It's a rare and notable feat when a film can do so much wrong... and yet still hold your interest and keep you entertained throughout. But so goes the story of "Species II," a weird little conundrum of a film from director Peter Medak. A sequel to the mildly entertaining 1995 original, "Species II" has always been a bit of a sore spot for both audiences and for its own cast. Heck, even lead star Michael Madsen once infamously referred to the film as a "crock of (you know what)" in an interview. Its storyline is contrived. Its handling of characters suspect at best. And its sense of pacing and resolution underwhelming to say the least.And yet... I kind of enjoy it. Yeah. I'll admit it.It's not even a case of being one of those delightful "so bad, it's good" kinda movies. It's just sort-of fun to watch despite its faults. It's a glorified Saturday morning cartoon for grown-ups, filled with gooey gore and plenty of bared breasts and bottoms, designed to appeal almost exclusively to our inner teenager. It's pure kitschy exploitation junk-food. It's bad... but it's what you'd call "fun bad."Three years after the escaped alien-human hybrid Sil was destroyed, astronaut Patrick Ross (Justin Lazard) returns from a mission to Mars a changed man... Little does the world know, however, that he's been infected with an alien toxin that begins to take over his body and transform him into a fiendish monster. Attempting to build an army of offspring, Ross begins to impregnate woman after woman with his deadly spawn. And it's up to some returning heroes (Michael Madsen, Marg Helgenberger), along with a clone of the original Sil called "Eve" (Natasha Henstridge) to stop his deadly scheme!Director Medak, best known for the swashbuckling comedy "Zorro, The Gay Blade" and the wonderful haunted-house picture "The Changeling", does a fairly admirable job here. It's a well-crafted film, with some top-notch design work and a fantastic sense of visual execution. Medak creates plenty of moody sequences and does well with the script he's working off of, with a strong sense of flow and composition. And of course, as was the case with the original, the creature effects and gory deaths are just as mind-blowing as ever, especially thanks to the contributions of H.R. Giger. Say what you want about the film, but the aliens are just awe-inspiring and absolutely gorgeous.And indeed, it's this execution, combined with the charming talents of the returning cast that manages to salvage the experience. Even if he hated the finished product, Madsen is great in his returning role as former mercenary Press Lennox. It's a fun character archetype, and Madsen plays the part to perfection. Helgenberger is given some more intrigue and adventure to work with here, and she improves on her already very solid turn from the original. And I thought Henstridge was even better here than she was in the first film. She's given some more emotion this time around and also a bit more overt action, which was nice to see.Unfortunately the new cast is pretty uniformly terrible. Lazard is a dull villain who fails to inspire dread much of the time, and his wooden performance feels forced and oft-uncomfortable. It's only towards the end when he goes all in that he becomes any sort-of credible threat. Mykelti Williamson, whose usually a pretty solid actor, unfortunately falls flat on his face as the shoehorned comic relief- a catchphrase-spewing African American who punctuates every other sentence with contrived slang. And even James Cromwell and Peter Boyle- two classy and classic actors whom play minor characters- don't do well at all with their respective roles. They seem confused and lost as they fumble over their lines.The film's structure and writing are the film's biggest downfall, though. Writer Chris Brancato's script is trite and silly, with a lot of head-scratching moments that don't add up, and weird sequences that seemingly contradict the prior film This isn't helped by the oddly nonsensical tone, which bounces back and forth between horror and comedy so often, you occasionally find yourself laughing at the scares and wincing at the jokes. I also took issue with the fact that this is a film where characters often behave stupidly just to contrive scares- including one unintentionally hilarious scene where a man actually touches infected blood with his bare hands for no reason whatsoever. And the pace is just nonsensical at times, with the film speeding up and slowing down at random intervals to the point it becomes distracting.And yet... I don't hate this movie. The returning cast is just too good, the visual direction is just too strong and the exploitative sex and violence is just too fun for me to wholly dismiss the finished film. It's bad. Oh, it's very bad. But it's the sort-of bad where you can sit back, pop open a beer, and have a good time watching the insanity before you unfold. Especially with some friends to riff alongside you while you crack fun at its silly moments. "Species II" earns a below average but watchable 4 out of 10 from me. It's one of those sequels that's objectively a total failure... but is still enjoyable despite its faults.

