Laserblast

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Laserblast
Theatrical release poster.
Directed by	Michael Rae
Produced by	Charles Band
Written by	Frank Ray Perilli Franne Schacht
Starring	Kim Milford Cheryl Smith Gianni Russo Ron Masak Dennis Burkley Barry Cutler Mike Bobenko Eddie Deezen Keenan Wynn Roddy McDowall
Music by	Richard Band Joel Goldsmith
Cinematography	Terry Bowen
Editing by	Jodie Copelan
Distributed by	The Irwin Yablans Company
Release date(s)	March 1, 1978 (USA)
Running time	85 min.
Language	English
Budget	Unknown
IMDb profile

Laserblast is a low-budget 1978 science fiction film. It stars Kim Milford (as Billy Duncan) and Cheryl Smith (as Kathy Farley), and is notable for Eddie Deezen’s debut (as Froggy) and for a four-minute cameo by Roddy McDowall (as Doctor Mellon). The plot is rather ephemeral, but it involves a constantly put-upon young man's discovery of a laser cannon, his ensuing rampage after continual exposure to the weapon's radiation mutates him into a wild, destructive lifeform, and his eventual death at the hands of the aliens who left the cannon behind on Earth in the first place.

In May 1996, it was featured in the final Comedy Central episode of movie-mocking television series Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K). The episode made particular note of film-critic Leonard Maltin's relatively high two and-a-half star rating of the original film, ranking it higher than acclaimed films such as Being There and as good as celebrated films such as The Great Santini, Unforgiven, or Sophie's Choice. Maltin's questionable criticism would later be revisited when the MST3k crew reviewed the film Gorgo, where Maltin made a cameo.

[edit] Trivia

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The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

Roddy McDowall's name is misspelled in the ending credits as "Roddy McDowell". Crow T. Robot points this out in the MST3K version.

This is the only film wherein Eddie Deezen plays a bully. In every other film he plays a (usually picked-on) nerdy character. The MST3k episode points this out by remarking "its a world where the spazzes make fun of the cool guys."