The Phantom Empire (1987 Video) User Reviews

Goes from embarrassingly awful to enjoyably awful....

[gridoon · 4/10 · 6 May 2007]

....and that happens at around the 50-minute mark, when Sybil (as a character in the film exclaims, "WOW!") Danning appears, well-cast as a fighting alien queen. Up until then "The Phantom Empire" is a plodding, sleep-inducing trek, and the cannibals with Halloween masks over their faces and old rags for clothes are beneath Z-grade cinema. The sole bright spot is Michelle Bauer as a bikini-clad "cave bunny". After Danning's entrance, the viewer can at least focus on her phenomenal figure, and it's easier to forgive the unimpressive stop-motion animation effects (I think "One Million Years B.C.", from 1965, has a better dinosaur battle than the one featured here). But if you want to see something from Fred Olen Ray that looks more like a real film and less like a college project, seek out his "Cyclone" from the following year. (*1/2)

P.S.: To claim that you watched this film "for the dinosaurs" is like claiming that you watched "Jurassic Park" for the T & A.

Fred Keeps on Working It

[Scott_Mercer · 5/10 · 26 January 2006]

Fred Olen Ray is a cool dude. He's made over 100 movies, but this was made somewhat early on in his career. This film is a throwback to 1950's Z-grade monster cheapies, with a bit of 1930's serials thrown in as well. Yes, this film is beyond low budget. This is one of those flicks where they schlep a camera up to Bronson Canyon, and spend most of the movie running back and forth down the same cave. Also we get a side trip to Vasquez Rocks, which should be very familiar to fans of old sci-fi or old B-Westerns. The plot: is that really important? Just know we've a got a bad Indiana Jones rip-off played by Robert Quarry, his hard-drinking female second, a half-naked mute cave girl, the guy from "Reanimator", Sybil Danning as the "Alien Queen", and Robby the Robot shows up, amongst other foolishness I can't even remember.

If you get the DVD, listen to Fred's commentary track, which is invaluable for film fanatics and aspiring indie filmmakers. Fred records great commentaries, filled with hilarious anecdotes about the world of zero-budget filmdom. This is no exception. So, on that basis, I give the movie a 5 out of 10. But I realize that most film goers don't share the love of low-budget sci-fi films that I do, so buy with caution.

Hahahahaha!!!

[nzbungy · 3/10 · 8 January 2004]

This is hilarious. A classic camp movie, it's just awful in every way. The acting is half a step above terrible, the soundtrack is horrendous, and the directing is barely mediocre. Yet it was still fun, for me at least. The plot alone was enough to watch it. It should have been called "Attack of the Amazon Women from Outer Space Who Have Robots and Who Fight Underground Cannibals and Capture Normal People." Absolutely hilarious. Enjoyable if you're a fan of campy films, but still just a 3 out of 10.

Too cheap to be good, but Danning is always a plus

[udar55 · 13 July 2011]

Another 80s Fred Olen Ray flick I had never seen, but knew quite well due to seeing stills of Sybil Danning in her tight leather outfit. Denae Chambers (Susan Stokey) hires Cort Eastman (Ross Hagen) and his female sidekick Eddy (Dawn Wildsmith) to help locate a rumored lost world in the center of the earth that might have tons of priceless jewels. Joining them on their expedition are Prof. Strock (Robert Quarry) and Andrew Paris (Jeffrey Combs). What they find after venturing 15 miles into a cave is another world ruled by an alien queen (Sybil Danning). This is so-so stuff from Ray that doesn't really pick up until the last 20 minutes. The best thing about it (other than Michelle Bauer getting topless) is the rapport between hard drinking Cort and Eddy. Combs is also an always welcome presence. Seeing this, DEEP SPACE, THE TOMB and PRISON SHIP all so close together also makes me respect the acting of Stokey as she played wildly different characters in each one. And, of course, Danning in anything 80s is require viewing. Yowza!

Playful and willful

[kosmasp · 4/10 · 21 April 2020]

On the disc this was on, before the movie started there was a word (actually more than that) from the director. We apparently get him in his home with his wife (I did not check if this is factually correct), just to get a side character from the movie invading - or is it from the movie? If you find this funny, you're in for a treat with the movie itself (though do not expect nearly as much nudity as you get to see in this short).

