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Overall Rating
1.59

Awesome: 4.92%
Worth A Look: 6.56%
Average: 8.2%
Pretty Bad: 3.28%
Total Crap77.05%

3 reviews, 43 user ratings


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Species 2
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List Price:   $14.98
Price:   $13.49
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by Filmink Magazine (owes us money)

"There's nothing worse than being told when to laugh."
1 stars

Species was about a beautiful girl, Henstridge, who was really a hybrid form - a lethal combination of alien and human DNA who desperately wanted to mate with a male member of LA county so it could propagate and thus take over the world.

The Uber-babe escapes, tries to mate with lots of guys (all of whom get the chop, um, as it were, once, you know…). Anyway, she is chased by a team of scientists/experts including Madsen and Helgenberger. The monster loses. The human race wins and the horror movie, cum thriller takes a dive.

In keeping with the template of the Hollywood sequel of the 90's,
Species II replicates all the same plot moves, all the same character types…(and if you've seen Scream II then you know the 'rules of the sequel', so there's no point going further). The twist, if we can call it that, is that this time the human-as-monster-that-must-be-stopped is an astronaut (Lazard) returning to earth after a successful Mars mission, where he has picked up this really nasty DNA bug.

It's all too easy to be smug, indifferent and down right patronising toward this movie. It begs for it. Half an hour in, one character exclaims after being exposed to another's internal organs: "Oh God, this is terrible!" This is the kind of self-consciously camp line that begs some wag in the audience to heckle the screen: "No it's worse than that". Director Medak
(Romeo is Bleeding) doesn't even try to put an edge or bite into the material, and dialogue like that only confirms his contempt for the material. His 'horror style' consists of the bludgeon (you know: very quiet bits - then a big BANG, to make the audience jump).

HR Giger's design looks as cobbled together here as it did in the earlier film. The only real change is that Medak has softened the first movie's blatant AIDS sub-text - he wants to, instead, make the film funnier, sillier. But it's neither.

There's nothing worse than being told when to laugh. ---Peter Galvin

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link directly to this review at http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=92&reviewer=14
originally posted: 08/26/98 12:17:42
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User Comments

10/26/07 mike cool sequel 4 stars
5/24/07 action movie fan underappreciated sequel-has some good sicky appealing scenes-not bad 3 stars
12/08/06 Sugarfoot Godawful sequel. 1 stars
9/22/06 Booksworm I don't have enough space to tell you how much this "movie" sucks. 1 stars
8/31/05 ES This is like the fifth movie (at least) about astronauts bringing something back with them 3 stars
5/22/05 Erika Great movie 5 stars
5/21/05 Jeff Anderson Bad in every way! The awesome Madsen looks bored throughout this & rightfully so. I AGREE!! 1 stars
3/04/05 blue Just as bad as the first... 1 stars
2/28/05 Gray I've seen worse....and better 2 stars
1/22/04 American Slasher Goddess One of the the worst sequels ever. 1 stars
4/28/03 Jack Bourbon Natasha is Grade A meat. 4 stars
12/29/02 Jack Sommersby Unfathomably bad. 1 stars
10/29/02 Charles Tatum Feces II 1 stars
9/09/02 Movie guy so bad 1 stars
3/24/02 Zargo original is the one to watch, for natasha and the story 2 stars
2/20/02 Xaver A really terrible sequel. Just too disappointing. 1 stars
12/07/01 Dominik Duprelle Repugnant. Repellent. Outrageous. And you have to wait ages for the tits. 1 stars
7/14/01 Grant it was alright just for entertainment watch the first species it's much better 3 stars
6/30/01 Miraculous I don't know what these people are talking about. At least 3 stars for effects alone. 5 stars
6/23/01 stranded on the Island Underrated, it was a fun popcorn movie. Natasha Henstridge bumps it up to average. 3 stars
6/06/01 *~Danielle*Ophelia~* (formerly KyLe*BrOfLoVsKi) I woulldn't even watch this again on MST3K...it's THAT bad... 1 stars
6/02/01 Thrillhouse worse than the first Species 1 stars
5/03/01 Gracy Lionheart CRAP!!! CRAP!!! 1 stars
2/01/01 jordan the first one was somewhat entertaining but this was horrible. i didn't even finish it. 1 stars
9/28/00 Ground Zero Where's the zero-rating when ya need one? What a waste. 1 stars
5/10/00 Richard Wright How anyone can call this anything but crap is beyond me,the director must be a total moron. 1 stars
4/29/00 Pansy Can I give it -5 stars? It was that pathetic. 1 stars
2/22/00 Mr. Kramitall horrible 1 stars
10/03/99 Joe Schmoe f**kin' shit 1 stars
8/19/99 Admiral Crunch What a ripoff. Absolute garbage. Henstridge is shit. 1 stars
7/19/99 SID This is strictly good for an MST3K night with friends. That and Natasha! 4 stars
4/02/99 The Incredible Sulk Absolute bullshit. The Outer Limits was better and scary. 1 stars
3/12/99 Ah Dooey Wow. The fun part was when the film got f**ked up in the projector. Woohoo! That was fun! 1 stars
3/10/99 Go Swans Can I give it no stars? It was that bad. 1 stars
1/31/99 El Dorko Damn you and your stupid Pay-Per-View movie channels! That movie was bulldoodoo! 1 stars
1/30/99 Boner F**kn' great movie to take a date! 4 stars
12/07/98 Shadow Raider Screwy crap. You oughta bang your head on the door after watching this dismal movie. 1 stars
12/05/98 The Dude The movie would have been better if Michael Madson was in it more.He wasent in it long 3 stars
10/24/98 Kwyjibo Hopeless. 1 stars
10/02/98 arachic13 WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE??? A MOVIE THIS CRAPPY IS WONDERFUL!!! 5 stars
9/23/98 Marcy Fucking shit 1 stars
9/18/98 Couch Potato Critic The best scene for me was when the film melted in the projector. That was awesome! 1 stars
8/29/98 Mister Whoopee Took the words out of my mouth. Are they doing sequels now to crappy films? Patently. 1 stars
IF YOU'VE SEEN THIS FILM, RATE IT!
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USA
  10-Apr-1998 (R)
  DVD: 17-Jul-2001

UK
  N/A

Australia
  09-Jul-1998 (MA)



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