Prisoners of the Lost Universe

• Directed by Terry Marcel
• August 15, 1983 (US)

During an earthquake three people are transported to a parallel universe by a scientist’s matter transmitter. Richard Hatch was justifiably not proud of this.

I am shocked at how much I have to say about a movie that is under 90 minutes. I love Prisoners of the Lost Universe for everything it is and even for what it is not. It’s no great work of art but rather a pretty big piece of crap I unapologetically adore to this day. It is so very bad in a great way. It’s something I saw many times when I was young and I knew even then what I was watching. I had no illusions about it being anything other than trash.

As a film Prisoners of the Lost Universe waffles nicely (and weirdly) between adult and family friendly. It wouldn’t take much for it to go either way. There are moments that are certainly more mature than you would get in something for kids but with the goofy sound effects and the repeated nut checks of characters during combat and a very casual logic about the workings of this fictional world it’s certainly something that would entertain a 10-year-old boy who likes to see explosions and fight scenes and isn’t too interested in plot.

Dan Roebuck (Richard Hatch) is some random guy that TV reporter Carrie Madison (Kay Lenz), travelling without her crew runs off the road during a tremor. Dan turns out to be ideally suited to survive the coming adventure. Carrie is ideal for getting captured and surviving. She’s on her way to interview a scientist that made a massive breakthrough all on his own.

Dan is a handyman that competes in martial arts sword tournaments so when he falls through a doorway into the world of Vonya he is better off than most. Dr. Hartmann (Kenneth Hendel) created this matter transmitter to either view or go to other realities and just about everybody is shocked they can wind up in another reality. It is even a bit of a shock to the scientist himself. Oops! 

John Saxon is the villain of the movie Kleel and few actors were as good at being threatening yet captivating as a villain. Having stumbled across Dr. Hartmann before our hero and the damsel in distress arrived, he plans on using the guy’s knowledge of science to conquer Vonya. It’s quickly realized that time in this world runs much more quickly than it does on Earth meaning a few seconds is a couple of days or something along those lines. 

There are hints of what could be magic in this but there are also implications that there is not actual magic in this world. We got a green guy referred to as The Greenman (Ray Charleson of Hawk the Slayer fame) that can talk to anything, a rock that vaporizes whatever touches it, but also a gold colored guy who is one of the first nut checks in the film. We get oil used to incinerate people rather than the vaporising rock and primitive nitroglycerin which is used to fuel the explosion filled finale where everybody smiles and kind of giggles because they’ve just had a fun adventure and not defeated a megalomaniacal murdering rapist. 

This is very much a dumb guy movie made so by the sound effects used when people get punched or kicked in the crotch. Add to that a thief named Malachi (Peter O’Farrell also of Hawk the Slayer fame) whose loyalties change just for the necessities of the plot and you got this movie.

Being the 80s there are forced moments of female empowerment, but Carrie exists purely to scream, be saved by Dan, or lusted after by Kleel or even some of his more lecherous henchmen. They were trying to figure out how to do something that had been masterfully accomplished in the original Alien film and would be done the following year just as good in the original Terminator: a strong female character.

For me there is a strange charm in Prisoners of the Lost Universe. Perhaps it goes back to being almost exactly what a child would produce. A couple of friends get together at the time when they’re playing outdoors outside and they divide into good guys and bad guys and this is what their imaginations form. John Saxon is that kind of villain, Richard Hatch is that kind of hero, and Kay Lenz is that kind of damsel in distress. No character ever expands upon their initial presentation.

I’m not really sure if Dr. Hartmann is supposed to be truly evil or he’s a guy that just adapted to the situation in a less than ideal way. One moment he’s lamenting how he gave in rather than slave away in the mines and the next you see him in bed with two women who are obviously his sex slaves. Make a decision! 

I will say that this is the rare film that could benefit from the remake. Take the traveling to other dimensions and the general characters but add some layers to them. Make a decision on what the scientist is. Turn the reporter into more than the woman to be rescued. And improve the budget a little bit. 

For me Prisoners of the Lost Universe was a nostalgia trip that took me back to my youth. Certainly a bad movie that managed to become something watchable. If you go for those types of movies then this is probably right up your alley. Beyond that avoid at all costs.