10 Star Wars Rip-Off Movies That Are Unintentionally Hilarious

The 1977 release of Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope paved the way for a new era of sci-fi and blockbuster filmmaking. It’s widely regarded as an influential film not only because of the ever-sprawling franchise it spawned but because of its countless silver screen imitators as well.

While Star Wars famously derives from a number of sources, such as Flash Gordon and the films of Akira Kurosawa, the bald-faced poaching of its instantly recognizable world and style adds another layer of humor to the countless campy, low-budget cash grabs released in its wake. While these filmmakers had different approaches to stealing from George Lucas’ classic, they all produced similarly hilarious movies that are fascinating to watch.

10 Starcrash (1978)

One of the earliest space operas to cash in on Star Wars‘ runaway success was Starcrash, directed by Luigi Cozzi. Distributed by B-movie legend Roger Corman, this film tells the story of two smugglers recruited by the Emperor of the Galaxy (an armor-clad Christopher Plummer) to destroy a doosmday device being built by the evil Count Zarth Arn.

If smugglers brought on a mission to destroy a superweapon (“The Doom Machine”) in a galactic empire doesn’t sound familiar enough, there’s also a gender-swapped royal rescue mission for Prince Simon (David Hasselhoff). This campy low-budget film is perfect B-movie fare, provided one doesn’t mind the feeling of deja vu.

9 Message From Space (1978)

The New York Times‘ Janet Maslin dubbed this Japanese flick “so terrible it has a certain comic integrity.” Starring Vic Morrow and Sonny Chiba, this deeply weird film follows a ragtag group of spacefarers echoing the best characters from A New Hope, including a deposed prince, a dilapidated robot, a hot rodder, and a drunken general, who must stop the evil Gavanas empire on their planet-conquering crusade.

With a drag queen take on the Emperor and some truly baffling low-budget visual effects, Message from Space has developed a reputation as a campy novelty. It was successful enough in Japan at the time to secure its own TV spinoff, given the characteristically on-the-nose title Message from Space: Galactic Wars.

8 Star Odyssey (1979)

Italian director Alfonso Brescia made four consecutive sci-fi films in the wake of Star Wars, with Star Odyssey being the third and most overtly Star Wars-based installment. The movie involves an evil warlord named Kress, clad in a familiar black cape, who buys Earth, causing a ragtag band of humans and bumbling robots to fight off his android army.

Star Odyssey even has its own take on lightsabers, made from fluorescent-painted cardboard swords. The film is populated with odd details that range from interesting (the planetary auction at which Earth is bought can be seen as a commentary on postwar imperialism) to unintentionally funny (one of the heroes, Gianni Garko’s Dirk Laramie, is wearing a Spider-Man T-shirt throughout the film).

7 The Humanoid (1979)

Another Italian film, this B-movie doesn’t waste time in ripping off Star Wars by opening with a cosmic text crawl that sets up the main plot.  In addition, the primary villain, Lord Graal, wears a black, samurai-inspired getup distinctly similar to Darth Vader’s classic look. He commands a triangular spaceship barely distinguishable from a Star Destroyer. The director, Aldo Lado, is even credited as George B. Lewis, a clear nod to George Lucas. Beyond cribbing from Lucas’ work, the movie’s threadbare story is full of bizarre elements. For instance, one of the heroes, a telepathic boy named Tom Tom, is revealed to be from Tibet in the distant past (possibly present-day) and returns home in a translucent spaceship.

6 Battle Beyond The Stars (1980)

After picking up Starcrash, Roger Corman produced his own Star Wars knock-off, Battle Beyond the Stars. Despite borrowing notes from Lucas, the film was a modest hit, garnering praise for its effects and production design. The head of production design on the film happened to be a young James Cameron, who would go on to direct Avatar, Aliens, and other sci-fi classics.

