happened with the slaver ship. They weren't destroyed, they didn't really even pursue the escaped slaves. So here's my theory on that. They either work alongside Zed or he gets his “shipments” from them. Mainly because all the girls he's hunted have all worn the same outfits that slaves wear on the ship, going by the girl at the start and Daria and Tisa as well. So the slaver ship is still out there hovering over the world. Does that mean Daria and Tisa are just re enslaved and it's done? No. Because they go back to plan out a counter offensive while some slaver lifeboats land along the planet.
When they do land, they find that Shala is still alive because really she got hit with one crossbow bolt in the back and I say she can take that. Don't agree? Stop reading then. Girl also survived from the start and that's not just me saying “No, movie! I'm right!” It's mostly because when Zed approached her during the hunt, she didn't really react all that frightened. In fact, we didn't even see her reaction at all aside from “Oh, the mutant that was chasing me is dead. Alright.” Not even a scream during the scene transition. So chances are she was just taken back to his base where he...did other things with her. She helps Shala recover and, cause I want to, the two of them form a bond. Yep. Gotta do it if the movie won't say one way or another about the other two characters.
Through guerrilla tactics, they defeat the slavers that land and go up to destroy the ship. It's a bit of a struggle but once they open the pens their numbers increase drastically. While those slaves look to start their own lives, probably going down to the planet to start a civilization led by Shala, Daria and Tisa go out to hunt more slavers. Yay! I just think it's better than them flying off into space and Shala, the one near redhead, dies. That's a boo on you, movie writers.
Overall Review
I really had some fun with this movie. I did make the mistake of taking things too seriously at the start and that's on me. But as soon as I stopped I was able to see the movie for what it was. Just a dark comedy romp with sexy chicks and tits. The acting was about what you'd expect and it's clear that the director was REALLY proud over some of the lines he wrote for the script. But that's good. I found myself enjoying it and really rooting for Daria and Tisa to survive. At the end I was worried that it'd go all dark sci fi when Zed has a control. I thought he was going to remotely blow up their ship as they were escaping but instead it just turned his base into a rave party.
So do I recommend it? Well, yes. Yes I do. In fact, here it is on Youtube. With FULL nudity! Watch it on a Wednesday afternoon and laugh at those who actually wanted the Cable Act of 1992 to pass.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=138MfsLJQAw
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