Arena (1989)

User Rating:

4.8/10   

Director:

Peter Manoogian

Writers (WGA):

Danny Bilson (written by) &
Paul De Meo (written by)

Genre:

Sci-Fi | Sport

Tagline:

For a thousand years no human has been the champion. He wants to be the first.

Plot:

An intergalactic fighting competition between champions of various worlds has traditionally been won by a species much larger and stronger than humans...

Plot Keywords:

Fight | Alien | Independent Film

Cast

Paul Satterfield	...	Steve Armstrong
Hamilton Camp	...	Shorty
Claudia Christian	...	Quinn
Marc Alaimo	...	Rogor
Shari Shattuck	...	Jade
Armin Shimerman	...	Weezil
Brett Porter	...	Wayne
Charles Tabansi	...	Troy
Michael Deak	...	Horn
Jack Carter	...	Announcer
William Butler	...	Skull
Grady Clarkson	...	Commissioner Dent
Dave Thompson	...	Doctor
Ken Clark	...	Marcus
Diana Rose	...	Space Lady in Nightclub

Runtime:

Germany:115 min | 97 min (VHS version)

Country:

Italy | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Germany:16 | USA:PG-13 | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba) | Canada:R (Ontario) | UK:15

Company:

Altar Productions

Trivia:

Finished in 1988, not released in USA until 1991.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: During all the fights in the arena, many of the spectators in the crowd are just painted cutouts with clothes draped over them.

Soundtrack:

I Love the Barbarian

Not Fantastic But Watchable

I haven't watched this film for a few years now but I remember it well as it was a real no brainer fun watch that I viewed several times on a battered old VHS copy. The plot is paper thin and not much above the usual T.V. sci-fi episode in fact I'm sure the an episode of Babylon 5 has a similar plot (TKO in series 1 or 2 I think a coincidence as Claudia Christian appears in both). The effects are basic the budget was probably minimal but this doesn't matter it's the vision of the future that sells this film you need to let go and use your imagination and when you do it kinda works. If you just let the poor effects go and some hammy acting in places you'll get some solid entertainment but you really do have to be in that B-Movie kind of mood to enjoy it.

The fights have to work around some ambitious (for the budget) alien anatomy and thats this films creates strength it tries to stay away from all aliens being basically humanoid shaped and throws the occasional curve-ball in there.

Solid not spectacular with a better budget a few extra sub plots this could have been very good as is a solid B-Movie effort no more, no less 5/10.