Species II (1998)

Director:

Peter Medak

Writers (WGA):

Dennis Feldman (characters)
Chris Brancato (written by)

Release Date:

10 April 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

There is life on Mars...and now it's here.

Plot:

Mykelti Williamson and Justin Lazard are a pair of astronauts who make the first successful manned mission to Mars...

Plot Keywords:

Astronaut | Mars | Alien | Sex | Telepathy

Cast

Michael Madsen	...	Press Lenox
Natasha Henstridge	...	Eve
Marg Helgenberger	...	Dr. Laura Baker
Mykelti Williamson	...	Dennis Gamble
George Dzundza	...	Colonel Carter Burgess Jr
James Cromwell	...	Senator Judson Ross
Justin Lazard	...	Patrick Ross
Myriam Cyr	...	Anne Sampas
Sarah Wynter	...	Melissa
Baxter Harris	...	Dr. Orinsky
Scott Morgan	...	Harry Sampas
Nancy La Scala	...	Debutante
Raquel Gardner	...	Debutante's Sister
Henderson Forsythe	...	Pentagon Personnel
Robert Hogan	...	Pentagon Personnel

Also Known As:

Species 2: Offspring (USA) (working title)
Species 2: Origins (USA) (working title)
Especies II (Argentina) (Mexico) [es]
Espèces II (Canada: French title) [fr]
Especie mortal 2 (Spain) [es]
Experiência II - A Mutação (Brazil) [pt]
La mutante 2 (France) [fr]
Peto 2 (Finland) [fi]
Species II (Germany) [de]
Tehlikeli tür 2 (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]

MPAA:

Rated R for strong sexuality, sci-fi violence/gore and language.

Runtime:

93 min | Spain:89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS

Certification:

New Zealand:R18 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:18 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:18A (Alberta/British Columbia) | Canada:R (Manitoba/Ontario) | Philippines:R-18 | Brazil:18 | Iceland:16 | Portugal:M/16 | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 | Singapore:R(A) (original rating) | Singapore:R21 (re-rating) | South Korea:18 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Edward Asner was going to play Dr. Herman Cromwell but dropped out.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the end when the third astronaut is being airlifted out, the flight medic puts her headset on twice.

Quotes:

Darlene: My God, it's you! Will you sign my Space Flakes box?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Tracey Fragments (2007)

Forgettable Waste Of Both Time And Valuable Brain Cells!

Standard, and barely even that, sequel to the surprisingly entertaining and campy first film that has the always sexy Natasha Henstridge's clone (created from the hybrid DNA of the first movie's character) now working with the government, as opposed to fighting against it, to help stop three alien-DNA infected astronauts (who recently returned from a dangerous mission to mars) from both running amok and creating monstrous offspring in the process! Tall and very attractive actor Justin Lazard plays the sexually promiscuous national hero/astronaut who causes the most havoc out of the three infected characters in the film as he discovers long before his other two friends what he is and uses it to his sick advantage. James Cromwell(?!) from "Babe" fame has a small cameo appearance here playing his father, a well-known senator, as does Peter Boyle playing a crazy and incarcerated scientist who supposedly warned everyone of the danger that they were putting themselves in by exploring the so-called "Red Planet", and of course Marg Helgenberger and Michael Madsen return playing their original ho-hum roles; the only difference being this time around is that both actors appear to not be nearly as psyched to reprise the same tired characters as they obviously were when the first opportunity arose to play two of the supporting lead roles in the original film. "Species 2" was an obvious bomb shortly after it came out as a result of the really ill-conceived script, poor special-effects that look more like they came from the mid 1980's instead of the late 1990's, an embarrassingly over amount of nudity and sex which is used in both a tasteless and just plain disgusting manner here and the all-around lack of campy humor and clever self-parody which was not only prevalent from the very beginning of the first flick, but also utilized to great effect in it as well! Fans of the first "Species" should probably just skip this one altogether (and not to mention the recent made-for-TV third one too) simply because it's less like a darkly comedic combination of both the science-fiction and horror genres, than it is more a really pathetic D-grade, soft-core, skin-flick with the occasional exploding alien head! (Turkey-Zero Stars)