An astronaut gets infected with alien DNA during the first mission on Mars and runs amok on earth. Preston and Laura team up with a peaceful, genetically re-engineered Sil (Natasha Henstridge) to track the monster down.The first film became a cult favorite mostly because of the excessive nudity, near as I can tell. The plot was pretty straightforward and it does not stand out as one of those films that needed multiple sequels and its own franchise. And yet, here we are.Writer Chris Brancato was working with MGM and knew the studio was interested in making a follow-up to Species. He pitched an idea to executive Greg Foster where this time two hybrid alien women would strike. Foster liked it, but once Brancato went to "Species" producer Frank Mancuso Jr., he asked to "approach this from a different angle, so that we don't have a tired retread of the original, as sequels often are." So Brancato took inspiration from "The Manchurian Candidate", where "somebody on a mission comes back, apparently a hero, but actually with some terrible demon inside." We get much of the original cast back, and some really fine additional casting, including James Cromwell and a memorable role by Peter Boyle. We also get director Peter Medak on board, one of the great Masters of Horror (given his background in Hammer and "The Changeling")... and even aliens designed by no less an artistic authority than H. R. Giger. In many ways, this film exceeds the original.Having Medak on board brought a few key changes. When Medak was approached by producer Frank Mancuso, a condition of Medak's agreement was to hire on composer Edward Shearmur ("Die Hard"). Also, Peter Boyle is a friend of Medak's and they have worked together many times since the 1970s, so we have Medak to thank for this key bit of casting. Even production designer Miljen Kreka Kljakovic came through Medak. (Kljakovic is not a household name, but look him up -- from "Delicatessen" on, he has made a long list of great films.)And yet, the critics hated it and even the cast was disappointed. Michael Madsen expressed his opinion saying, "Species II was a crock of (doody). There are a number I'm not very proud of. The movie studios can't mind that much, as they haven't contacted me to tell me off about it. I'm honest - if I've made a bad movie, I want my fans to know what they're letting themselves in for." (Regardless of what Madsen thinks of the film, Medak loved working with him.)I have to disagree with Madsen. The film is actually intelligent and clever in a way. The special effects were ahead of their time, even if they may appear dated today. The head regeneration scene is a bit cheesy, but even that allegedly cost $75,000. So it was not a cheap effect. I suspect when people look back now (2016), they will see this is a better film than given credit for.The Scream Factory disc has an old audio commentary ported over (and it is as good as ever). We also have a new interview with Natasha Henstridge, which gives us a bit of a rundown on her career and how she transitioned from modeling to "Species". Oh, and don't forget new interviews with the effects crew. Whether you think this is a good movie or not, these interviews are valuable and really put 1990s horror and science fiction in context.

'Species' was always a classic B-movie and it certainly made enough money to guarantee a sequel. The good news is that (most of) the principal cast returned (quite a rarity in sequels these days) and it sort of follows the Terminator/T2 rule where the original bad guy is now the good guy, helping to defeat something even worse.Despite the original alien, played by Natasha Henstridge with her trademark lack of clothes, being killed off in the original, she's been cloned back now to help the human race hunt down a second alien (this time male). Now… that doesn't sound like a bad plot for a B-movie, however, my main problem was that Natasha Henstridge is hardly in it! She only really comes into the film in the final act and, by then, it's a little too late to make any real difference.The story focuses on all the wrong characters. Even though you also have Michael Madsen and Marg Helgenberger reprise their respective characters, the film spends too much time on those related to sub-plots and a new sidekick who is little more than a wise-cracking helper who's constant slang and (alleged) witticisms about his lack of sex soon become annoying.But, when the story gets it right, it still retains enough of the fun and bloodthirsty chaos of the original to make it just about watchable. If you've never experienced the 'Species' franchise, start with the original. If you like that, you may want to check out this one (It's pretty widely regarded that part III is a waste of time!).http://thewrongtreemoviereviews.blogspot.co.uk/

Ultra-Bloody big budget sequel is an example of the worst of the worst. A nominee for the most awful follow-up film ever. Who writes this stuff?The returning three leads are OK but they are surrounded by the most laughable characters ever in a mega-financed film. Do the U.S. Marines allow obesity? We have a 400 pound Officer who is so heavy every time he is on the screen it draws needless attention and one wonders how he ever got in the that uniform. This embarrassing figure is actually shown in a jeep filing his nails on the way to a battle. Then there is the African-American Astronaut who uses the term "Baby", "booty", and "know what i'm say-in" in almost every scene. He also talks, like a stand-up comic and slang's about not getting or getting laid a lot. The over the top gore is just as side-splitting, in fact this movie actually is so laugh out loud ridiculous that it enters that "Bad Movie" genre that will probably be enjoyed by those aficionados and rightfully so. There is so much here that is unintentionally hilarious and downright disgusting that you may actually be violently laughing and vomiting at the same time.