90's American Horror Part Thirty

PREDATOR 2

(1990)

Dir - Stephen Hopkins

Overall: GOOD

Recapturing the pristine, 80s action movie glory of a film like Predator is no small feat and in more respects than should be possible, Predator 2 delivers such goods.  Director Stephen Hopkins was hot off of the sub-par, fifth Nightmare on Elm Street entry, but here, he wonderfully adheres to the big, loud, explody schlock of such testosterone-ridden movies from the era.  Returning was screenwriters Jim and John Thomas, who satisfyingly deepen the mythos while updating the setting to an "Urban jungle" one.  The heat-waved, gang-ravaged LA serves as an ideal backdrop for sweaty drug wars, inner law enforcement conflict, and of course Kevin Peter Hall's City Hunter title character that practically gets to shoot fish in a barrel.  Lethal Weapon aside, Danny Glover is hardly the steroid-jacked action star that the original movie proved obsolete against such a mega, extraterrestrial threat, but his blue-collar police Lieutenant ultimately overcomes such obstacles in the same way that Arnold Schwarzenegger's Dutch did; namely through a combination of perseverance and intellect.  The rest of the largely inter racial cast is top-to-bottom recognizable, with the usual crop of B-movie character actors who made memorable careers out of such violent, overblown shoot-em-ups.  Plus Stan Winston's always excellent creature design is even more detailed for this round.

POISON

(1991)

Dir - Todd Haynes

Overall: GOOD

 

Todd Haynes' feature-length debut Poison is a typically experimental work from the New Queer Cinema writer/director.  Comprised of three different stories that are based off of novels from Jean Genet, it is not a conventional anthology movie in that it bounces between each segment, all of which are done in a distinctly different style.  "Hero" is a mockumentary, "Horror" is a black and white, throwback, B-movie, and "Homo" is an experimental prison drama.  Though the individual stylistic choices certainly seem jarring on paper, Haynes circles back to all of them in an oddly seamless manner.  Part of this is due to a unifying element of each one revolving around outcast characters, exploring a dark and confused, "out on the fringe" perspective.  Coming from an openly gay filmmaker such as Haynes, this is hardly surprising and the results are challenging as well as deeply personal.  More interesting than properly entertaining or even coherent, this is not for the worst as it is a unique viewing experience that leaves a somewhat cryptic, unapologetically uncomfortable, and lingering effect.

 

SPECIES

(1995)

Dir - Roger Donaldson

Overall: MEH

While moderately entertaining in a popcorn munching sense, Species is not the most remarkable or unique sci-fi/horror hybrid.  Written by Dennis Feldman, (Just One of the Guys, The Golden Child), with design work from H.R. Giger, director Roger Donaldson keeps things cruising and the tone is equal amounts B-movie schlock and big budget action.  Newcomer Natasha Henstridge is fine as the horny, fish out of water extraterrestrial and Ben Kingsley, Michael Madsen, Marg Helgenberger, Alfred Molina, and Forest Whitaker make a conventional team of scientists, empaths, and bad-asses, respectfully.  The predatory, reproduction-motivated nature of Henstridge's alien is a one-note angle to hinge everything on, which does not really allow for much besides some mediocre dialog and naked, violent, and on-fire set pieces.  The practical effects by Steve Johnson are jaw-dropping in comparison to the utterly horrendous digital ones, the latter of which unfortunately seem to take up more screen time and are detrimentally distracting.  Large portions of the movie get the job done though, but there are certainly funnier, sexier, scarier, and bloodier alien hunting movies out there.