User reviews

Now I think that I can appreciate a movie if it doesn't have brilliant sets brilliant actors or even a brilliant plot. But this film? No way! It was dull it was pointless it was a rip off of alien for the first part then Aliens for the second. Also it has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the first film Xtro, I am guessing they just called it Xtro II to try and get some people to buy it, and I am one of those people. The acting is awful the characters are lame the sets are not very complicated if you know what I mean, the special effects are not that special although the alien actually is passable as a fun monster if not a realistic one. Now this is full of cliches but where as Cyborg Cop seems to know it's using cliches and relishes in the fun this movie takes itself completely seriously, the only part where it started getting interesting was near the end but that was only getting upto a 2 or 3 on the excitometer. All in all a bad film, Paul Koslo was much better as the evil Russian counterpart in Robot Jox, here he is just plain wooden. I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone except maybe if you put together a short five minute movie of the edited highlights. A waste of time. 2/10

I saw this movie for the first time when I was a young teenager, and I actually liked it. I honestly couldn't tell that the acting was bad, the suspense was absent, the plot was non-existent. So, is it then safe to say that this movie probably was made by young teenagers, unaware of the different aspects that make a good sci-fi/horror movie work? I had the chance to re-watch it last night, so I did. Better had not done it, because it's another childhood memory shattered.

This movie indeed is a shameless ALIEN rip-off. There's a chest-burster-scene, there's a BIG gun attached to a soldier's body like in ALIENS, there are soldiers crawling through air-shafts with somebody looking at a monitor telling them the creature's closing in on them,...

It's a shame, really, because the 'other dimension'-concept had potential. The film-makers should have shown more of it. Like the soldiers scouting the landscape or them entering the dome you see in the distance. Actually, you don't see sh!t. Just some fuzzy transmitted images on a monitor. I guess they didn't have the budget to write all that in the screenplay, since they clearly used only three sets or so.

I'm still trying to figure out why I liked this movie back then. I think because there's some mild gore in it (chest- & face-bursting and an exploding dude at the end), but they cut away from it too quickly. So it must have been the creature, which looks reasonable (but still rubbery) and fairly dangerous when it shows its teeth, but it moves way too slow.

Anyway, I'm waisting too much words on this crappy movie. The important thing is: XTRO II: The Second Encounter is actually no sequel to XTRO (1983). The two movies have absolutely NOTHING in common. I even think the first XTRO is worth tracking down and watching it, 'cause it's a peculiar and unique little sci-fi/horror-gem. XTRO II is not. But if you want to see every possible ALIEN rip-off: Be my guest.

The original Xtro was a British sci-fi horror film from the early 80's. It was very silly indeed but pretty original and strange. I guess you could describe it as a minor cult movie. Its director, Harry Davenport, returned almost a decade later to make an American sequel called, perhaps unsurprisingly, Xtro II. This one is only vaguely related to the previous film at best. It's set in an underground military laboratory that is experimenting with travelling to other dimensions. They send a swat team to one such place, it's disastrous and one of the team returns only for an aggressive alien to burst out of her stomach and escape into the facility. The remaining personnel must avoid being torn apart by the monster.

It should be clear from the synopsis that this flick owes a fair bit to Alien. But the truth is that this one isn't even nearly as good as the uneven original Xtro, far less Ridley Scott's master-work. Probably the single biggest problem is the location. Almost all films set in confined military bases are usually tedious and terrible. The limited sets are good for a low budget but very boring. This one is no exception with lots of dark corridors and very little variety. The movie stars Jan-Michael 'Airwolf' Vincent. He's not very good and puts in a thoroughly disinterested performance.

Overall, very forgettable.

Scientists at a secret underground complex have found a way to travel to another dimension. Three dimension-travelers are the first to go through the gate - but are soon attacked by something that interrupts the communication with Earth. This horrible something uses the gate to travel back to the underground complex. Most of the staff are evacuated, except four heavily-armed militaries and Dr. Casserly and Dr. Summerfield who just can't stand each other. It turns out that the creature is a alien monster that craves human flesh. Not the best horror film I've seen. Some very nice creature effects and the filmmakers sling some pretty cool gore at us but There's virtually no tension, suspense or atmosphere. It was dull, too, why were all the sets so foggy? Couldn't they afford proper lighting? Or were the sets even complete? It's an OK time waster at best, at worst... 4/10.

