**Mild Spoilers**
I will admit I had not heard of this movie before I watched it, I chose it at random as the title itself piqued my curiosity. To my delight the film contained some of my favourite actors, namely Robert Englund, Sid Haig, and Zalman King. Despite this, to my surprise, I just did not find the movie entertaining, although that is not to say it was awful or that you the viewer will not enjoy it.
The plot of the movie was a little confusing but in essence is actually quite simple. The movie starts with two opening scenes. One in which a sole survivor of a crashed spacecraft is murdered. The other scene is of an elderly woman and a figure with a red glow obscuring their face play a strange futuristic game. A spacecraft is dispatched in order to find out what happened to the crashed ship. It lands on the planet and the crew begin to search the crashed spacecraft. They find evidence that the crew have been massacred, and begin to dispose of the bodies. It becomes apparent that someone or something pulled the rescue ship down to the planet so they investigate a large pyramid structure. Inside they begin to confront their fears in what appesrs to be a deadly game with a higher power at work.
In terms of cinematography the movie is nothing special but equally it is far from awful. There is one memorable scene where a female member of the crew gets eaten by a giant worm thst is sexual in nature and apparently had to be edited to avoid an X rating. The cast itself is strong with actors such as Robert Englund and Zalman King putting in good performances. The dialogue in the movie I found irritating. I guess they were aiming for futuristic but to me it sounds limited and stilted. Some fans of science fiction will no doubt enjoy that but to me as a horror fan I just couldn't warm to it. The special effects are ropey in places but this movie was produced by Roger Corman so that is not a surprise.
Galaxy of Terror is perhaps a movie that might appeal more to fans of science fiction rather than horror, although the two genres can be combined to good effect, for example Event Horizon (1997). There are of course horror elements to the movie but I think horror fans will be dissapointed with as the monsters are unconvincing and the whole movie is rather corny.
5 out of 10
Summary: fans of science fiction with elements of horror might enjoy, "pure" horror fans should perhaps avoid, although you do get to see Robert Englund and Sid Haig in action!