The Eden Formula

I do get dubious watching SyFy movies, and watched The Eden Formula mainly to see if it was an improvement over their other movies. The Eden Formula is nowhere near their worst, but it is not one of their more tolerable efforts either. The only real redeeming qualities were good performances from Jeff Fahey and Tony Todd. The rest of the acting ranges from over-eager to completely bland, the extras actually seemed to be making much more of an effort. The acting is not the only let-down to The Eden Formula. The dinosaur effects are laughably bad, among the worst I've seen from the SyFy channel in a while, cheap in design, choppy in movement and lacking any kind of menace. There was nothing really memorable in the story either, it lacked momentum and just failed to come to life in general, as well as being structurally thin and predictable. The script is rambling and cheesy, and the characters are cliché after cliché after cliché, just how many times do we need the mad scientist character? Overall, not the worst but lame. 3/10 Bethany Cox

Bad, terrible, but ultimately enjoyable. How can anyone not love this? I'd rather see bad puppets and recycled footage, than another lame-ass CG romp. I prefer the alternative title to this "Tyrannosaurus Wrecks". A bit of martial arts, a few moments of comedy, bizarrely placed car chases. This film makes the most of its budget, which is pretty much nothing. At least it has genuine talent such as Fahey, Todd and Wallace Stone, to push and pull the "plot" along. I'll never forget the wonderfully placed film- set satire scene. I do question whether these people are trying to make money, a good film, or just an enjoyable film. Well, this certainly ends up being infinitely enjoyable, but I guess the love of cheese is required.

"THE EDEN FORMULA" (2006, Beuchler) is the fifth instalment in the "CARNOSAUR" series of films. I haven't made up my mind as to which is worse out of this and "RAPTOR" (2001, Wynorski) as they both rely heavily on the reuse of footage from previous CARNOSAUR films. But I guess this has a lot of new stuff that could be recycled if they ever make a sixth. "THE EDEN FORMULA" is "CARNOSAUR 5: DIE HARD".

Tony Todd is hilarious, as are Jeff Fahey and Dee Wallace, but Todd definitely steals the show.

The Rex is great fun, as are all the dinosaurs in this series of movies. It's worth noting that the Rex only seems to eat people that we don't like.

I recommend this film for its comedy value but I guess I only recommend it to those who have seen the other Carnosaur films.

If you want to watch a real 'quality' movie get hold of The Eden Formula. This wondrous film must have cost all of $50 to make. It features a wafer thin script, pathetically bad sets, lighting and camera work, and a stop motion, paper-mache monster that is utterly laughable (it looks like they sometimes used a guy in a rubber suit and/or a glove puppet for the monster - but all were equally dreadful).

The actors all speak their lines as though they've never seen them before and are reading off a teleprompter. The special effects are way beyond lousy. And the only sad thing is that they dropped the really nifty original title 'Tyranasaurus Wrecks' which sums up exactly what you get for the full 90 minutes.

This is what happens when you scrape the bottom of the barrel so hard you break through to the crud that lies underneath.

I loved every minute of it.

I remember many years ago seeing the original "Jurassic Park" at the cinema! Never before had I seen such spectacle, with state of the art special effects, incredible thrills and a narrative to die for! After seeing this movie I can finally say that JP has been out done! the Tyrannosaurus in this movie for all intents and purposes, looks living and breathing! If you didn't know better, you would swear that you were watching actual footage of the dinosaur age because that is how realistic it is! When it goes on the attack, I was on the edge of my seat! The performances in this movie are incredible! Jeff Fahey comes across as a solid combination of Steven Seagal, Van Damme and Stallone at their prime, and he easily matches the ferocious T-Rex in terms of a gigantic performance! The narrative is a thrill a minute, with twists and turns and unexpected narrative arcs! It is like Pulp Fiction times ten! The writers should be proud of themselves! Every ten years or so a movie comes along that changes the face of cinema! in 2006 that movie was "The Eden Formula"!