You have to actually shut your brain off, not care about the movies actual intro (after we get to see quite a decent effect for a low budget movie), that edits the opening credits with a detective style throwback ... it tries to be funny but does not really succeed. What it does though from time to time (maybe) - it surprises you with some neat choices. Like making the female assistant be more macho than the detective himself. A nice touch, if you care enough. Otherwise very low production values but a nice throwback to claymation towards the end - does it make sense? No not at all - but if you are looking for that, you are way wrong here

So bad it's almost good.

[Sergiodave · 3/10 · 25 January 2021]

Think of movies starring Doug McClure like 'The land that time forgot' but with acting, dialogue and special effects that are 100 times worse and you have 'The Phantom Empire'. The only plus points, there are 3, is Jeffrey Combs and Michelle Bauer going topless. Should really be a 1 star movie, but it was so terrible it made me laugh, so have given an extra 2 stars.

Robots and dinosaurs

[unbrokenmetal · 5/10 · 26 February 2008]

Despite the title, not a remake of the 1935 trash classic with Gene Autry. In this Fred Olen Ray movie, an expedition enters a (very bright) dark cave and discovers cave girls including the cute Michelle Bauer, dinosaurs, cannibals, a robot firing green laser beams and, above all, the voluptuous Sybil Danning as a black leather alien queen. Now, read it slowly again. Does that make any sense? No, it doesn't, you can't even land a space ship in a cave with walls all around. Therefore, no need to argue whether it's a bad movie, since you already know the answer. This is mindless fun for a special audience, and if you like to see Sybil Danning kill a tiny stop animation dinosaur with a spear, get your copy.

Meanders Between the Real Bad and the Good Kind of Bad

[Tweetienator · 4/10 · 11 February 2022]

The Phantom Empire provides some trashy and cheesy fun - first time our underground expedition sets up camp in the caves they get some booze done... What else? The Phantom Empire reminds me of classics like Journey to the Center of the Earth, The Time Machine and Forbidden Planet, but transformed to a pulp magazine version: half naked ladies, cannibal monsters (hilarious masks!), almost some gore, robots and some more funny stuff put together in a wild mixture. Production value is low, cast okay, to sum it up: some movie out of the trash can. Whether this film is of any good for you is a question of mood and taste - you may dare to give this one a try if you like sometimes to dig on the other side of the coin, then and only then, The Phantom Empire may provide you with some entertainment and fun moments.

Running for the title of worst movie of all time

[pumaye · 4/10 · 22 September 2003]

You know from the start that will be a harsh movie to go through, but you sincerely hope in something better when it is finished. Not even campy, but a real shame of a movie, made with cheap sets, terrible script, not even enough nudes to justify the rent. A real waste of time

"What can I say? It's a chemical imbalance that I have."

[Hey_Sweden · 6/10 · 27 July 2023]

"The Phantom Empire" stars Ross Hagen and Dawn Wildsmith as low-rent salvage experts hired by rich girl Suzy Stokey to investigate caves that could potentially contain a windfall of jewels. With Jeffrey Combs (a paleontologist) and Robert Quarry (a mineralogist) in tow, they discover a tribe of sexy cavewomen, Robby the Robot, and B movie goddess Sybil Danning as a feisty alien queen.

Admittedly, "The Phantom Empire" is awfully slow to start, but at least director-producer-co-writer Fred Olen Ray has a sense of humor about what he does, much like his peer Jim Wynorski. The movie is VERY goofy nonsense, but it's too irreverent to dismiss outright. What helps is that scene-stealer Wildsmith has a plethora of sardonic dialogue, as well as constant unimpressed reactions to all the insane stuff the characters experience.

The movie does also benefit from the presence of Michelle Bauer, who, like Danning, is a constant welcome presence in diversions like this; here she plays a mute cave bunny who wears little and is always helping out our heroes. But the movie never really hits its stride until Sybil shows up. (About 55 minutes into the running time.) There are some mildly amusing stop-motion dinosaurs that wouldn't past muster in a Ray Harryhausen picture, but let's face it: Sybil and Michelle are the reasons why many guys will enjoy it as much as they do.

At its best, this is an agreeable update of Z-grade movies of decades past, a mash-up of "The Lost World" and "The Time Machine", with dime store versions of the Morlocks from the latter story.

Six out of 10.

The video cover says 'Trash with Flash' Well, they got the first bit right.

[G.Spider · 2/10 · 30 June 1999]

Scientists discover an underground lost world populated by cavemen and dinosaurs. There's a novelty. There must be more 'lost worlds' on this planet than there are 'found worlds'.

