Carnosaur 2

I admit I went into this movie expecting cheese (having been previously warned a few years before) but I never expected what I saw could both be good and bad.

The story doesn't really go anywhere, and the characters are almost strait from Aliens. A team of people (nobody I've talked to seem to know who or what they are) are sent into a government research facility to get the place back on line, though the government apparently forgot to ask why it was off-line to begin with. People die, choppers crash, and all kinds of things happen, but if you try to spot the scenes reminicent of Aliens, then it actually becomes kinda fun (be sure to add in the "get away from her, you B****" line near the end).

As far as acting goes, not too bad. It just would have helped to have something of a plot or dialog. A must-see for B-moviers, just for the laughs.

This movie is for those with patience. It can be very tedious at times. They seemed to have wanted to go with suspense but fell short. Somehow Dianne Ladd's rubber puppet dinosaurs have ended up in a government mining facility in Nevada. And a very rag-tag crew of computer repairmen (and woman) just happen to be there at the time. From there, the movie follows a very Aliens type synopsis. The Velociraptor dinosaurs have improved their looks considerably since the first movie, but their movement is incredibly stiff. The same T=Rex appears in this film. Like the first, this movie is for those that like cheesy films with low production values.

You can say a lot of (negative) things about "Carnosaur 2", but not that it blatantly imitates the first film. "Carnosaur", from 1993, was a splatter horror flick about scientifically engineered dinosaurs running amok in a small town, whereas the sequel is a harshly violent 'send in the military cannon fodder for a mission that is guaranteed to fail' Sci-Fi movie. It's like Ridley Scott's "Alien" versus James Cameron's "Aliens", but on shoestring budgets, of course. Speaking of which, director Louis Morneau and writer Michael Palmer obviously were massive fans of "Aliens". The narrative structure, macho mercenary characters, kills, and a handful of iconic battle scenes are clearly and shamelessly modeled after the 1986 Sci-Fi landmark.

Is it original? Not exactly, no. Is it entertaining? You bet! Although less fun than the first "Carnosaur" (in my humble opinion, at least), the sequel also guarantees blood-soaked massacres and heavy artillery. My favorite moment: a tough-as-nails female mercenary sees her arm chewed off by a T-Rex, but she courageously continues to fight it until the critter also tears open her stomach.

And I was actually glad and surprised that the first movie wasn't being as much a "Jurassic Park" ripoff. It probably only didn't because it couldn't, since it was released a couple of months before "Jurassic Park" hit the theaters. This movie makes up for that though, since it really doesn't have an original idea of its own in it. It even more blatantly is ripping off James Cameron's "Aliens".

It even isn't being subtle about it. It doesn't try to conceal that it 'borrowed' heavily from "Aliens" and pretty much steals entire scenes, dialog and characters from that movie. Really, if you have seen "Aliens", you have seen "Carnosaur 2" as well already! The story even progresses in the exact same way.

But oh well, I still have to give the movie that it at least is being better to watch than the original. The story is much easier and pleasant to follow and it at least has some half decent characters in it as well.

Another thing that had been improved were its effects. The dinosaurs are better looking and more threatening this time around. It really prevents the movie from being ever becoming a truly ridicules or horrible one as well.

Really, it isn't anything too uncommon for a movie to ripoff another one. Especially not for low budget movies like this one. And out of all the "Aliens" ripoffs that are out there, this ons is not all that bad and actually at times quite good and enjoyable.

Not original by any means obviously but it at least is a watchable enough, cheap, little movie, that is far better and more pleasant to watch than the original as well.

5/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Carnosaur 2 is the best entry in the series. If you ignore the rubbish dialog, this film might come across as decent for a (very) cheap horror flick. Compared to the original Carnosaur, this one is a masterpiece. The gore is less severe and obnoxious, The creatures are shot in a such a way that for most of the time they don't look too rubbery. Most importantly however is the fact that the plot is far more coherent than the original, Part of it has to do with copying almost directly from the well written screeenplay of Aliens. For a cheap budget, the set design is pretty good and gives the movie a dark, industrial feeling. The acting is stiff and unrealistic, but again, next to Carnosaur it is acceptable. I would not recommend this film to everybody, only to extreme horror fans.