Movie fans usually scoff when they hear the words "direct to video", since a film would not fall into that category if its budget and production values were capitalized on by major studios, but sometimes a few of these little flicks can become hidden gems due to an experienced producer such as Roger Corman, and a cast that puts their heart and sweat into it regardless of its profit or notoriety. The sequel to the campy B-movie, "Carnosaur" is obviously inspired by the big box office hit sequels of yester-year such as "Aliens", Terminator 2, and "Predator 2". Creators use the technique of not introducing the identity of the creatures for the first third of the film, and the creature stalks its prey through corridors and ventilation ducts, disposing of the cast one by one in gory ways. This time, the head of US Defense, Cliff De Young hires a mercenary squad of hotheads to investigate electrical malfunctions at a classified military mining facility that happens to be inhabited by the prehistoric monstrosities that killed off the whole staff as a result of their shady genetic experiments and cover-up of nuclear weapons. Now the cast must either fight or become lunch. Sound familiar?By now you should know what to expect. The dinosaurs look just as plastic and fake as before, but an energetic cast of underrated character actors including John Savage, Don Stroud, and Rick Dean keep it lively and entertaining. Combined with some witty dialog and nice directorial touches, C2 should be a crowd-pleaser amongst B-movie genre fans thats up to par with if not better than its predecessor. Its followed by another sequel, Carnosaur 3: Primal Species, believe it or not.

I saw this movie late one night on the sixth (french) channel. Most of it was awful but there were still a few redeeming qualities to it. The actors were rather pathetic, typical dino fodder I'd say and all they did was swear and moan about the ugly lizards attacking them. But they were PROFESSIONAL dino fodder actors. Indeed, they were very entertaining when getting dismembered and chomped by the dinosaurs. The gory scenes were not bad either. The dinos, on the other hand looked cheap and stiff, for they were puppets!! Yes, puppets, my friends, shown in full view struggling on their stiff, fat legs to get at the actors. Luckily for them there is still the ambushing tactic, ideal when in an underground mining/scientific/whatsitsname facility. Some elements of the plot reminded me vaguely of Aliens though... Things I learned from this movie: -Plastic mattresses are quite common in underground whatitsname facilities, they are a life saving device for crumby actors falling from ludicrous heights. -We humans are so dumb we have forgotten what to do when attacked by a shuffling, fat velociraptor, which is, to run like hell or hide. -Cloned velociraptors and tyrannosaurs look nothing like their prehistoric ancestors who were lithe, mighty and sleek-looking. Clones are fat, stiff and fake-looking. -A tyrannosaur cannot smash through an elevator door, especially when this one is made of metal mesh. -Dinos are extremely annoyed by Wagner's music, especially Flight of the Walkiry. -Dinos can unrig a booby trap better than any old soldier. -A man being shaken around in a T-rex's maw looks a lot like a plastic dummy.

Evidently someone involved in this production has created multiple email accounts to vault the Vote scoring up to 3.6/10. Believe me: This movie rates a 1. Or a fraction.I have a Love/Hate thing going with this type of movie. On the Hate side movies such as Carnosaur 2 are Z-quality: they pillage clichés without conscience; the special effects don't fool a four-year old; the filming set is often an "underground facility" or "molded plastic cave" to conceal a lack of "site location" budget; the actors are no-names except for one or two spiraling has-beens fresh off the dinner theater circuit; and the plots are ridiculous retreads or riffs conjured on the set.On the Love side: Such movies are unabashedly pure in their lack of production values, star power, and talent. They are beautiful things to watch and their badness should be admired. An ultra-bad movie like Carnosaur 2 is a lot of fun and hilarious if you have a couple of minutes during channel surfing or if you're stoned at 2 am or having a party.Little known fact: The special effects were pioneered in the groundbreaking Barney the Purple Dinosaur series. If you look reeeeeeally close...OK, even if you look from a distance...you can see the rubber Carnosaur suits squish up from the guys inside or the obvious camera angle placement to make the 2 foot tall model the size of a forklift...or the rubber toes bending in awkward boneless ways...or you name it.God bless the Sci-Fi Channel for breathing life into these silly, ultra-low budget horror and sci-fi flicks. Long live the B-movie!

Exciting non-related sequel about a crew sent in to repair an underground basement and to find out what happened to the original crew that is now missing. There they run into a group of super intelligent dinosaurs that are smarting then the crew themselves that then make the crew lunch. Better effects, some genuine surprises, plenty of scares, and a good atmosphere make this a fun outing, but it is sorely missing Diane Ladd's demented performance.Rated R; Graphic Violence and Profanity.