Xtro 2 : The Second Encounter

Alternate titles : None

Tagline : "Part Alien, Part Predator, All Terror!"

Sci-fi horrors were proving rather popular in the late 80's, what with "Aliens" and "Predator" having done rather well at the box office and enjoying further success on home video. So it was with this in mind that director Harry Bromley Davenport decided to follow up his earlier sci-fi film Xtro with another "Alien" style knock off.

Owing nothing to the previous movie, the film takes place deep in an underground government bunker where a group of scientists are working on a project called 'Nexus' that is supposed to allow people to transport to other dimensions. Unfortunately the project goes predictably awry and their test subject brings back a rather nasty alien creature with her, which reveals itself by bursting fully grown out of her stomach (well, how else?).

And so the film quickly descends into a rip-off of "Alien", "Aliens" and numerous other sci-fi and horror films, as the trapped survivors find themselves being chased around the complex by the creature which leaps out of them from the shadows, whilst TV actor Jan Michael Vincent heads up a group of motley soldier like types to try and eliminate the creature before their computer triggers the base's auto-destruct.

Somewhat predictable, derivative and formulaic, "Xtro 2" is your typical straight-to-video affair and unlike the films it tries to imitate, actually looks like a guy in a rubber suit. This is the sort of film you'd expect to see late at night on the Sci-Fi channel or something, but it is a rather fun "trashy" horror pic and is actually a guilty pleasure of mine, as are all the Xtro films. Fans of low budget horrors will undoubtedly enjoy it on a pure entertainment level .

Overall Marks : 4/10.

Terrifying Trivia

• Alternate tag lines "It's hungry, and it's back for seconds". "It feels nothing... it fears nothing... there is no escape".
• There was a lot of friction on set between the Director and Jan Michael Vincent, as he was constantly drunk during filming and either refused, or was unable, to learn his lines. So the Director had to tell him what to say beforehand and have him repeat the lines back to him for each scene.
• Paul Koslo, who plays Dr Summerfield, also played Alexander in "Robot Jox".
• Director Harry Bromely Davenport has openly stated that he doesn't like the film and only made it because he needed the money at the time.
• Tara Buckman, who plays Dr Casserly, also played Ellie in the original "Silent Night, Deadly Night". She also played the blonde haired Lamborghini babe in the original "Cannonball Run".
• The line in the film "We've enough C4 to blow up the World Trade Centre" actually came 3 years before the failed bomb attempt by Arab extremists in 1993 and, strangely enough, some 11 years before the events of Sept 11.
• Although Director Harry Bromley Davenport had the rights to the name "Xtro", he didn't have the rights to the original story, which is one of the reasons this film owes nothing plotwise to the first film. He just decided to capitalise on the name.

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