MovieChat Forums > Damnation Alley (1977) Discussion > People miss the point, THIS IS THE FUNNI...

People miss the point, THIS IS THE FUNNIEST BAD MOVIE EVER!!

posted 16 years ago by j3llz6x
5 replies | jump to latest

If you haven't seen this movie before, read no further and go forth and see this movie with the idea in mind that it is the campiest, most ridiculous science fiction film possible and marvel at how anyone making this movie truly thought they were intentionally making a SERIOUS film.

****************** SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!!!!*********************************

That being said, I just cannot understand how you can watch much of this film and not roll on the floor laughing. WATCH as an Air Force Airman's discarded Playboy and its chance meetng with a lit cigarette starts an INCREDIBLE chain reaction explosion that destroys an ENTIRE MILITARY BASE. MARVEL at the actor George Peppard's thick moustache as he declares the immortal line, "This whole town is infected with KILLER COCKROACHS." LOOK in awe at the amazing special effects, for expample multicolored lighted skies that look like, well, fake special effects of multicolored lighted skies.
Like I said you really have to go into this movie with the idea not to take as seriously as the people who made the movie (which is what makes it funny). Other so called classic bad movies (like anything by Ed Wood), often are filled with nothing but long boring dialogue scenes, whereas this film actually has some entertaing action sequences in between the unintentional humor, including an actually well constructed shoot-out/action scene between our heroic crew and some wasteland bad guys.
SO, in conclusion, for all the aforementionad reasons, this is a must see if you're in the right frame of mind.

[–] andrewwjohnson 16 years ago

..................When it comes to post apocalyptic satire it's hard to beat "Hell Comes to Frog Town." It's Rowdy Rodney Piper fighting a bunch of giant mutant lecherous frogs to save the honor of a group of ladies. Back in the eighties it was fun to watch wine and cheese liberal turn livid after suggesting this movie was a better depiction of a post nuclear world then the "Day After".........................Ok seriously "Damnation Alley" is a solid second with cheesy special effects, over acting and giant cockroaches. I would go as far as to say it is a four mutant cockroach movie. Ok, I had to use spiders because they don't have cockroach smilleys. LOL
True genius is a beautiful thing, but ignorance is ugly to the bone.

[–] Darbacour 16 years ago

Trivia: George Peppard pronounces "Killer Cockroaches" as "KILLA COCKROACHES" BWAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHA

This thing has to be seen to be believed.

[–] detune 13 years ago

Everybody talks about the lighted sky effects. At the time I saw this movie in the late 70's, I didn't see anything wrong with them, and remember finding them mesmerizing. The matting work isn't the best, but I find it hard to believe that a 70's audience would notice.

[–] cherns-2 15 years ago

Don't forget that immortal line, uttered (as I recall--it's been a long time) several times: "We're about to enter an unknown and dangerous place--let's split up and explore individually..."

[–] jztzt 13 years ago

I think this unofficial title of funniest bad movie has to go to The Swarm (1978), which was made by people who treated the subject as dead serious (but it wasn't and was unintentionally laughable for most of its running time). Damnation alley is not as funny but it's just as bad. Given the premise, there are so many ways the filmmakers could have made the movie interesting, but instead they made it banal. It does have a couple of scenes that are hillarious, like the cockroach scene that fails to generate scares or praise for its special effects.