Laserblast is a low-budget 1978 science fiction film. It stars Kim Milford (as Billy Duncan) and Cheryl Smith (as Kathy Farley), and is notable for Eddie Deezen’s debut (as Froggy) and for a four-minute cameo by Roddy McDowall (as Doctor Mellon). The plot is rather ephemeral, but it involves a constantly put-upon young man's discovery of a laser cannon, his ensuing rampage after continual exposure to the weapon's radiation mutates him into a wild, destructive lifeform, and his eventual death at the hands of the aliens who left the cannon behind on Earth in the first place.
In May 1996, it was featured in episode 6 of the 7th season of the movie-mocking television series Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K). The episode made particular note of film-critic Leonard Maltin's relatively high two and-a-half star rating of the original film, ranking it higher than acclaimed films such as Being There and as good as celebrated films such as The Great Santini, Unforgiven, or Sophie's Choice. Maltin's questionable criticism would later be revisited when the MST3k crew reviewed the film Gorgo, where Maltin made a cameo.