Xtro 2: The Second Encounter (1991)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

The original Xtro was a British sci-fi horror film from the early 80's. It was very silly indeed but pretty original and strange. I guess you could describe it as a minor cult movie. Its director, Harry Davenport, returned almost a decade later to make an American sequel called, perhaps unsurprisingly, Xtro II. This one is only vaguely related to the previous film at best. It's set in an underground military laboratory that is experimenting with travelling to other dimensions. They send a swat team to one such place, it's disastrous and one of the team returns only for an aggressive alien to burst out of her stomach and escape into the facility. The remaining personnel must avoid being torn apart by the monster.It should be clear from the synopsis that this flick owes a fair bit to Alien. But the truth is that this one isn't even nearly as good as the uneven original Xtro, far less Ridley Scott's master-work. Probably the single biggest problem is the location. Almost all films set in confined military bases are usually tedious and terrible. The limited sets are good for a low budget but very boring. This one is no exception with lots of dark corridors and very little variety. The movie stars Jan-Michael 'Airwolf' Vincent. He's not very good and puts in a thoroughly disinterested performance.Overall, very forgettable.

It must tell you something I went in thinking I haven't seen it, but hold on. Upon every scene and development it suddenly came back. 'Xtro II' is an unrelated sequel to 'Xtro' that's nothing more than a workable, but fairly lacklustre low-budget 'Aliens' clone. The chest bursting scene is a prime example. Well it seemed to share a lot of common ground with another film (which is a lot better) from the same year 'Shadowzone'. Anyhow I didn't find it to be as terrible as many to make out to be, but however it's just too formulaic to rise above its limited scope. Still I was entertained. The conceptual idea is something imaginative (exploring an alternate dimension and bringing something back), but director/writer Harry Bromley Davenport decides to stick with the copy and paste clichés and usual plot mechanisms. Everything is straight-forward (alien stalks and blandly picks off team one by one), rather than the bizarre and unconventional nature of the original.The acting by Jan-Michael Vincent (uninterested), Paul Koslo (over-the-top) and Tara Buckman is reasonably so-so, but their character's are poorly conceived. Nicholas Lea (best known as Alex Krycek in the 'X-Files' TV series) shows up in support. Not helping was that the script was shamelessly lousy in it's supposed toughness. The minor sets look cheap, and the misty blue lighting tries for moody atmospherics in the same-old set-pieces and the score is forcibly clunky. Pacing can stall too much. There's a little bit of splatter, but nothing truly worthwhile. Director Davenport's touch lacks the firepower, despite the weaponry on show. While the story is predictably colourless, the repetitive visionary on screen doesn't fair up any better. The alien doesn't look too bad, but there's a striking resemblance to the way its shot with 'Alien'.I don't think it's the pits, just too familiar and unfocused to be much effective.

This movie is so bad that it crossed over into the Cheese category. If want a few really good laughs, there are several of the cheesiest scenes in movie history in this movie. TIVO it, as you will want to play several scenes over and over again to get the full cheese effect. Look for the following scenes:The military commander whips out the biggest gun in the history of armed conflict. Prior to being skewered, Alien style, he is searches the complex with one of his men who has an accent that changes from with each scene, but on average sounds like a Hispanic from the valley. See if you can figure out what he is saying?Also, don't miss the scene where the doctor walks into the main lab and one of the soldiers pulls a gun on him. The cheesiest scene in motion picture history. You'll wear out your TIVO.

This is perhaps the most obvious, undisguised script plagiarism that I have ever had the misfortune of watching. This movie completely and shamelessly rips off the "Alien" franchise, and does so with extra-cheesy production value, "Dr. Who" quality sets and special effects, and some of the worst dead-faced, deadpan acting ever recorded. I mean, my God...aliens with acid blood that pop out of people's chests, who run around screeching and curling their lips over their pointy glass teeth??? And a small team of soldiers to hunt them down? They even rip off the Bill Paxton character in James Cameron's "Aliens," only this time the whiny hysterical soldier is played by Nicholas Lea of the "X-Files." An absolutely horrible movie.