Apparently it takes no less than FOUR different people to script a piece of junk that looks exactly like the "Alien", only a lot less claustrophobic and suspenseful. Four people and a bunch of washed up actors to make a US sequel that has absolutely nothing in common with the British cult classic from 1983, but presumably just wanted to cash in on the awesome title. The original "Xtro" is a movie you either love or hate. I happen to love it, because it was totally unique Sci-Fi fodder that blended surreal elements with kitschy comedy, gratuitous nudity and gruesome make-up effects. This sequel has … nothing! Even the additional title is boring. "The Second Encounter"? Well duh, it's the second movie after the first movie. "Xtro II" is basically just a re-telling of Ridley Scott's legendary "Alien", only set in an underground research facility instead of a spaceship. Deep underneath us, unaware tax-payers, Doctors Alex Summerfield and Julie Casserly run a secret laboratory where they teleport three people to an alternate dimension. Only one of them returns, however, and she's carrying a hideous monster that explodes through her chest "Alien"-style. The whole facility becomes hermetically sealed off and inescapable, and it's up to an ex-scientist (Jan-Michael Vincent) and a team of macho soldiers (like in James Cameron's sequel "Aliens") to survive this ordeal. This film is completely unoriginal, derivative, uninspired, boring and forgettable. It's literally everything you expect it to be, with exaggeratedly big guns and muscled imbeciles climbing up elevator shafts etc… It seems as if Jan-Michael Vincent and Paul Koslo, both reasonably acclaimed B-movie veterans, are competing for who can deliver the most uninterested and cocky performance, whereas the rest of the cast tries real hard to do good but don't have the talent. Tara Buckman, for example, must have watched and learned a lot from Linda Hamilton in "The Terminator". The special effects are weak, actually, even though this movie falsely raises the impression of being gory and trashy. The gory bits are always over in the blink of an eye, the lighting is poor and – if you watch it in slow motion – the make up looks quite amateurish.

This is an odd low budget Aliens and there is no relation to the indescribable original. It definitely rips off of that film with no ways working around it. There are actually things that help it unlike what some people have reviewed. The cinematography is well done for a film on such a low budget and the crew seemed to know how to get the job done in this respect. The acting is hit and miss on this film. The supporting cast does alright given the mediocre script, although the lead (Jan-Michael Vincent) does not seem know how to make a good lead, but from what I heard he did not work well with the crew and HB Davenport did not like him. From seeing Vincent in this film, I can see why Davenport had issues. Score is alright for what it is and at least fits the setting. Special effects work on a 1990 B-movie scale. At least there is no bad CGI in this movie. If you are looking for some B-movie cheese along with a few unintentional laughs Xtro 2 might be an interesting film to check out just for the good camera-work. There are far better films than this, but you can do much worse.

5/10 R - Strong Violence and Language

I didn't really understand the ending. I don't care though so it is all good. This is totally unrelated to the first movie and that is a very bad thing. The first Xtro (1982) was full of charm and insane monsters. This one tried to be respectable but failed mostly on originality. It struck me as a cheap copy of Alien (1979) and done really badly in comparison. The monster looks just like Alien. There is nothing good about the story. The acting is abysmal. The effects are dull. Total lack of imagination. Stay away!

At a secret government facility, Dr. Alex Summerfield (Paul Koslo) and Dr. Julie Casserly (Tara Buckman) oversee Project Nexus, a top secret project that enables travel between our world and a parallel universe. When the exploratory team is cut off from communication, Dr. Casserly suggests brining in Dr. Ron Shepherd (Jan-Michael Vincent) the former head of Nexus and Casserly's former lover much to the disapproval of Dr. Summerfield. With Shepherd's arrival, one member of the team makes it back, but has brought something with them that throws the facility into lockdown and turns into a fight for survival.

Xtro II: The Second Encounter is a 1990 sci-fi horror film directed by Harry Bromley Davenport who helmed the first Xtro in 1983 to which this entry is an in name only sequel with no connection. While Xtro would prove a modest hit theatrically given its small budget, but the real success would be had on home video where it became a staple of video stores throughout the 80s. The financial backers of Xtro had voiced interest in doing a follow-up as far back as 1984, but somehow a sequel never materialized and Davenport wound up in a situation where he didn't have the rights to the characters or scenario from Xtro while still possessing the name which lead to him teaming with prolific B-movie producer Lloyd Simandl to produce this standalone entry. Davenport has not spoken fondly of Xtro II openly admitting it's a bad film and placing a considerable amount of blame on Jan-Michael Vincent who was often getting into fist fights or showing up intoxicated to the point he couldn't speak or remember his lines. Vincent's behavior probably didn't help matters, but even if they'd had someone who acted like a professional Xtro II wouldn't have been all that good.

