1 - 8/20 Victor Schwartzman

September 30, 2001

Think haunted house in space, and you have the idea behind this sf film.Set in the future (when else?), the film opens with the return of a space craft which had been missing many years. The craft was testing an experimental engine when it vanished. Sent out to inspect the craft are a hardy group of "red shirts". Guess what happens next. The effects are very well done, and the film boasts some excellent actors. Unfortunately the script is strictly by the numbers horror/sf. We quickly discover that the ship is "haunted" by something, and that the investigators are prone to hallucintations. The hallucinations lure them into deadly situations, of course, and of course they walk into those situaitons knowing they are false and hallucations, but go anyway. Such is the fate of red shirts, ala Star Trek. While the film kept me watching, it was with a sense of growing impatience and frustration. Talk about waste! Good actors, plenty of money, and this is the best they could do? Cheap jolts instead of genuine thrills? You could watch this film, but if you want the same type of sf scares, you're better off watching the directors' cut of Aliens.

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