Inseminoid (1981)

User Rating:

2.7/10   

Director:

Norman J. Warren

Writers:

Nick Maley (screenplay) and
Gloria Maley (screenplay)

Release Date:

November 1982 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Somewhere in the Depth of Space ... A Horrific Nightmare is About to Become a Reality.

Plot:

A crew of interplanetary archaeologists is threatened when an alien creature impregnates one of their members, causing her to turn homicidal and murder them one by one.

Plot Keywords:

Creature | Impregnated | Planet | Crew | Murder

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Robin Clarke	...	Mark
Jennifer Ashley	...	Holly
Stephanie Beacham	...	Kate
Steven Grives	...	Gary
Barrie Houghton	...	Karl (as Barry Houghton)
Rosalind Lloyd	...	Gail
Victoria Tennant	...	Barbra
Trevor Thomas	...	Mitch
Heather Wright	...	Sharon
David Baxt	...	Ricky
Dominic Jephcott	...	Dean
John Segal	...	Jeff
Kevin O'Shea	...	Corin
Robert Pugh	...	Roy
Judy Geeson	...	Sandy
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Nick Maley	...	Alien Babies (uncredited)

Directed by
Norman J. Warren

Writing credits
Nick Maley		(screenplay) and
Gloria Maley		(screenplay)

Produced by
Richard Gordon	....	producer
Peter M. Schlesinger	....	executive producer
David Speechley	....	producer

Original Music by
John Scott

Cinematography by
John Metcalfe		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Peter Boyle

Casting by
Rose Tobias Shaw

Production Design by
Hayden Pearce

Makeup Department
Ross Carver	....	hairdresser
Jeremy Harris	....	special makeup effects lab assistant (as Jez Harris)
Derry Haws	....	makeup assistant
Bob Keen	....	special makeup effects lab assistant (as Robert Keen)
Nick Maley	....	makeup supervisor
Nick Maley	....	special makeup effects: for Make-Up Effects Ltd.
Sheila Thomas	....	makeup chief

Production Management
Ray Corbett	....	in charge of production

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Derek Harrington	....	third assistant director
Adrian Rawle	....	second assistant director
Gary White	....	assistant director

Art Department
Alan Board	....	construction manager
Chris Jefferies	....	propman
Ian Watson	....	assistant art director
Brian Wells	....	props master
Brian Winterborn	....	props buyer

Sound Department
Paul Botham	....	sound boom operator
Roy Burge	....	footsteps editor
Jim Elderton	....	sound editor
Colin Martin	....	dubbing mixer
Simon Okin	....	sound recordist
Chris Reed	....	assistant sound editor
John Scarlett-Davis	....	sound maintenance

Special Effects by
Philip Sharpe	....	special effects technician (uncredited)

Stunts
Peter Brayham	....	stunts arranger

Camera and Electrical Department
George Boner	....	gaffer
Dennis Lewis	....	camera grip
Mike Metcalfe	....	clapper loader
Barry Peake	....	still photographer
Dick Pope	....	camera operator
John Simmons	....	focus puller

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Veronica McAuliffe	....	wardrobe mistress
Olinkha	....	costumes

Editorial Department
Chris Blunden	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Otto Snel	....	music mixer
John Scott	....	musician (uncredited)

Other crew
Martin Denning	....	video services supplier
Lorraine Goodman	....	production assistant
Patrick Isherwood	....	production accountant
Run Run Shaw	....	presenter (as Sir Run Run Shaw)
Alison Thorne	....	continuity

Production Companies

• Jupiter Film Productions

Distributors

• Almi Cinema 5 (1982) (USA) (theatrical)
• Butcher's Film Service (1982) (UK) (theatrical)
• Almi Cinema 5 (1983) (USA) (theatrical) (retitled re-release)
• Allied Vision (1987) (UK) (VHS)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (UK) (2004) (UK) (DVD)
• DMEG (2004) (Sweden) (video)
• Elite Entertainment (1999) (USA) (DVD)
• Embassy Home Entertainment (video)
• Image Entertainment (laserdisc)
• Roadshow Home Video (Australia)
• Sovereign Multi-Media (1999) (UK) (VHS)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2005) (Australia) (DVD)
• Video Instant Picture Company (VIPCO) (1992) (UK) (VHS)

Special Effects

• Camera Effects (special effects by)
• Make-Up Effects (special make-up effects by)
• Oxford Scientific Films (special effects by)

Other Companies

• Cine-Lingual Studios  post-production services by (as Cine-Lingual)
• Geoff Axtell Associates Ltd.  titles and special optical effects by (as Geoff Axtell Associates)
• Joe Dunton & Company  cameras and lenses by (as Joe Dunton Cameras)
• Lee Electrics  lighting (as Lee Electric {Lighting})
• Urquhart Public Relations  publicity services by

Also Known As:

Horror Planet (USA)
Horrorplanet (USA)

