The Phantom Empire – 1988

by Tommy Snöberg Söderberg · Published 2024-01-05 · Updated 2024-01-05

When I first saw the cover art for The Phantom Empire I was totally blown away. This got to be a highly entertaining film! It just seems so all over the place that it has to be funny. Maybe not deliberately so, but it’s still funny. Well, there are a few scenes in the early parts of the movie, in fact even before the movie really begins the humor is evident. There’s no chance in hell that director Fred Olen Ray made this with an attempt to be serious about it. Does that mean that it’s good? No, it doesn’t.

Can you really take this serious?

But it does mean that Fred Olsen Ray had quite a bit of self-distance when he made The Phantom Empire. I’m certainly no expert on his works but after a little digging, I’ve come to the conclusion that he mostly made movies that were very cheap and with lots of T&A in them. That doesn’t necessarily mean that all his movies are like that. In fact, I find that highly improbable. But you gotta do movies that sell right? Sex sells, no question about it even if it’s only displayed in innuendoes och customs that might break by themselves at any moment and leave the actress topless.

Sleaze

I don’t really see the sleaze in that. Respectable shows have openly admitted to using this method to attract male viewers. Of course, when the customer does break and the actress is bared that’s a different matter, isn’t it? Yes, the Phantom Empire features women topless or at least one woman but that’s beside the point.

Caveman

Will the costume hold together?

The movie itself is horrible. I can live with it since it’s such an obvious attempt to make a point out of it being bad. It’s like free Olen Ray was intentionally making a turkey. Maybe that’s what he was aiming for? Acting-wise it’s ok and there’s one of my all-time favorite actors in it – Jeffrey Combs. You can tell that he hasn’t had that much experience yet. He’s not bad in his role, it’s just like he isn’t really up to his usual standards. That’s my opinion at least. I can’t say that I know anything about the other actors or actresses except for Sybil Danning who plays the female alien. Or it’s a long story about how aliens appear in this one but bear with me.

First of all some kind of odd caveman emerges from a cave complex and when he reaches the surface he causes som picnicers death. Of course, there’s an investigation but as far as I get it it comes up with nothing. Then there is the film-noir ingredient in there. Some woman hires a private dick to explore the tunnels with her. Of course, there is a treasure map or at least a map of the tunnels as well in the story. ok, off they go. They find the tunnels, some more strange cavemen, some lightly dressed cavewomen, a robot searching for precious gems like diamonds, and an underground world ruled by an alien woman driving a futuristic car. This is such a mess.

Sybil Danning exiting the futuristic car

But it is entertaining. Not always in a good way but I kind of hate it and love it at the same time. Movies like this are not made anymore. Who could come up with a crazy story like that and then even get to tell it and make a movie about it? Do you want to see something that really messes with you? Then you should take a shot at The Phantom Empire.