Xtro II from the get go is a mover where you can see it's budget, as much like how Simandl produced the Die Hard clone Crackerjack as an off-brand blockbuster clone with no real identity to be shopped at trade events and film markets, Xtro II feels like the Alien/Aliens equivalent with the lighting, character dynamics, and even parts of the presentation trying (and failing) to capture the same appeal. Even the creature feels like a "I can't believe it's not a Xenomorph" in its design and there's little to distinguish it from the dozens of alien knock-offs that proceeded it many of which were more entertaining even if just for sheer trashiness. While Xtro wasn't great and didn't have the most engaging story or characters, the movie did have some genuinely shocking moments and well-crafted effects for such a small budget. You won't find any such memorable effects here. And last and certainly least the acting is not great. Pretty much everyone aside from Jan-Michael Vincent is just giving the bare minimum to bare minimum material so you can't really fault them for that given the morale on the set, but Vincent himself is absolutely awful as he spends much of his time sitting and when he does stand it's usually with an uncertainness and glazed look at the floor that coordinates with Davenport's account.

Xtro II is trash and there's nothing wrong with that, but it doesn't even have the decency to be entertaining trash. It's a badly paced and badly acted alien clone that adds nothing of value to an overcrowded subgenre. You can't even really compliment it on a technical level save for maybe the alien which while serviceable isn't anything special or memorable.

Military scientists have to face off with an alien presence from a parallel universe in this Canadian horror movie. The film has acquired a negative reputation over the years on account of having very little to do with the first 'Xtro' movie and the creature effects owing a lot to 'Alien' and 'Aliens'. While all this is undeniably true, 'Xtro II' is a surprisingly competent production with original 'Xtro' director Harry Bromley Davenport making the most of his clearly modest budget. The main alien is not exactly scary when seen in full light near the end, but it is pretty eerie when only partially visible in shadows throughout (the director's eye for special effects is still as solid as ever). 'Xtro II' also benefits from yet another creepy score, atmospheric sets with unsettling blue lighting and some fascinating ideas about parallel universes and traveling back and forth between them. Any such ideas and messages tend to get buried underneath the horror, but the film offers an acute look at the dangers of tampering with things that one does not properly understand. The acting here is not exactly first-rate and the characters are not much better, but all this only makes the alien all the more interesting to follow around. This is not a great film sure, with the director even apparently expressing disdain towards it, but it is more enticing than one might expect.

This movie is fun from start to finish. The idea of a rescue team being trapped inside a top secret government research lab that has unleashed an alien creature from another dimension is fun. Paul Koslo from Omega Man, Tara Buckman from B.J. and the Bear and Jan-Michael Vincent from numerous b movies lead the cast as the scientists who developed the device that opens the doorway. Jan being brought back after being forced to retire because he destroyed the last facility that the device was used in and once again opened a doorway allowing alien creatures to escape!! Nicholas Lea is the young LT. of the rescue team, an early chance to see the man who would become Krycek on the X-Files. The cast continues to drop off trying to stop the creature from escaping. The effects are o.k. but there is one very good death of a rescue team member by the alien through a wall. Overall the story is entertaining.

Just by coincidence, 'Aliens,' is my favourite movie. I think it's the perfect blend of many genres, including action, horror, sci-fi and drama. I don't know why I watched 'Xtro II: The Second Encounter.' I must have been bored and - occasionally - you can find a little gem of a B-movie here and there.

What I got was effectively a photocopy of the script for 'Aliens,' only with all the decent and believable dialogue removed and given to a four-year-old to rewrite. Then all the special effects shots were removed and replaced by models, sets and monsters made out of Play Dough. In short... it was truly awful. And yet I sat through the whole thing, never once wanting to turn it off.

I should point out that, despite being a sequel to the 'cult classic' horror B-movie, 'Xtro,' this installment has basically nothing to do with the first (besides the obvious use of the name in order to get a few extra views by fans of the original). It's a totally new film with totally new characters in a totally new setting. And, possibly worst of all, is that the monster is a totally new concept and therefore is totally not connected to the first one.

Here, those naughty government scientists in one of those - seemingly numerous - shady, black-budget research facilities, open a portal to one of those places that contains worlds full of nasty beasties who want to eat us. Naturally, one comes into our dimension and a team of (not Colonial!) marines are brought in to rectify the situation. What you get is the most poor clone of 'Aliens' ever as the team tries to hunt the monster in a facility.

