Dead Space (1991)

Synopsis

The movie Dead Space (1991) is a science-fiction horror film directed by Fred Gallo and produced by Mike Elliott. The movie stars Marc Singer, Laura Tate, Judith Chapman, Bryan Cranston, Randy Reinholz, Lori Lively, and Frank Roman.

It follows the crew of a deep space salvage ship that comes across a seemingly abandoned vessel, only to discover it harbors a deadly alien presence.

The film opens by introducing the crew of the starship Pindar – Captain Neal, pilots Rigby and Gator, engineer Tech Sanger, and navigator Amy. Pindar operates on the outskirts of the solar system, salvaging wrecked ships. While investigating a sector of space known as the “Dead Space”, they detect a massive vessel adrift. Hoping it contains valuable materials to salvage, they board the ship.

Initially the ship appears completely lifeless. However, the crew soon discovers it was once a colony transport vessel carrying settlers to a new world. They find the colonists’ personal effects and cabin areas in disarray, as if something catastrophic happened. Venturing deeper into the ship, Rigby is attacked by a fast-moving alien creature and nearly killed.

Realizing the ship is infested with the hostile aliens, Sanger tries to warn the others to escape. But the creatures have already surrounded Pindar, preventing them from returning to their ship. Trapped aboard the infested transport, the crew must find a way to fight back against the aliens that seem to be everywhere on the massive ship.

After improvising weapons to defend themselves, Neal, Amy, and Gator go in search of Rigby who disappeared in the attack. They eventually find him cocooned by the aliens who are revealed to be insect-like predators. Rigby has been implanted with an alien egg and is mutating into one of the creatures. Sanger learns the aliens systematically killed the human colonists to use their bodies as hosts.

With the aliens rapidly hunting them, the four remaining crew make a desperate final push to reach Pindar’s shuttle and escape. They are ambushed by more aliens along the way, forcing them to fight their way to the shuttle bay where Pindar awaits. Gator sacrifices himself to buy the others time as the shuttle takes off, returning them to the safety of their ship.

Aboard Pindar, the exhausted and shaken Neal, Amy, and Sanger initiate an emergency hyperjump to put distance between them and the infested transport. As they process what happened, it is clear this deadly encounter in the “Dead Space” region will haunt their memories forever. The final shot zooms in on an alien egg aboard Pindar, hinting the predator creatures may still pose a threat.

Dead Space combines sci-fi and horror in its depiction of an alien threat encountering an unsuspecting human crew. While low budget, it uses atmosphere and tension to mostly overcome its limited resources in delivering an effective extraterrestrial horror tale.

Cast

• Marc Singer as Commander Steve Krieger
• Laura Tate as Dr. Marissa Salinger
• Judith Chapman as Dr. Emily Stote
• Bryan Cranston as Dr. Frank Darden
• Randy Reinholz as Tim
• Lori Lively as Jill Tollman
• Frank Roman as Sal Dickens

Trivia

The movie Dead Space (1991) was produced by Roger Corman 1.

Reviews

Dead Space has a 17% rating on Rotten Tomatoes 2. A review by TV Tropes describes the movie as “your garden variety ALIEN rip-off” [1]. A review by IMDb describes the movie as “a cheap little film that doesn’t have too much going for it” [5].

Citations

13: “Dead Space (film) – Wikipedia”. Retrieved 30 August 2023.