Forbidden World (1982)

Forbidden World is another low-budget Alien rip-off from the Roger Corman stable, but this is actually one of his better tries at latter-day exploitation filmmaking.

It’s pretty nasty stuff, set at a remote scientific research centre (full of hot babe doctors) on planet Xarbia.

A mutated genetically engineered creature, nicknamed Subject 20, picks off the lesser cast members one at a time until one of the scientists – the perpetually smoking and coughing lead scientist Dr Cal Timbergen (Fox Harris), who is dying from cancer – forces a crewman to remove his diseased liver and feed it to the monster!

There’s plenty of grotesque splatter and lots of full-frontal female nudity (June Chadwick and Dawn Dunlap even have a shower together), plus a particularly vicious monster rape scene (the film only just avoided a prohibitive X rating for this).

It’s trash for sure, but it’s well-made trash.

The film was shot in 20 days. Most of the impressive sets were rehashed from Corman’s earlier Galaxy of Terror (1981) and the alien itself was designed by the late John Carl Buechler, with more than a passing nod to Ridley Scott’s Alien.

Corman later remade the film as Dead Space (1991).

Mike Colby
Jesse Vint
Tracy Baxter
Dawn Dunlap
Dr Barbara Glaser
June Chadwick
Dr Gordon Hauser
Linden Chiles
Dr Cal Timbergen
Fox Harris
Brian Beale
Ray Oliver
Earl Richards
Scott Paulin
Jimmy Swift
Michael Bowen
SAM-104
Don Olivera

Director
Allan Holzman