'Xtro II: The Second Encounter' is one of those 'so-bad-they're-good' movies. If you're a fan of 'Aliens' then you really have to watch this. Not for the bad acting (you probably already guessed that there would be no real actors you'd ever heard of - unless you're a major fan of 'The X-files' and know Nicholas Lea as 'Alex Krychek') or not special effects, but simply to see just how many references and rip-offs a film can make without actually getting sued. In fact, if you were feeling brave you could even make some sort of drinking game out of it where you take a shot of alcohol whenever a blatant 'Aliens' nod occurs. Actually... don't. Your liver would not be able to take it.

Xtro, the original movie, was a British production involving an abducted father who comes back for his son, transforming him into an alien like himself and raising Hell for his ex-wife and friends.

This movie has nothing even resembling anything like that, with the exception of the director.

It is a bad sign when a movie sequel manages to forget some of what happened in the previous movie. It is a terrible sign when it completely ignores every thing like the plot, characters, situations, et al.

Even worse is when you hire Jan Michael Vincent at the height of his addiction phase, when he was on the verge of getting bounced from Airwolf for his drunken antics. His underwhelming presence in this film is a great display of the depths he had sunken to already.

This film is such a rip-off of Aliens that I'm sure they have broken some sort of Copyright! The only reason anyone would watch this is either to see Nicholas Lea or Jan-Micheal Vincent, other than that it's pretty much tripe! It tries to add some suspense but fails totally. Nicholas Lea does give a good solid performance as Baines but even he can't hold an entire film up. Avoid! Avoid! Avoid! at all costs.

XTRO II: THE SECOND ENCOUNTER is a truly dismal film. It is about as subtle as a thief in the night wearing a suit made of pots and pans. XTRO II is such a blatant rip-off of the ALIEN films (ALIENS mostly) that it becomes somewhat embarrassing. The pacing is just as bad. There is so much walking, searching and waiting for the "alien" that I fast-forwarded through much of the film. There's just nothing happening. The few times the creature decides to show up, I was extremely nonplussed. The downtime, and there is plenty, is occupied with washed up actors and soon to be washed up actors who deliver their lines based on dubious scientific precepts badly. It has been a long time since Jan Micheal Vincent has been on 'Airwolf', and has seemingly carved a niche for himself in bad science fiction and soft-core porn flicks.

In conclusion, skip this film. Do anything else: learn another language, smash your toes with a claw hammer, watch the original ALIEN. Laying in an empty bathtub staring at the ceiling is more productive than actually viewing this film. I have not seen the first XTRO, nor have I seen XTRO 3 (!), nor do I plan to. How do films like this get made? And if given the chance, wouldn't most people make a better film? I don't know and I don't care. XTRO II is an abject waste of time. 1/10.

I wonder, don't actors,producers,screenwriters and directors care about what kind of movie that they make. Well, not here I guess. This is one of the absolutely worst movies I have ever seen. It really sucks and is not something that anyone should see. Matter of fact I don't think that there is anybody that can enjoy a movie like this.

The movie is about a group of scientists far down under the ground in a secret military laboratory. Here they experiment with travelling to other dimensions. When an experiment goes wrong and one out of three travellers makes it they call in a group of what would be tough-guy soldiers. They also call in another scientist that is supposed to be a little crazy. Mean time the surviving traveller dies when her body is torn up and something escapes out of her. Some kind of alien that the soldiers and the scientists now must face. This is about it. The movie is very poorly made, it steals parts from sci-fi flicks, especially alien. It has bad actors, bad special effects, bad script, bad camera work and everything else is really bad. It got nothing good, only bad. Jan-Michael Vincent from Airwolf is in it and he makes a very lousy role as the crazy scientist. This movie got nothing good, only bad. And please, don't ever see it, or you'll regret it for the rest of your life.

this is one of the worst movies that I've ever seen. It had some possibilities I give it that but the rest is so low budget and bad that it really hurts. Nicholas Lea (X files, Once a Thief) is in it and Jan- Michael Vincent from Airwolf. That's no point in seeing it believe me. It's pure bull****. Beware

Oh, dear, where do I begin? Okay, maybe I'll start at the start. And by that I mean the first Xtro movie - a mad, crazy, bizarre alien-busting British film from the eighties. One that has stood the tests of time simply due to its sheer weirdness. It found a cult following, so I guess that's why it spawned a sequel.

However, Xtro 2 has nothing to do with the original and is merely attempting to cash in on the name. What it is, is an absolute Alien/Aliens rip-off. Here we go...

Poor man's Colonial Marines with cigar-chomping Sergeant - check (not that this lot look like they're from the military, as they appear to have little to no military training). Chestburster alien - check. Air ducts - check. Alien itself - check. Map scene where the characters try to barricade up the complex - check. Ripley clone - check. 'Smart guns' - check. Female voice doing a countdown until destruction - check. And so on.

