The clone of Edward Furlong’s John Connor from Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991) tries to steal some dynamite from a military operated uranium mine. What he gets is dinosaurs. The mine’s crew gets eaten and a special crew of badasses is sent to check the… it’s the plot from Aliens (1986). They even have a nerdy actor (Cliff DeYoung) as the leader/company representee dressed in a vest and plaid shirt, exactly like Paul Reiser in Aliens.
Carnosaur (1993) was based on a book that had a very similar story to Jurassic Park but came out years before that book. It was released the same year as the film adaptation of Jurassic Park but had one of the craziest plots known to man. It also had some of the most laughable creature effect since the 1950s, and that would be the truth even if Jurassic Park hadn’t been released.
In lieu of xenomorphs, this crew has to fight off velociraptors. There weren’t velociraptors in the first film, but Jurassic Park kind of made them really famous. They aren’t quite as scary as the ones in John Hammond’s park, though. Remember the “clever girl” scene? Where the raptors hunt the experienced Muldoon? Well, there is a fist fight scene in this one between a human and a raptor. The dinosaurs are also men in rubber suits, and, like xenomorphs, they somehow climb up onto the ceiling and lift their victims up in the airducts.
Remember that scene in Aliens where the female pilot looks back while she’s flying and a xenomorph attacks her? That scene is carbon copied here. You know what’s funny? The film is written by a dude Michael Palmer who has only one other credit to his name. It’s Watchers 3 (1994), which I’ve seen and it’s not good, but interestingly, the plot of it is that there is an alien loose in a South American jungle and some military roughnecks are sent in to deal with it. I think Michael Palmer might be the name used when Roger Corman wanted to steal plots from films Stan Winston designed the creatures for.
And spoilers, if you are wondering if the Xenomorph Queen shows up then yes, a T-Rex plays her part and instead of that exosuit, we have a forklift.
It is such a rip-off that and so badly made, but with such drama and perseverance, this truly becomes a “so-bad-it’s-good” film. It’s highly entertaining in its unoriginality and would be a fantastic drinking game. Take a shot whenever you remember the scene from Aliens.
