CARNOSAUR
A film review by Norm Cook
Copyright 1993 Norm Cook
(Hollywood, CA 9/19/93) Released by New Horizons Pictures
Written and directed by Adam Simon; starring Diane Ladd, Raphael Sbarge, and Jennifer Runyon; executive producer Roger Corman. Rated R for graphic violence.
Imagine a cross between ALIEN, INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, and any rubber monster movie ever made, and you have some idea of what CARNOSAUR is like. This is a typical low-budget thriller that we are used to seeing from Roger Corman. However, for my money this is in many ways more successful than JURASSIC PARK. It is more terrifying, more energetic, and has fewer internal inconsistencies than its big-budget predecessor. On the other hand, its premise is rather silly and the way in which the military "solves" the problem is even more silly.
Diane Ladd plays Dr. Tiptree, a bioengineer who has gotten tired of working on weapons for the military-industrial complex and has set up a secret research project in the Nevada desert (so why does the sheriff's patrol car have a California license plate?). It is soon apparent that her secret project is to artificially recreate Tyrannosaurus rex using methods that I'll generously call implausible, but certainly not any more so than what was used in JURASSIC PARK. Her reasons for this project do not become clear until near the end of the film, but they make sense in a demented sort of way. Of course, one of her T. rexes escapes and starts wreaking havoc on the surrounding population. Doc, played by Raphael Sbarge, is an alcoholic living in a trailer in a nearby quarry. It is never fully explained, but it seems from certain comments that he had perhaps been involved in the deaths of some people as an intern. He becomes involved with a young woman named Thrush, played by Jennifer Runyon, who is an environmental activist protesting the destruction of the "dinosaur highway" fossil remains by the heavy equipment at the quarry.
Ladd's performance as the "mad scientist" is quite good. It becomes gradually more and more obvious as the film progresses just how psychotic she is. I thought it somewhat ironic that Ladd is cast as a scientist in the second dinosaurs-run-amok movie this summer because Ladd is Laura Dern's mother. (Dern, of course, played a scientist in JURASSIC PARK.)
Sbarge and Runyon, along with the other supporting cast, give adequate performances. Doc is the only one who has the training to recognize what's going on, but because of his reputation no one listens to him. He does manage to miraculously transform himself into action when push comes to shove.
The special effects are somewhat cheesy, especially compared to JURASSIC PARK. The T. rexes are animated using stop-motion techniques and are not at all convincing. However, there is a definite intensity to them, particularly in some of the close-ups where you can see the blood dripping out of their jaws after a kill. There are also plenty of close-ups of dismembered and eviscerated people, but nothing that looks particularly real enough to be bothersome.
I enjoyed Simon's juxtaposition of the carnosaur's frenzy with scenes of humans in the act of or talking about eating. It helps define the instinctive motivation of the monster while providing some black humor. Unfortunately, Simon interrupted the action in several places to explain what was happening. (You know the situation: during the height of battle the villain takes time out to explain all his evil plans to the hero, giving the hero time to recuperate and to formulate his counter attack.) The ending of the film is deliciously paranoid and leaves plenty of room for sequels (just what we need ;) ).
CARNOSAUR is by no means a great film, but in any other year it probably would be at least a moderate box office success. It should find an audience on videotape.
.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews