My review was written in April 1988 after watching the movie on TWE video cassette.
Something went wrong with "Deep Space", a horror send-up that reportedly went through extensive post-production reshooting and tinkering before its recent direct-to-video release. Finished product doesn't fit its title in the slightest.
Both Chales Napier and Ron Glass are typecast as a couple of L. A. police detectives, partnered on a case when a monster from Outer Space crash lands and starts killing people. The monster was created by U. S. scientists for military research that went awry, with project director James Booth feeling the heat from his supervisor, a general played by Norman Burton.\
Pic is essentially a too literal, tired homage to Ridley Scott's modern classic "Alien", which already has been the model of several alien-on-Earth cheapies such as "Scared to Death" and "Alien Contamination".
Helmer Fred Olen Ray goes to absurd lengths to mimic "Alien", including a scene of a guard calling for his kitty cat which is staged identically, the monster dripping KY jelly. It striking with the same rapid movement (but ropelike tentacles), having a young version that is shaped like an oversize scorpion (instead of the octopus look) and even a variaton of the chest-burster scene. It's all silly, not funny or scary.
Cast includes numerous unimpressive cameos, including erstwhiel "Li'l Abner" star Peter Palmer popping up as a fellow copo; he has no scenes with his one-time co-star Julie Newmar, however. Lead players are okay, maintaining a flippant attitude. The monster vaguely resembles the beastie inserted at the climax of Jacques Tournueur's classic "Night of the Demon", and Napier ultimately wields a chainsaw against it.
