Old Stuff
Species 2 (1999)
Directed by Peter Medak
Natasha Henstridge reprises her role as a super-horny alien camouflaged in the body of a super model. Hard to see how a solid formula like this could miss but it does. One of the "HO" staff that I viewed this stinker with observed that the feel of the film was very "Police Academy" (you pick the number). That's totally accurate. This is Hollywood shit at its worst. The funniest detail was the "general" -- a fat actor who was put in an oversized marching band outfit and given a facial scar (Gee, I guess he must be a bad guy). The only thing the dude was missing was a tuba. Again, Natasha is kept in a plexi-glass cage and all you have to do is sit back and wait for her to crash through it just like in the first movie! Unfortunately, it's a long wait. Instead we follow around an astronaut just back from Mars and infected with alien DNA. When he gets wind of Natasha there's no force in this world (in this movie, at any rate) that can stop him.
My favorite moment is when the astronaut is being examined in the hospital (not a very thorough examination) and a nurse pulls up a window shade to reveal a crowd of drooling women who all squeal at the sight of their little hero. What world are we in? None of the movie even tries to make a stitch of sense. I'm guessing that everyone involved in "Species Part Deux" were popping too many happy pills to notice how absolutely wretched this project was. I love sci-fi and horror films. "Alien" is one of my favorite movies. I even just like to see naked girls -- it makes me feel happy inside and that life is worth living so trust me when I say that if you stepped in "Species 2" you would spend at least ten minutes trying to scrap it off the bottom of your shoe or even throw your shoes away. The first "Species" may have had a shade of erotic/horror but the second time out it's limp. -- Rating: $0.33
Tom Graney -- Hollywood Outsider copyright 1999