I only saw this film to see the dinosaur footage blatantly lifted from a never-seen dinosaur movie called 'Planet of the Dinosaurs', but a few minutes of a Tyrannosaur fighting the Beast from 20,000 Fathoms don't justify a film. 'Phantom Empire' might provide short-term entertainment to some, but it's just a waste of time, an insult to superior films of this genre. Most of the effects (aside from the footage) are dreadful, the only halfway decent one being Robbie the Robot from 'Forbidden Planet' with a different head. The characters are sci-fi cliches and are mostly obnoxious, the 'Alien Queen' and her scantily-clad minions are the nadir of low-budget exploitation twaddle.

If you're some sexually-frustrated individual then I'm sure this will seem like pennies from heaven. Personally I'm thinking of writing to the producers demanding compensation for the hour-and-a-half of my life I wasted watching this cobblers.

Evaluate it for what it is

[bbl-41718 · 10/10 · 15 September 2022]

OK, so it's not Lawrence of Arabia. It's also not the absolutely terrible "Cleopatra" with Liz and Dick either. There are awful movies which are unwatchable and awful movies which are eminently watchable, and this is one of the latter. And lest you think I have no standards, I'm perfectly willing to put "Robot Monster" in the category of an awful movie that is utterly unwatchable.

If you like cheesy fun that doesn't take itself seriously at all, and in fact is a parody of itself, then sit back with some popcorn and have a good time. And besides, it takes a certain quirky sense of humor to pair a wannabe Robby the Robot with Sybil Danning as an alien queen.

An average movie that's still worth a watch

[kevin_robbins · 6/10 · 13 January 2023]

The Phantom Empire (1988) is a movie that I recently watched on Tubi. The storyline follows a young lady whose father disappeared in caves looking for some diamonds but was killed by something in the cave. The young lady hires a team to find her father and the diamonds but will they suffer the same fate as the father?

This movie is directed by Fred Olen Ray (Spidora) and stars Jeffrey Combs (The Frightners), Ross Hagen (Wonder Women), Dawn Wildsmith (Surf Nazis Must Die), Sybil Danning (Halloween), Suzy Stokey (Star Slammer) and Robert Quarry (Count Yorga, Vampire).

The settings for this movie are very well selected and the cave scenes are well shot and delivered. The cast is awesome and I loved both Combs and Danning in this. The movie starts with a great kill and decapitation and then takes some time to get going again. The special effects are inconsistent with the robot being cool, dinosaur sequence being fun but dated and the futuristic cars being cool. The women are gorgeous and there's some great female fight scenes in this with of course, a few flashes of nudity. The writing is nothing special but the concept keeps your attention from beginning to end.

Overall, this is an average movie that's still worth a watch. I would score this a 5-5.5/10 and recommend seeing it once.

go watch Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers or Wizards of the Demon Sword instead

[movieman_kev · 3/10 · 11 April 2008]

Sadly even the combined great talents of Jeffrey Combs, Michelle Bauer, Sybil Dannng, and yes, even Robby the Robot cant save this boring little film about a small group of people finding a 'lost world' in a cave while searching for diamonds. It kills me because I love the films Fred Olen Ray did in the '80's. For the most part they were just low-budget cheesy goodness that put a smile upon my face. (Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers is SOOO good). But this film just didn't do anything for me & even though he'd make a last gasp with the enjoyable "Scream Queen Hot Tub Party" and extremely fun "Wizards of the Demon Sword", the decades after wouldn't be nearly as kind to him movie-writing wise.

My Grade: D

Retro-media DVD Extras: Commentary by Fred Olen Ray & Gary Graver; Nite Owl Theater (basically just an intro by Fred); 24 minute documentary; 10 minutes of behind the scenes footage; 3 minutes of alternate takes for TV; Stills gallery; & unused artwork

Eye Candy: Michelle Bauer & Tricia Burns both get topless while catfighting (There's also 3 topless girls in the Nite Owl Theater special feature)

for die-hard F O Ray fans only

[babeulous · 24 March 2001]

Rent this picture only if you're trying to see everything Fred Ray ever made. Ms. Danning struts around in a black leather outfit with big shoulders and a cutout for her cleavage. Poor stop-frame dinosaur animation. No character development. Trite story. Skinny "cave bunnies," no titillation value. Unconvincing, pathetic troglodyte zombies.

Cheap and boring.

[BA_Harrison · 2/10 · 3 November 2019]

The title for this knowingly silly straight-to-video crap-fest from Fred Olen Ray sounds like one of George Lucas's dreadful Star Wars prequels. The fact is that the entire budget for Olen Ray's film wouldn't cover the cost of one of R2-D2's diodes. The Phantom Empire is so impoverished that it borrows the naff silver vehicle from the Logan's Run TV series, steals shoddy stop-motion dinosaurs from some long forgotten film from the '60s, and recycles Robby the Robot of Forbidden Planet fame, swapping his original head for one with a laser-firing green 'eye'.

The plot is little more than a predictable lost-world tale of the type we have seen many times before (but rarely as lousy): Denae Chambers (Suzy Stokey) hires adventurers Cort Eastman (Ross Hagen) and Eddy Colchilde (Dawn Wildsmith) to lead an expedition to a subterranean land inhabited by cannibalistic troglodytes, sexy cavewomen, and a leather clad alien in silver boots (played by busty B-movie babe Sybil Danning); there they hope to find a fortune in precious gemstones. Also along for the ride are mineralogist Professor Strock (Robert Quarry) and archeologist Andrew Paris (Jeffrey Combs).

The weak set-up leads to lots of wandering around the same couple of caves, the characters occasionally attacked by the monsters (men in plastic masks and joke shop wigs). I guess that all one can really hope for with this kind of z-grade nonsense is that what little budget there is will allow for some cheapo gore, and that at least one or two of the aspiring actresses will take off their clothes. As far as the splatter is concerned, the opening minutes prove promising, with a hokey decapitation, but the rest of the film is completely devoid of blood and guts. As far as T&A is concerned, Stokey fails to do the honours, and Danning disappoints with one of her rare non-nude roles, leaving it up to scream queen Michelle Bauer as a sexy 'Cave Bunny' to tick the T&A box, baring her chest with only ten minutes to go.

Phantom Empire

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 22 May 2022]

The Phantom Empire is a very meta film. Its title refers to the 1935 Gene Autry movie serial - which was kind of remade as part of the show Cliffhangers! - as well as having Robby the Robot in its cast, Jeffrey Combs' character Andrew Paris saying that he went to Miskatonic University (the same school from Re-Animator) and vehicles from director Fred Olen Ray's movie Star Slammer and Logan's Run show up, as well as footage from 1977's Planet of Dinosaurs. Maybe by referential sometimes I'm also saying cost-effective.

Ray got the idea for this film while filming Commando Squad in a Bronson Canyon cave. He wrote the script over the weekend and then started filming the day after Commando Squad wrapped, using the same cast and crew. That's impressive but the original inspiration for the 1935 Phantom Empire is wilder. Writer Wallace MacDonald came up with the entire movie - plot, characters, their names, costumes, literally every single moment of the serial - while he was being treated with nitrous oxide by his dentist.

A cave creature with millions in diamonds around his neck emerges from a cave and rips someone's head off before it's stopped. A party is made of Cort Eastman (Ross Hagen), Denae Chambers (Susan Stokey), Andrew Paris (Combs), Professor Strock (Robert Quarry) and Eddy Colchilde (Dawn Wildsmith, Ray's wife) to enter the caves and see what they can salvage.

They soon find a hidden world, Robby the Robot and a queen played by Sybil Danning, which is really why most people rented this. Throw in Michele Bauer as a cave girl and that's why they definitely rented this.

This was terrible...

[paul_haakonsen · 2/10 · 30 July 2023]

I happened to stumble upon the 1987 movie "The Phantom Empire" by random chance here in 2023, and I didn't really take much notice of it. Well, until I saw that Jeffrey Combs was listed on the cover, and then of course I had to sit down and watch the movie.

Honestly, I harbored no expectations at all to the movie, as the movie's cover looked like some really, really low budget stuff. But with Jeffrey Combs on the cast list, I had to check it out. And I am amazed with how utterly lousy and rubbish "The Phantom Empire" turned out to be. There was just so much cheese in the 83 minutes that the movie ran for, and not in a good or enjoyable manner. So writers Fred Olen Ray and T. L. Lankford didn't exactly manage to entertain me with this 1987 movie.

Something interesting about "The Phantom Empire", was the fact that Andrew Paris (played by Jeffrey Combs) said that he studied at the Miskatonic University, which effectively places "The Phantom Empire" in the H. P. Lovecraft universe, for better or worse.

