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In space, no one can hear you fantasize about half-horse aliens.

Sometimes, you just have to admire the Italian film industry. Throughout the 1960s and ‘70s, no region, not even the U.S., produced as much absolutely bizarre and mind-blowing freakshow exploitation as Italy did. Granted, most of it was retreads and the like capitalizing on popular genres (zombies, Hercules, James Bond and Star Wars were their favorites, it seems), but to immerse ones’ self in this period of Italio-cinema is to be assaulted by some of the most insane filmmaking ever. Take this new release for example, The Beast in Space. Directed by Al Bradley (actually Alfonso Brescia) in 1980, the film set out to capitalize on the popularity of the aforementioned Star Wars while adding a little sex to it.

Okay, a lot of sex. Freaky unnatural sex.

Presented as a sort-of-but-not-really sequel to Walerian Borowczyk’s La Bete (aka The Beast), both starring Sirpa Lane, but with little else in common, this is the tale of a future where people still hang out in discos and having gratuitous amounts of sex in an intergalactic setting. One of the last of Brescia’s Star Wars clones (he was also responsible for such “classics” as War in Space, War of the Planets,  War of the Robots, and Space Odyssey), the sci-fi settings are nothing but window dressing this time around, as Lane’s character encounters a huge satyr that eventually rapes her. That’s the other common thread to the original Beast: rape by man-beast (well, there’s the infamous scenes of fornicating horses too, but well, ugh). The special effects are as laughable as in any Brescia film, though the giant satyr occasionally impresses…at least until the camera lingers too long on places that betray his bottom half being a pair of hairy pants. There’s plenty of nudity and softcore porno sex, so this is definitely one sci-fi film you can’t share with the kids.

The DVD, from Severin, is quite nice, with a restored print derived from the original negative (which the jacket exclaims in the one of the most humorous selling points in history “now fully restored from the original film lab negative purchased at a Rome bankruptcy auction.” That, my friends, is unintentional humor at its finest). The widescreen print is colorful for the most part, though like most Italian films from the period, has a soft-focus haze to it that renders sharper colors muted, but still presentable.

Special features include the theatrical trailer, which focuses a good bit on Lane’s character getting off while watching horses go at it. There’s also a 15-plus minute interview/featurette with actor Venantino Venantini that begins with a brief history of Italian sci-fi films and Brescio’s in particular before Venantini comes aboard to discuss his role in the film. Like the film, it is presented in Italian with English subtitles.

The Beast in Space is one of those really insane, out-there sci-fi exploitation films that has to be seen to be believed. It’s not really good by almost any measure outside of T&A, but it’s just so wholly bizarre that it’s a viewing experience that demands the most open-minded of cult film fanatics.

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