Directed by Mike Davis
Review by David Carter


Released by Unearthed Films
Running Time: 78 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
Color format: Color
Audio/Subtitles: 5.1 Surround Sound Stereo English
Region Code: 1, NTSC
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
16:9 Enhanced: No
Special Features: No Lights, No Camera, Plenty Of Action: The Making Of Sex Galaxy, Director/Producer Interviews, Puma Swede: Behind The Boobs, Puma Swede Sex Scene Uncut, 3 Vintage Stag films, “The Caveman” Music Video By Mr. Chop, Fake Grindhouse Movie Trailer “The Child Molester”, Stag Films “Recycle” PSA, Super Sexy Puma Swede Pin-Up Gallery
Trailer Online: Yes

Short Version: It’s not what you think.

I’d like to pull back the curtain on the glamorous, top-secret world of film criticism for a moment. Here at FilmFanaddict, we receive a lot of DVDs of films we’ve heard of before. More often than not, however, do we receive things completely out of the blue, sent to us by an up-and-coming filmmaker or a new niche DVD company. Some of the films fall in the middle: a movie we’ve never heard of from a company that we’re familiar with. Such is the case with SEX GALAXY which arrived courtesy of Unearthed Films. I was clueless as to what to expect from a film called SEX GALAXY – but I had an idea – and I’m very familiar with the type of extreme horror films in which Unearthed Films specializes, so I had two possible concepts for what the movie might be like. Both guesses were completely wrong.

Contrary to my assumptions, SEX GALAXY is neither a porno nor a graphically violent horror film, it’s a comedy that utilizes repurposed footage in the vein of WHAT’S UP, HIDEOUS SUN DEMON? The film’s plot centers around Earth one-hundred years in the future, where a century of global warming has caused water to be almost non-existent. To curb overpopulation, sex has been outlawed. In this setting we meet Capt. Grayson, Mr. Dorsett, and Billy, three astronauts heading to repair the plumbing on a space station. After completing their mission, the trio heads to a nearby planet populated by a bevy of sex-starved blondes and their robot pimp, Wron. The planet seems to be the answer to all their problems, as they find promiscuous sex and water in abundant supply.

With only a few, brief exceptions, SEX GALAXY is composed entirely of public domain footage, most of which comes from Roger Corman’s VOYAGE TO THE PLANET OF PREHISTORIC WOMEN. Here’s where things get a bit muddled. PREHISTORIC WOMEN was composed of new footage added to VOYAGE TO THE PREHISTORIC PLANET, which itself used new footage in combination with a Russian film, PLANETA BUR. Four levels of recursion apparently not being enough for filmmaker Mike Davis, SEX GALAXY also contains clips from vintage stag films and sex hygiene films, including one particularly nasty sequence showing the treatment for a venereal disease that will leave male members of the audience cringing.

Davis and crew redubbed the footage with comic dialogue and the jokes hit more often than they missed, for me at least. There aren’t any big, laugh out loud moments, but you’ll likely find yourself chuckling at most of the film. There isn’t much variety in the humor, so if you enjoy the first fifteen minutes, you’ll like the entire feature. The new footage in the film comes courtesy of adult film star Puma Swede and consists entirely of shots of her breasts. I feel this was probably a misstep for the film for two reasons. Firstly, the addition of more nudity doesn’t really help the film – those of you watching for prurient reasons should be more than satisfied by the vintage stag films included. Secondly, it was a disservice to Ms. Swede to not even bother to shoot her above the collarbone. One can tell that she could have been a bigger asset to the film’s comedy from the enjoyable interview sequence with her, in spite (or perhaps because) of English being her second language.

On the subject of Ms. Swede, if you felt there wasn’t enough of her in the film, you get to see her several more times in the special features. Along with those sections, Unearthed has included the full versions of the stag films shown in the feature as well as some shorts and a music video. Fans of Mystery Science Theater 3000 style humor should get a big kick out of SEX GALAXY. Despite the salacious title and some occasional nudity, things stay mostly PG-13 as far as the humor goes -- with the occasional naughty joke thrown in – so this one should be fine for mixed company viewings. It might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I have to hand it to Mike Davis for breathing some new life into an old concept with this film.