706 - LASERBLAST (1977; PG; 85m)

Video Ad: "Billy was a kid that got pushed around...then he found the power"

Plot: A troubled teen finds an alien's weapon and takes revenge on those who taunted him.

Prod: Charles Band*
Dir: Michael Rae (prod/Sinner's Blood)
Scr: Franne Schacht (also actor)
Scr: Frank Ray Perilli
(Alligator; Zoltan, Hound of Dracula)
Cin: Terry Bowen (Dickwad; cam/Species)
Ed: Jodie Copelan
(206-Ring of Terror; 701-Night of the Blood Beast)
SFX Animation: Dave Allen*
SFX Animator: Randy Cook (The Crater Lake Monster)
SFX Models: Jon Berg (Star Wars and sequels)
SFX M/U: Steve Neill (sfx/The Crater Lake Monster)
SFX Laser: Paul Gentry
(cin/The Crater Lake Monster; vis cin/The Fifth Element)
SFX Spacecraft Des: Gregory Jein
(Close Encounters of the Third Kind)
SFX: Harry Woolman (704-The Incredible Melting Man;
K19-Hangar 18; 815-Agent for H.A.R.M.)
Cos: Barbara Scott (Crimes of Passion)
Cos: Jill Sheridan (TV's Columbo: It's All in the Game)
M/U: Ve Neill (won Oscars/Ed Wood; Mrs. Doubtfire; Beetlejuice)
PMgr: Penny Rae
ADir: Pat McFadden
Prod Sound Mix: Gerald B. Wolfe (Satan's Princess)
Score: Joel Goldsmith (The Man with Two Brains; Banzai Runner)
Score: Richard Band
(110-Robot Holocaust; 405-Being From Another Planet; Troll)

Billy Duncan / Kim Milford*
Kathy Farley / Cheryl Smith (*704; Parasite; Melvin and Howard)
Tony Craig / Gianni Russo (Godfather 1 & 2; Winter Kills; Lepke)
Sheriff / Ron Masak (sheriff/TV's Murder She Wrote)
Pete Ungar / Dennis Burkley (Murphy's Romance; The Doors)
Jesse Jeep / Barry Cutler (The Amazing Spider-Man; Two of a Kind)
Chuck Doran / Mike Bobenko
Froggy / Eddie Deezen (Hollywood Boulevard 2; Grease 1-2; 1941)
Colonel Farley / Keenan Wynn
(811-Parts: The Clonus Horror; Dr. Strangelove)
Dr. Mellon / Roddy McDowall (Planet of the Apes and sequels)
Mike London / Rick Walters (Rich Men, Single Women)
gas station attendant / Simmy Bow (Alligator; Beetlejuice)
Franny Walton / Joanna Lipari (Nightmare on Elm Street 4)
Carolyn Spicer / Wendy Wernli
hip kid / Michael Bryar (key grip/Death Race 2000)
girl on bench / Melinda Wlinderlich
sheriff's secretary / Franne Schacht (also scr)
pilot / Eric Jenkins
Eleanor Duncan / Janet Dey (Brothers; Eye for an Eye)
first humanoid alien / Steve Neill (also sfx m/u)

Trivia: Some sources have CHARLES BAND making Laserblast II in 1985, but they may be confusing it with Band's movie Deadly Weapon (1988) with virtually the same plot as LASERBLAST. Other Band productions include: Puppetmaster 1-3; The End of the World; and The Alchemist.

Amazingly KIM MILFORD, who died in 1988, was better known for his musical Broadway performances: Hair; Jesus Christ Superstar; and The Rocky Horror Show, a role which was played by actor Peter Hinwood in the movie version. Milford was in another movie: 1978's Corvette Summer (starring Mark Hamill). He was also the lead singer in the Jeff Beck Group.

Other movies with DAVID ALLEN's special effects are: Bride of the Re-Animator; Dr. Mordrid; Dragon World; Dragonmaster; Prehysteria; Robot Wars; The Stuff; and Subspecies. He was an Oscar nominee for his work on Young Sherlock Holmes.

Resource Error Note: Mark Hamill is listed in his filmography on the Internet Movie Data Base as being in Laserblast, but not under Laserblast's production credits. This confusion is probably due to the fact that a Star Wars billboard is blown up in Laserblast. Obviously, Hamill was in Star Wars...hence, the confusion. Hamill and Milford did co-star in one film together...1978's Corvette Summer. If anyone actually spots Hamill in Laserblast, please email the Drive-In Dirt's author Daddy-O at peteplum@aol.com.

Last Updated: 3/28/1999