Carnossauro 2

Exciting non-related sequel about a crew sent in to repair an underground basement and to find out what happened to the original crew that is now missing. There they run into a group of super intelligent dinosaurs that are smarting then the crew themselves that then make the crew lunch. Better effects, some genuine surprises, plenty of scares, and a good atmosphere make this a fun outing, but it is sorely missing Diane Ladd's demented performance.

Rated R; Graphic Violence and Profanity.

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.

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.

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.

"CARNOSAUR II" (1995, Morneau) is a surprisingly star-studded low-budget film inspired by "ALIENS" (1986, Cameron). Funnily enough James Cameron wanted to make "Jurassic Park" and he said it would have been "ALIENS but with dinosaurs", so perhaps "CARNOSAUR II" isn't far off what we might've gotten from Cameron (except the effects, sets, soundtrack, directing, props, story, etc. Would have been miles better...) had Spielberg not gotten his golden mits on the rights.

I don't know if this is better than "CARNOSAUR" (1993, Simon) because that would be like comparing apples and oranges. This second outing is definitely more mainstream and more watchable but with the same gore value. The raptors aren't as detailed as the deinonychus from the original but there are more of them and the Rex is just the same. Big, jerky and unforgivingly hungry.