Inspired by The Magnificent Seven, the movie follows an eclectic crew banding together to take on Sador (not Darth Sador, but he might as well be), the tyrannical leader of the evil Malmori empire, and his planet-destroying weapon, the Stellar Converter. For every inventively oddball element, there’s an obvious piece of plagiarism that one can’t help but laugh at. Apart from its derivativeness, the film is competent enough to stand on its own, and finding the film’s many “inspirations” from Star Wars is entertaining enough to keep audiences engaged during its 94-minute runtime.

5 Galaxina (1980)

Galaxina, known for starring 1980 Playboy Playmate of the Year Dorothy Stratton (who died shortly after its release), features nods to many classic sci-fi properties, including Star Trek, Alien, and 2001: A Space Odyssey, but Star Wars always remains firmly in its sights. From its opening text crawl to its familiar bar scene, the film is littered with echoes of Luke Skywalker’s seminal story. The film follows the crew of a police cruiser, including the titular Galaxina, an android aboard the ship who develops feelings. With juvenile humor (such as the captain’s name being Cornelius Butt) and half-baked premises (a space biker gang whose deity is named “Harley-David-Son”), this is a comedy that manages to slide into unintentionally funny territory.

4 The Man Who Saved The World (1982)

This off-the-wall martial arts sci-fi flick is more commonly known globally as Turkish Star Wars. In addition to a bar quite a bit like the Mos Eisley cantina and ships which greatly resemble the most iconic ships from Star Wars, the film also lifts unauthorized footage, sound effects, and music from the franchise, in addition to many other iconic films, several of which (Flash Gordon, The Black Hole) were riding the Star Wars wave themselves. The film, which also shares elements with ’70s Hong Kong martial arts movies, has developed a particular “so bad it’s good” reputation over the years. Film Threat‘s Phil Hall gave it a perfect five-star rating, calling it “jaw-droppingly insane.”

3 Yor, The Hunter From The Future (1983)

Yor, the Hunter from the Future begins as a nod to another ’80s hit: Conan the Barbarian. The film, starring Reb Brown as the titular hunter, opens on a similarly prehistoric sword-and-sorcery world. Halfway through, however, the film takes a bizarre turn into Star Wars territory, bringing in a dark-helmeted villain, his robot army, and a laser blaster for the barbarian hero to fire at them.

The film is worth watching if only to laugh at the sheer audacity at this baffling genre switch. Beyond that, there are other strange moments to keep an audience entertained, such as a blotchy electrified beast who appears unexplained and is just as quickly defeated by a puddle of water. It also offers a rare opportunity to see a hero fight both dinosaurs and robots in the same movie.

2 Starchaser: The Legend Of Orin (1985)

Starchaser holds the distinction of being one of the few animated Star Wars rip-offs, as well as an early animated film to be released in 3D and to combine CGI with traditional animation. Still, it’s just as reminiscent of Star Wars as any of its live-action counterparts. The film follows Orin, a peasant worker who discovers he’s the chosen one by wielding an Excalibur-like laser sword and uses it to take down the tyrannical Zygon. Along the way, he teams up with a renegade smuggler, a princess, and two helpful droids. The resemblance is so uncanny that both Gene Siskel and Vincent Canby separately joked that Lucasfilm ought to file a lawsuit against the filmmakers.

1 Masters Of The Universe (1987)

Another movie that combines elements of Star Wars and Conan the Barbarian, Masters of the Universe is an adaptation of the popular Mattel toy line of the same name, as well as the successful He-Man cartoon series it spawned. While He-Man is known to be a sword-and-sorcery series with certain sci-fi elements, the live-action film leans dramatically into sci-fi, turning Skeletor into a cloaked hybrid of Vader and the Emperor (complete with new henchmen dubbed “Skeletor troopers”) and introducing a fuzzy, Yoda-like comic relief dwarf named Gwildor.

Despite this blatant imitation, the film has gained something of a cult following over time. If nothing else, it’s commendable for its commitment, from magnanimous dialogue to bright and creative production design, and it never lets its limitations get in the way of its lofty ambitions, right up to its hubristic final scene, setting up a sequel that was, of course, never created.