The research facility angle is the same, and there are roughly eight members of this particular genetic lab this time around. In World the character was ordered there by the Federation, in this version he gets a distress call directly from the planet, but does he go there because his ship has been damaged by that battle or is he going out of duty? I was never sure of that. The planet Xarbia is the destination for the hero of Forbidden World, here it’s Phaebon (pronounced fay-bon), and I was never quite sure why he went there. And, once again, Corman uses footage cribbed from his Battle Beyond The Stars (1980) for the opening, random space battle Krieger and Tinpan are thrust into.

This one is named, Tinpan (Rodger Hall), and his voice-over is that of an adult male, as opposed to the creepy child voice-over used for the Forbidden World cut. Singer is Commander Steve Krieger, and like Vint’s Mike Colby he also has a robot assistant. This version has a big name in the lead, The Beastmaster (1982) himself, Marc Singer! He takes over the role Jesse Vint had in World. For those reading this not in the know I direct you to my review of that film here. In fact it’s a loose remake of a more superior Alien rip-off from 1982 called Forbidden World. This Dead Space is from 1991 and from the mind of prolific director/producer Roger Corman.

Don’t confuse this Dead Space with the mid-2000s video game or the two animated movies that sprang from it, Dead Space: Downfall (2008) and Dead Space: Aftermath (2011), not to mention Deep Space (1988), a totally unrelated Alien rip-off that has nothing to do with any of the aforementioned titles, but I suspect at times might be confused with Dead Space.

Dead space (film) 1991