Terrarium (aka War of the Planets) (2003) – Review

By Trevor Anderson | Monday, March 1st, 2010 | No Comments
Tags: jason hall, mike conway, sheila conway, terrarium, tim daley, war of the planets

2 1/2 Stars

Terrarium stands out as a true marvel of what someone can accomplish when they set their mind to it. This is an incredibly low budget film with horrid special effects we’ve come to expect from b-movies. But even so, this movie has charm. Mostly a talkie film, the plot extends over a few hours with astronauts caught in their hibernation chambers aboard a downed spacecraft. The planet they’ve crashed on is very hostile, as they soon find out. The monster is little more than a person in a gorilla costume, but of course Conway was smart enough to only give us glimpses; which helps sell the effect as much as possible. I would give this film three stars based on creativity alone, but I would be lying to everyone if I gave it more than two and a half overall. Definitely worth checking out if you like b-movie schlock, or if you’re just curious to see what a movie made in someone’s backyard looks like.

Director: Mike Conway
Stars: Tim Daley, Jason Hall, Sheila Conway