Xtro II

Both involve Nicholas Lea. He is the only saving grace in this film. The first good bit is where he hits a scientist (something I wanted to do myself), and the second is his big scene where he climbs up the lift cables - ooh, doesn't he look great in a vest and sweaty, rippling muscles. The monster should have got the rest of the cast on the first ten minutes and left just Nic to win the day!

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.

I have seen all of the "Alien" films. I loved the "Alien" films. But the one I loved best was "Aliens", partly because of James Cameron's brilliant writing and directing, but mostly because I loved the guns. Oh, the guns! The M41-A Pulse Rifle rocked, but even better than that was the mighty Smartgun. I am a "connoisseur" of Alien ripoffs. So naturally, when I heard that this movie had a smartgun-like weapon in it, my response was, of course, "where can I find this movie?" After searching I finally came across it, and popped it in my DVD player.

Wow.

This movie absolutely blew me away with its unrelenting "Aliens"-style tense action, but mostly I was pleasantly surprised to find not only a smartgun-like weapon, but a near perfect smartgun replica! I was practically vibrating in my seat when I saw that thing fire.

But aside from the gun, I generally enjoyed the movie. It didn't have a "feel-good" happy- skippy ending, but it didn't have a "everyone dies" ending, which I appreciate (though the ending does confuse me a bit...) The creature design was brilliant. In all the "Alien" ripoffs I've seen, (besides the later "Alien Lockdown", which is more of a PredAlien anyways) this by far had the best creature. It even did the famous "headbite", but with its whole head! Altogether, I enjoyed this movie more than "Alien Resurrection" and "Alien 3 " combined.

Overall, I recommend this movie if you are a fan of "Alien" ripoffs, and have the patience for a bit of wooden acting.

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.

I recently watched Xtro 2 (1991) on YouTube. The story follows a group of scientists working in an underground bunker who build a teleportation device to access another dimension. But once they open the portal, they have no idea what's waiting on the other side-or what might come through into our world... and they're about to find out.

Directed by Harry Bromley Davenport (Xtro), the film stars Jan-Michael Vincent (The Mechanic), Rachel Hayward (Cruel and Unusual), Paul Koslo (The Omega Man), and Tara Buckman (Silent Night, Deadly Night).

This sequel is a letdown. It feels like a made-for-TV movie and plays like a low-budget Aliens knockoff. The dialogue is stiff, the acting unconvincing, and the horror elements are weak-aside from a few decent corpse effects. The setting is passable for the story, but overall, there's nothing particularly memorable or original here.

I'd give this a 3/10 and recommend skipping it.