Does anyone know when and why they changed the title from "Inseminoid" to "Horror Planet"? Was it because of (gasp) taste? Was it released in theaters as "Inseminoid" and on video as "Horror Planet"?
"Inseminoid" captures the sleazy sci-fi horror of this film perfectly. "Horror Planet" sounds like a Z-grade Ed Wood Production – as opposed to a B-grade Norman J. Warren production.
It was released in the UK under it's originalt title "Inseminoid". In fact it's still called "Inseminoid" in the UK. In the U.S. moviegoers are mistakenly perceived as unsavvy by the studios(especially horror/sci-fi moviegoers), so they renamed it "Horror Planet".
It's also why Ridley Scott's "Legend" was so heavily edited. Why "Leon" became "The Professional", etc.
Thanks for the details. The perception of horror and sci-fi fans as unsavvy may apply to some viewers, but certainly not all. More than likely, they studio was aiming for the casual viewers who noticed a title like "Horror Planet" in the video store and thought they'd see another "Alien." "Inseminoid" is a bit more abstract, but much more cerebral.
Inseminoid is also close in title to Demonoid. So they may have been trying not to get the two mixed up. Unlikely as that is.
In general they probably just changed the title to something more evocative and less likely to attract trouble from XYZ religious or "concerned adults" groups of which we had plenty back in the 80s.