Pity really, as it started with a decent enough premise - scientists in a top secret government lab are trying to send explorers through to another dimension. Trouble is, they bring back a particularly nasty alien who then runs amok.

Not only is this film made by - seemingly - the only people alive who have seriously don't believe this has anything to do with Aliens, but the sets are cheap and the acting is terrible (if you look at the trivia for this movie you will find that even the director didn't like the leading man who didn't bother to learn his lines and had to have them all given to him prior to every shot). They even go for the classic horror movie cliché 'have sex and die.' Then it all turns pretty standard with the alien picking the humans off one by one (courteously ignoring major characters in favour of the lesser ones).

Bottom line: if you like alien films, watch Alien or Aliens. The only thing Xtro 2 is good for is using as a drinking game where every time they copy Aliens, you have another drink. In fact... don't. No one's liver is capable of surviving that much alcohol.

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It must tell you something I went in thinking I haven't seen it, but hold on. Upon every scene and development it suddenly came back. 'Xtro II' is an unrelated sequel to 'Xtro' that's nothing more than a workable, but fairly lacklustre low-budget 'Aliens' clone. The chest bursting scene is a prime example. Well it seemed to share a lot of common ground with another film (which is a lot better) from the same year 'Shadowzone'. Anyhow I didn't find it to be as terrible as many to make out to be, but however it's just too formulaic to rise above its limited scope. Still I was entertained. The conceptual idea is something imaginative (exploring an alternate dimension and bringing something back), but director/writer Harry Bromley Davenport decides to stick with the copy and paste clichés and usual plot mechanisms. Everything is straight-forward (alien stalks and blandly picks off team one by one), rather than the bizarre and unconventional nature of the original.

The acting by Jan-Michael Vincent (uninterested), Paul Koslo (over-the-top) and Tara Buckman is reasonably so-so, but their character's are poorly conceived. Nicholas Lea (best known as Alex Krycek in the 'X-Files' TV series) shows up in support. Not helping was that the script was shamelessly lousy in it's supposed toughness. The minor sets look cheap, and the misty blue lighting tries for moody atmospherics in the same-old set-pieces and the score is forcibly clunky. Pacing can stall too much. There's a little bit of splatter, but nothing truly worthwhile. Director Davenport's touch lacks the firepower, despite the weaponry on show. While the story is predictably colourless, the repetitive visionary on screen doesn't fair up any better. The alien doesn't look too bad, but there's a striking resemblance to the way its shot with 'Alien'.

I don't think it's the pits, just too familiar and unfocused to be much effective.

This movie is so bad that it crossed over into the Cheese category. If want a few really good laughs, there are several of the cheesiest scenes in movie history in this movie. TIVO it, as you will want to play several scenes over and over again to get the full cheese effect. Look for the following scenes:

The military commander whips out the biggest gun in the history of armed conflict. Prior to being skewered, Alien style, he is searches the complex with one of his men who has an accent that changes from with each scene, but on average sounds like a Hispanic from the valley. See if you can figure out what he is saying?

Also, don't miss the scene where the doctor walks into the main lab and one of the soldiers pulls a gun on him. The cheesiest scene in motion picture history. You'll wear out your TIVO.

After all the bad reviews I read of this movie, I was dreading watching it. But it actually exceeded my expectations!! It's really fun! Don't listen to all the negative reviews. This was actually a very suspenseful, entertaining, low-budget SCI FI movie! Yes, there are some Alien elements in it of course, but I think the actors performances were really very good. Tara Buckman is fantastic as a "Linda Hamilton" type heroine. I really enjoyed her performance - she definitely leads the movie, and I have to say she's got wickedly cool hair too! She was a knockout in a Buck Rogers episode ('Unchained Woman') from the 70's. I was worried that Jan Michael Vincent would be alcohol-deadened, but he actually turns in an admirable performance as well! I know he's older, but some of that 80's 'action star' persona comes through really nicely, and he still has amazing charisma in front of the camera. It's also a treat to see a young Nicolas Lea (from the X Files) in this - battling aliens, no less! The alien itself is pretty interesting - nothing as scary as 'Aliens', but it's pretty cool special effects. Enjoy this movie- it's fun!!!!

Anyone who has seen the utterly worthless original will rightfully wonder why a sequel was even filmed. But what's really inconceivable is that this so-called sequel is actually even worse that "Xtro". A shameless "Alien" rip-off, terribly acted and full of very derivative effects. Trust all the comments and don't waste your time with this film.