Carnosaur (1993) - Diane Ladd, plans to expose a lethal virus to every human being on the planet. Her objective: to destroy humankind in favour of her new strain of prehistoric dinosaurs. Strange plot outline to say the least, but I enjoyed the hell out of this movie. Its nicely paced, we get plenty of Carnosaur action including lots of blood and gore and the acting wasn't too bad, well, at least compared with the crap dished out in Carnosaur 3. Yeah the FX were incredibly bad, but the Dinosaurs were actually quite menacing even if they did look like cheap puppets. Jurassic Park could have taken some notes. 6/10
Carnosaur 2 (1995) - If you excuse the fact that its a direct Aliens rip off in every sense of the world, then I was surprised that in terms of set locations, designs and acting, the production values aren't half bad for a B-Movie. Unlike the original, this sequel appears to have toned down the level of violence and gore as well as restrict time with the Dinosaurs, so that alone strips the fun away, although that's not to say we don't get our fair share of action. The chick getting her arm bitten off rivals any kill from the original. Great stuff. 5 ½/10
Carnosaur 3: Primal Species (1996) - By this point the series has clearly become tiresome. This film is quite easily the worst of the three. The story looks like it was emphasized as they were shooting, the locations unlike C2 were very small and claustrophobic; for lack of better word cheap, the actors clearly weren't trying and it shows, there were far too many quick camera cuts between shots so even the action was boring and the logic of the script even for a B-Movie is crazy. How the hell did they end up on a ship after being in a warehouse. 2/10
I enjoy those Carnosaur movies. The first one is utterly bizarre, the second one, well, I love Alien ripoffs so it was right up my alley. The third one was such a goofy cheesefest I got a kick out of it too. Then there's Raptor, which shamelessly uses all the special effects shots from the first three movies and sticks them in a new one (continuity errors be damned LOL).
Raptor takes cheap and lazy filmaking to a new entire level. I'll probadly check it out tonight just to see if the editing of the 3 Carnosaur films are at least up to scratch with the story it manufactures.
Also, I've heard The Eden Formula reuses some of the T-Rex close-ups from the Carnosaur films. I was lucky enough to find the DVD at my library under an alternate tittle, I'll get around to checking that out as well.
As far as I'm concerened, there are no sequels to Carnosaur.
The first movie was a great dark and gory tale. Considering that the movie ended with the disease still being spread, I hoped to see the sequels elaborate or explore the concept.
Sadly, rather than follow the first movie, the filmmakers chose to rip off Aliens instead. Neither had any connection to the original and that really angered me. The stereotypical army characters really annoyed me. Therefore, I jumped for joy when they were torn to shreds by the raptors and the T-Rex.
This trilogy would have had so much potential if the disease plotline continued. It really sucks that the filmmakers didn't even try to go somwhere with it. Damn them.
Well...at least I still have the first Carnosaur movie.
Not entirely sure, but I believe the reason the sequels didn't elaborate on the story from the first Carnosaur was because the original was based on the novel of the same name by John Brosnan. Had it been a book series that established continuity then I'm guessing Carnosaur 2 and 3 would have been loose adaptions too. Although I love a good Aliens rip off, and C2 is a quality one, C3 isn't.
I don't generally support remakes, but they should have a crack at remaking Carnosaur. With a bigger budget, some reworking with the story structure and a better script, it might be half decent. I haven't read the novel but maybe a remake could focus more on that rather then the 1993 film.
I like all three. The first one was good. Funny fight scene. The second one ok and the third is SciFi channle material. I would recommend a watch if someone is into dino flicks.
Later,
John
Well I ended up watching Raptor last night. What a hack job. Almost every single FX shot featuring Dinosaurs were lifted from Carnosaur 1, 2 and 3. The story was obviously written in a way that the stolen material would gel together only the editor had a hard time with this because the amount of continuity errors between Carnosaur FX shots and newly shot footage is mind boggling. Still though, it was entertaining to rip it apart, and is it just me or is every chick in this film smoking hot? Also the overall cast list had some decent names. Anyway as lazy as it is, its still more enjoyable then Carnosaur 3. 3/10
I love the Carnosaur movies. They're almost a perfect text book example of B-movies.
Finished up watching The Eden Formula which is the unofficial fifth film in this series, and I say unofficial because Raptor along with The Eden Formula don't tie in with the three Carnosaur films in terms of story continuity or even share the same name; in other words I can't see Carnosaur 4 or Carnosaur 5 anywhere.
I've seen a lot of bad FX in my time, and this CGI T-Rex is arguably one of the worst. Like Raptor, it reuses stock footage of the T-Rex in the Carnosaur flicks; being associated with Roger Corman its no shock. What i found funny was that they'd constantly go back and fourth between the CG used for this film to the cheap anamorphic full sized bust seen in Carnosaur. The transition is obvious in movement and appearance. The script wasn't awful, and the direction wasn't as bad as some, but the acting rivals Carnosaur 3. Not good. Overall not a bad B-Movie at all, in fact I liked this junk.
So a final ranking from best to worst
Carnosaur - 6/10
Carnosaur 2 - 5 ½/10
The Eden Formula - 4/10
Raptor - 3/10
Carnosaur 3 - 2/10
I'll have to check out The Eden Formula, I haven't seen that one yet.
My favorite part of Raptor (other than Melissa Brasselle in her undies) was the big T-rex vs. front end loader battle at the end. Except the front end loader kept changing back and forth into a Bobcat :bouncegiggle:
I was hoping we'd get a nude or sex scene with Brasselle. She looked hot as all hot.
The editors working on Raptor probably assumed the audience wouldn't notice the transition difference between the bobcat vs the front end loader. It shows a lot about their intelligence or for a better term: lack there of.
Carnosaur Rules. 2 is my favorite. I love in the third one how they just keep tossing in expendables after each scene.