The Killings at Outpost Zeta

• Directed by Robert Emenegger and Allan Sandler
• February 25, 1980 (US) / December 17, 2019 (UK-DVD)

A team is sent to investigate the mysterious deaths of two previous expeditions on a strategically important but barren world.

Right off the bat The Killings at Outpost Zeta or Killings at Outpost Zeta (Google offers up both of these names for reasons) comes at the viewer like different eras colliding. It has a distinct feel of a 50s science-fiction movie attempting to be serious in an era when they weren’t necessarily known for that. Then there’s the downbeat nature of the 70s brought into focus by the film Alien. But the viewer is also gifted with technical jargon that in Star Wars sounds definitive but here it just sounds like technical jargon to say technical sounding space jargon. All brought to you by largely Caucasian cast with a token black guy in a future that is clearly so white.

The costuming ranges from the cheap to lazy. Motorcycle helmets with hoses glued on for spacesuits. Floppy plastic (probably) toys for guns. They are laughably silly and look like they were found in the cheapest of stores. Red jumpsuits done up to look vaguely like they are part of some organization with a hierarchy though nothing discernable to say who ranks where. Spaceship special effects are bargain basement. They do their best to make them dynamic, but there’s only so much you can do with poorly detailed models on strings with a backdrop of Christmas lights/reflective tape.

In a post Star Wars-era it is odd viewing something done with low quality, well, everything. Following the genre defining Alien it is even stranger seeing a space horror with great lighting and a paper mâché monster that never gets a good reveal even in the climax! It wants to be scary but has all the tension of a Saturday morning cartoon or a beach horror movie brought to you by Roger Corman.

I think we only ever see the creature from a distance in its camouflage form and it’s not even a very good view. It looks to be a crappy little poorly manufactured shell to hint at a creature. The rest of the time it’s an Evil Dead style camera with the actors getting killed while mugging in an effort to look scared like all the cheesiest old horror movies once did.

The capable career woman needs to be held at every slight scare or moment of stress by the ‘manly’ hero. Framing of shots is rather static and tight. Sets are filled with cheap office furniture. But there is a certain charm about it. It’s bad in all the right ways. With its attempt at being adult yet containing juvenile sensibilities it’s an awkward yet enjoyable movie. The actors give it their all while treating the script with the utmost seriousness. Which is a shame with nothing really defining their characters.

That gets you past the numerous flaws. It is enjoyable bad as junk food. There is no meat here. It is a bad monster movie…IN SPACE! It was crafted to best viewed on late night cable after the stuff they were proud of was over. It is secret shame viewing that your snooty friends will mock you over even if the watched it too.

I can only recommend The Killings at Outpost Zeta to people who enjoy bad yet charming movies. The general viewer looking for quality will turn their nose up at it but the connoisseur of the awful will definitely have fun.