Trivia / Laserblast

• Creator Backlash:
  • Eddie Deezen (Froggy) has said on his Facebook page that he absolutely hates this film, to the point that he prefers to consider Grease his first film work. He refused to watch or acknowledge the existence of Laserblast for many years, until Mystery Science Theater 3000 featured it. He initially had an Oh, Crap! moment when he realized MST3K was riffing it, but he ultimately enjoyed it.
  • Cheryl Smith (Kathy) also considered Laserblast one of her worst movies due to the rushed schedule (the whole movie was shot in three weeks, giving her and the other actors little time to rehearse or prepare) and thought her character was poorly written and uninteresting.
• Dawson Casting: 27-year-old Kim Milford as the teenage Billy Duncan.^note It's not obvious what age Billy is supposed to be.
• Descended Creator: The "monsterized" guy in the opening scene was played by the movie's makeup artist, Steve Neill.
• Dueling Works: Invoked, when Billy blows up a Star Wars billboard late in the movie. Sure enough, it sparked a very brief feud between the two films... most people quickly came to the conclusion that Star Wars was better.
• Money, Dear Boy: Keenan Wynn and Roddy McDowall. Wynn in particular filmed all of his scenes in one day and puts about the effort into his role that you'd expect.
• No OSHA Compliance: Kim Milford (Billy) told Starlog Magazine that the movie's action scenes were "harrowing" to film, as the rushed shooting schedule made it difficult to hire stuntmen or practice safety protocols. Notably, he and Michael Bryar (the hippie) were nearly killed filming the scene where Billy blows up the Star Wars billboard because the explosion was poorly timed by the effects crew. The blast shattered the van's windshield and sprayed the actors and the interior of the van with glass and debris, while Milford "almost got decapitated" by a chunk of debris that flew through the passenger window.
• Star-Derailing Role: Kim Milford was considered a hot up-and-comer thanks to his role as Rocky in The Rocky Horror Show (the musical that would later be adapted into film as The Rocky Horror Picture Show), hence his starring role, but Laserblast ended those hopes. (He died 10 years after the film's release, however.)
• Stunt Casting: Roddy McDowall's cameo as Doctor Mellon.
• What Could Have Been: A sequel was in production during the '80s, but got stuck in Development Hell and was canceled due to budget constraints.

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