There were so many things wrong with the movie. First of all, I was amazed with the sheer amount of light sources naturally available so deep inside a mountain. Sure, I get it because it is for the audience to see what is going on, but come on, it was just laughable. Then there were suddenly some primal Amazon woman showing up, uhm, okay, sure why not? Then there was a robot shooting lasers from its eyes. And get this Professor Strock said that the robots were indigineous to the cavern environment. Seriously, what? And let's not forget the insanely laughable subterranean creatures, which was painstakingly obviously just horribly fake latex masks on people in equally laughable costumes.

I am surprised that Jeffrey Combs actually did a movie such as "The Phantom Empire".

But I can now check the movie off of the watched-movies-list now. But I can honestly say that I am never returning to watch it a second time.

My rating of director Fred Olen Ray's 1987 movie "The Phantom Empire" lands on a two out of ten stars. The movie is deserving a one out of ten stars rating actually, but the fact that Jeffrey Combs is there pulls it up to a two star rating.

Low budget rendition of "Journey to the Center of the Earth" and "The Land of Time Forgot" "

[jordondave-28085 · 3/10 · 16 March 2024]

(1987) The Phantom Empire SCIENCE-FICTION ADVENTURE

Co-written and directed by Fred Olen Ray that has the daughter of a paleontologist, Denae Chambers (Susan Stokey) employing the services of a struggling PI, Cort Eastman (Ross Hagen) and his female tomboy partner, Eddie (Dawn Wildsmith) to pursue for a priceless neckless that was supposed to be a legend. And after negotiating a deal, he first needed to retrieve a map from another former explorer who used to be a part of the "Reichman" group, and this person was the only survivor who happens to have a drawn out map. By the time Denea arrives to Cort and Eddie meeting place, he then introduces to two other people, mineralogist, Professional Artemis Strock (Robert Quarry) and a young archeologist, Andrew Paris (Jeffrey Combs) to join in on their expedition through the cave! Along the way they eventually stumble onto a prehistoric woman, they nickname her Cave bunny (Michelle Bauer) A few things, at the opening a man is killed by one the cave mutant dwellers who are supposed to be like cannibals. Killing a small dog and a woman's husband, and all of this was happening in the sunlight. Then as the movie continued further, it was soon revealed they were supposed to be afraid of the light that also includes flashlights, contradicting what happened at the opening. Despite the phony looking costumes, the gore effects look fake as well.

Not Fred's best work

[lordzedd-3 · 4/10 · 25 August 2007]

I am a big fan of Fred Olen Ray and I regret to say that Phantom Empire is not his best work. I'm not sure if we wasn't feeling well, didn't care for the project or if all the blame rest squarely on the shoulders of the writer but this movie is flawed big time. There is serious character and story issues. The alien queen is a real bitch and all the actors seemed phoned in their performances. The cave mutants are somewhat lame, considering it was 1986 I think they could have done better. I real don't want to be insulting, but this was more Don Dohler then Fred Olen Ray but there was enough interesting points to keep it from failing. So a mild and unimpressed 4 STARS.

Fun salute to old-timey genre content

[lor_ · 16 April 2023]

My review was written in July 1989 after watching the film on Prism video cassette.

Named after a famous Gene Autry serial, "The Phantom Empire" is an affectionate nod to old-time lost world sci-fi pics, which should amuse home video fans.

Helmer Fred Olen Ray shot this 1986 picture on a shoestring budget, ingeniously making up for lack of resources by stressing snappy dialog and in-jokes (even Robby the Robot pops up as a bad guy).

Plot is simple: after a mutant creature emerges from a cave and kills two picnickers, Susan Stokey hires salvage experts Ross Hagen and Dawn Wildsmith to mount an expedition into the caves to search for the lost city of Rilah.

Robert Quarry and Jeffrey Combs tag along as mineral experts. Crew finds a race of mutants, plus beautiful girls in bikinis led by Michelle Bauer, Sybil Danning pop s up as a queen from Outer Space mining for diamonds to fuel her crashed spaceship on the return trip home.

There's some fun animated footage of dinosaurs plus endless chasing around, but pic mainly works via the tongue-in-cheek dialog exchanges of its cast, most of whom are cult favorites from fantasy and horror pics.

Wildsmith is in particularly good humor, cracking sarcastic jokes in a tough-girl role. Bauer is funny in exaggerated mime as, with no knowledge of English, she's pressed into service as the expedition's guide. Danning has one of her better, campier, latter-day roles in a flashy black leather outfit.