March 7, 2016

In honor of Scream Factory’s release of both SPECIES II and SPECIES III/SPECIES: THE AWAKENING on Blu-Ray, I decided to go back to the very beginning and do a double feature of the original 1995 creature feature SPECIES paired up with the new high def release of its sequel. It’d been years since I’ve seen them, so how’d the two pair up? Let’s take a look!

First and foremost, my biggest question about the first SPECIES is… how did this movie happen?! When you stop to think about it, here’s a fairly big-budget studio movie with a monster designed by H.R. Giger, helmed by Roger Donaldson, the director of NO WAY OUT, COCKTAIL, CADILLAC MAN and DANTE’S PEAK?! From a script by Dennis Feldman, the writer of THE GOLDEN CHILD and JUST ONE OF THE GUYS?! Then there’s the cast. You’ve got Michael Madsen post-RESERVOIR DOGS, Oscar winner Ben Kinsley, Alfred Molina, Forest Whitaker and Marg Helgenberger? This combination of talent is a rarity for anything that falls in the horror/sci-fi category. But as it turns out, it all works rather well and proved successful enough to help launch a franchise that ended up spawning 3 more sequels.

In SPECIES, a group of scientists have genetically created a life form with the combination of alien DNA sent in a return message from space, along with the DNA of a human to create Sil – a beautiful, young and dangerous creature. Their attempt to put her down goes horribly wrong and she escapes the lab. Not fully aware of what she is just yet, Sil starts out as a young teen (played by Michelle Williams!), enters a cocoon and transforms into the adult Natasha Henstridge literally overnight. Her desire now is to find a male and reproduce as quickly as possible.

The head doctor of the experiment, Xavier Fitch (Kingsley), assembles a team to track her down, each with a unique skill set. There’s anthropologist Dr. Stephen Arden (played by Alfred Molina), molecular biologist Dr. Laura Baker (Marg Helgenberger), the empathetic psychic Dan Smithson (Forest Whitaker) and Madsen’s character Preston “Press” Lennox who, during his introduction, makes it clear that if he’s there, the mission is not to bring Sil back alive. (Mercenary!) So from there, the movie combines several genres. It’s part police procedural as the team is tracking Sil. It’s part FATAL ATTRACTION-thriller as the very attractive Sil keeps seducing potential partners, killing her female competition and in turn killing these men she intends to mate with if they’re not good enough for her DNA. One guy, for example, is a diabetic and hence not pure enough to mate with. Seems legit.

It’s actually much better & more fun than I remember and I had an absolute blast revisiting it this time! While the entire cast across the board is pretty terrific, it’s definitely the introduction of Natasha Henstridge as the deadly villain Sil that stands out as she’s become synonymous with her debut role in the same way that someone like Angela Bettis is MAY or more recently Alex Essoe is Sarah in STARRY EYES. Granted, neither of those actresses morph into a Giger-esque creature, but you know what I mean. There are a few downsides to the movie, one being the over reliance on CGI toward the 3rd act when Sil becomes her full-on alien counterpart. This is 1995, so if you remember how poor CG was back then, time has not been kind to these digital FX either.

Also, Forest Whitaker’s Dan gets a bit annoying constantly finishing people’s sentences with his premonitions and thoughts about how Sil is “feeling.” The film runs 108 minutes and you start to feel it towards the end. I don’t know if they were up against a release date or what, but you can easily trim a good 20 minutes off this movie and it’d become a much tighter, thrilling ride. As is, it’s fine, of course. But there were certain scenes that tended to drag on that could’ve easily been snipped to save the running time and keep the overall momentum going.

The movie was a huge success and according to Box Office Mojo earned $17 million in its opening weekend and finished with an overall box office haul of $60 million. Not bad for mid-90’s genre fare! I’m curious, because the back of the Blu-Ray has a tiny bit of text that says, “Read the Dark Horse comic book.” So apparently Dark Horse did an adaptation or perhaps spin off? Why then have the SPECIES never battled ALIENS in the comics as I suggested in last week’s “character showdown?”

SPECIES II is where things get interesting for a myriad of reasons. I did not catch the sequel in theaters, it was one of those movies I ended up watching on video and recall being somewhat baffled by the radically different tone and direction the series had taken on its second film. Revisiting it now? I love this bat-shit crazy movie. According to screenwriter Chris Brancato, his script was one of two that the studio were developing for a potential sequel. And originally, he had crafted a story in which there were two female aliens, one bad and one good. The bad one would escape and they’d release Natasha Henstridge’s Eve to go after her. It’d kind of the TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY syndrome where they take the “villain” of the first and make them into the hero for the second film, but alas, the producers wanted to go even wilder by having a male version of Sil for the new film.

So instead, the story of SPECIES II follows 3 astronauts on a special mission to Mars that uncover some alien DNA that immediately infects them. This time, the main “alien/human” hybrid is Patrick, the son of a Senator played by Justin Lazard. He immediately starts bedding women and mere moments after having sex, they birth alien babies. And he kinda just hides them in a secluded barn. Yep, things get creepy, weird and gooey really, really fast.

Dr. Laura Baker (a returning Marg Helgenberger) is the one that’s been raising Eve, the second alien/human hybrid created from the cells of the original alien DNA for the first movie. And so because of her alien heritage, she has a unique psychic bond with her male counterpart. She’s aiding the government in tracking down Patrick. It’s all a bit wacky for the first 20 or so minutes, but once Michael Madsen returns to the fold as Press, the movie becomes as fun as the first one again, mainly because he says aloud what the audience is thinking. “You were stupid enough to create another one of those things? And now you need my help killing it again?”

I think the main thing I appreciate about this sequel is just how off-the-wall it gets, sometimes with awesome results, sometimes with big laughs. I mean, at one point, Patrick tries to pick up a woman at the supermarket by standing next to a display of cereal with his picture on the front. It’s comically amazing. The random and radical practical FX in this movie (courtesy of Steve Johnson and his crew) are what set it above its predecessor. There is some wild shit in this movie! Between the violent, gory births of the alien babies, an amazing shotgun-to-the-head explosion and the designs of the final versions of Patrick and Eve, you’ve got some visually exciting stuff throughout the entire picture.

It ends with one of the oddest, cheesiest endings ever – with a tease for the next movie and a terrible “cat scare” that seemingly comes out of nowhere. I literally laughed out loud and thought “what the hell?” Then I watched the bonus feature interview with screenwriter Chris Brancato who very candidly explains how two producers came up with the ending I just mentioned and it truly has to be heard to be believed! By the way, SPECIES II is directed by Peter Medak (!) who also helmed THE CHANGELING, ROMEO IS BLEEDING and an episode of MASTERS OF HORROR.

Do they work as a double feature? Absolutely. It starts as a fun ride that just gets crazier and crazier as you go along. In this day & age, I look at the sequel and marvel at the direction it went because after sitting through the first SPECIES, there’s not a single thing in SPECIES II I could’ve possibly predicted. I like when sequels take changes and roll with radical concepts and ideas. There are two more sequels after this, but the budgets on both are drastically lower and they don’t take the concept any further than that of an alien girl that needs to mate. However, the first 2 are definitely worth checking out again and adding to your collection!