Runtime:

USA:93 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Italy:VM14 | Finland:(Banned) (1985) | New Zealand:R16 | Australia:R | France:-16 | Iceland:(Banned) | UK:15 (video re-rating) (2005) | UK:18 (video rating) (1987) | UK:X (original rating) | USA:R | West Germany:18 | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Chislehurst Caves, Chislehurst, Kent, England, UK

Company:

Jupiter Film Productions

Trivia:

Originally Norman J. Warren wanted orchestral sound in Inseminoid, but because of a lack of budget John Scott suggested electronic synthesizers.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When everyone has blocked themselves into a control room, Sandy decides to blow the door in with explosives near by. When the door flies off, it blows outwards towards her in the corridor, not inwards.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Making the Cut: A Look Back at the Centerfold Girls (2009) (V)

Difficult, Unrewarding Barf-Bagger/Space Sleaze With Cult Following

I remember first encountering this film back when we were all itching for another actual ALIEN movie and disliking it intensely. And after going back again and watching it as an "adult", there is little to really be fond of about it: the film is cold, distant, cruel, sickening, barbaric, perverse, twisted, and rather dull for periods of time.

Yet HORROR PLANET has a very devoted cult following due to the presence of whacko director Norman J. Warren -- who's 1976 satanic shocker SATAN'S SLAVE is a bizarre masterpiece of trash period horror -- and the presence of cult favorites Judy Geeson [DOOMWATCH, A CANDLE FOR THE DEVIL] and the very British DD cuped aristocratic Stephanie Beacham, fondly remembered by this commentator for her appearence in DRACULA A.D. 1972. I am not overly fond of HORROR PLANET as a film, but the movie itself is a fascinating production that has a bizarre history that is almost more interesting than the story it tells. This is because HORROR PLANET is the second of the three big Space Sleaze Epics released in the immediate wake of ALIEN. The reigning king is still Bruce Clark's mesmerizingly awful GALAXY OF TERROR [1980, my favorite of the three], with the likewise Roger Corman produced FORBIDDEN WORLD [or MUTANT] by director Allan Holzman from 1982 rounding out the trio.

Of the three, HORROR PLANET is the least fun, the most gory, the most "horrifying", and the one that seems to have suffered the most from the cutting shears of various home video marketers over the years. Originally released as the more revealingly titled INSEMINOID in 1980, it was a British made production with a Dr. Who like budget, conveniently staged entirely underground or in space station sets so that no major special effects were needed beyond the gore effects.

And like FORBIDDEN WORLD and GALAXY OF TERROR especially, HORROR PLANET embraced all of the sexual aspects of the ALIEN/human interaction's possibilities, doing so with attractive B supporting actresses known for their willingness to do exploitation work to help get a film done. GALAXY OF TERROR presented the world with the timeless image of CAGED HEAT's Taffey O'Connell having a close encounter of the most unwholesome & slippery kind with a giant space maggot in a scene that is pure exploitation that will live in infamy forever that is available in it's squishy entirety on Laserdisc and on an imported UK DVD. But HORROR PLANET [which came first] gives us more of a big insectoid/slug, which impregnates Ms. Geeson with it's disgusting, human skinned but insect headed progeny, and director Warren depicted their emergence such unrelentingly graphic slop that the original cut of INSEMINOID was Rated X by the MPAA.

As such INSEMINOID could not find a distributor in the US in 1980, and was apparently banned in certain parts of Europe [including the original lobby poster design, which was deemed to be obscene], only finding a release in Japan where, as we all know, they will watch just about anything. In 1982 a significantly cut version -- now called HORROR PLANET and again, distributed by Roger Corman -- was finally granted an R rating, and it's across the board "bomb" reviews for being apalling, gross, perverted ALIEN sleaze sort of guaranteed it's cult following when the movie turned up for home video in 1983 and again in 1988 on Laserdisc as well, all of which quickly went out of print and are now collector's items. There was also a home video issuing of another version also called INSEMINOID in the mid 1990's, but was cut even further than the HORROR PLANET tapes, and it too quickly went out of print. Used examples of these videos are readily found at places like amazon.com's reseller shops, and would prove an interesting if somewhat distasteful diversion for fans of recent garbage like SPHERE, EVENT HORIZON, RESIDENT EVIL and the like.

But others should be rightfully warned, or appropriately titilated, by noting that this movie is gross, this movie is painful, this movie is difficult to watch, has little or no artistic sensibilities worth commenting on or unusual plot elements to discuss. There is a cold, distanced and documentary like method to the storytelling that leaves very little need for deconstruction -- what you see on the screen is pretty much what you get. But if watching Judy Geeson being impregnated by a giant worm, give birth to twin alien maggots and then murder & cannibalize the rest of the cast in some warped space fever/dementia is your idea of a good time, well Norman J. Warren made this mean spirited, sick little movie just for you.

Enjoy. ** [out of a possible ****]