This week's VHS is Charles Band's 1982
flick Parasite. I acquired one of those infamous Wizard “big boxes” while working the Full Moon booth last weekend and decided to
crack it.
A scientist (Robert Glaudini) infected
with his own creation escapes his captors and searches for a cure in
the barren wastelands outside futuristic Los Angeles.
I had never seen this movie and almost
immediately realized I had no idea what it was about. I watched Prophecy last year and am now pretty sure I may have always thought
these two were the same movie. I certainly did not know this one was set
in a post-apocalypse where cash was no longer accepted and
the only three things on the menu were canned fruit, canned beer and
canned soup. And this universe had laser guns by 1992. How
progressive!
Parasite was originally released in 3D
and much like my childhood watches of Friday the 13th Part III you can tell which parts are made to cash in on that - my fave bit
being the guy who gets impaled by a length of pipe... and bleeds oil apparently.
Despite its low
budget underpinning, it did possess a good amount of pedigree, as
Stan Winston designed the creature, Richard Band did the score
and boasted Demi Moore in her second ever role. Former
Runaway Cherie Currie also turned up randomly as one of a gang of
toughs.
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| Demi Moore as Pat Welles in Parasite |
I appreciated the world building in
this movie, even if the exchanges were a little stiff scene to scene,
especially the ones between Moore and Glaudini. That's okay though,
because once the creature got let out of its container, it became the
star anyway. I feel like this giant tadpole with teeth motif got used
a lot in the eighties, but like the saying goes - if it ain't broke,
don't fix it!
Parasite concluded with a cool full
body burn and our heroes living happily ever after. Well, as happy as
one can be in a post apocalyptic world I suppose.
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