10 Sci-Fi Rip-Off Movies (That Messed Up What They Copied)
8. Starcrash
This entire list could be filled out with low-fi films which tried to stand on the shoulders of Star Wars, but in the interest of diversity we settled for just one: 1978's Starcrash.
As rip-offs go, this one at least rocks a relatively distinguished cast - including Caroline Munro, Christopher Plummer, David Hasselhoff and Joe Spinell - and a not-totally-awful budget (for the time) of $4 million.
Still, with barely a third of Star Wars' cash to play with, corners were inevitably going to be cut, and that's laughably abundant in every aspect of the production, from the sets to the costumes and, yes, the visual effects.
The funniest thing of all, though? Director Luigi Cozzi continues to insist that he came up with the concept independently of Star Wars, but c'mon - the movie opens with the exact same establishing spaceship shot, and it even has freakin' laser swords.
Sure, Joe Spinell's hammy performance as villain Count Zarth Arn and an ever-sexy Caroline Munro give Starcrash a measure of campy charm, but if the intent was to deliver a genuine Star Wars cash-in rather than beating Mel Brooks to the punch with Spaceballs, it must be seen as an abject failure.