After the success of JURASSIC PARK back in 1993, exploitation filmmakers were sure to jump on the dinosaur bandwagon. The king of low budget, Roger Corman, put CARNOSAUR into production concurrent with JP, and not only managed to throw in dinosaurs (on one-tenth the budget and realism, of course), but included the whole sub-plot about genetic engineering. Corman hired Adam (BRAIN DEAD) Simon to write a treatment from John Brosnan’s novel. The idea was to take the dinosaur elements from the Disney-ish JURASSIC PARK, and make the CARNOSAUR an graphic adult horror film. Adam Simon managed to create an interesting (though flawed) script and stylish direction that made CARNOSAUR one of Corman’s few modern sleeper hits. The film got some notices from low-brow critics and became a fixture on the midnight screening circuit. This, in turn, generated enough income for Corman to make more sequels, none of which were any good. New Horizon’s Home Video recently released the entire CARNOSAUR trilogy to DVD at a budgetary price range.

Corman and Simon got veteran actress Diane (WILD AT HEART) Lane to take top billing the film, as demented scientist Dr. Jane Tiptree. The protagonist Doc is played by Raphael (THE HIDDEN II) Sbarge; Doc is the alcoholic night watchman for a desert construction site. Jennifer (TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT) Runyon is his love interest, Thrush. Harrison Page is local lawman Sheriff (ULTRAMAN: THE ULTIMATE HERO) Fowler. And Richie Cunningham’s brother Clint Howard plays the local weirdo (his usual role), Fryar.

A secret conglomeration of government agencies gives Dr. Jane Tiptree (Lane) funding and equipment for her biotechnology experiments. Little do they know she has used her twisted genius and government resources to create a new breed of predator. In her hidden laboratory in Nevada, she splices genes of chickens with those of prehistoric lizards. A truck unknowingly transports a baby Velociraptor-type dinosaur out of Dr. Tiptree’s lab and into the world. The truckdriver is the unseen creature’s first victim. Sheriff Fowler (Page) is the first one on the scene. Because the truck driver is ripped to shreds, Sheriff Fowler believes a mountain lion is responsible for the killing.

At a Nevada construction site, night watchman Doc Smith gets drunk on shift. His solo celebration is cut short, because of tree-hugging hippies (think Greenpeace) who trespass on the construction site. When Doc comes out with his shotgun, the hippies all flee, but Doc manages to snag one of them, a girl named Thrush (Jennifer Runyon). Doc calls the police, and asks them to round up the trespassers. After talking to Thrush, he decides not to press charges. Meanwhile, three teenagers partying in the desert are killed by the savage baby dinosaur; who appears to be growing at an astonishing rate.

Now the local authorities led by Sheriff Fowler know something is up. The secret government conglomeration discover they have been misled by Dr. Tiptree, and dispatch their own military force to investigate her activities. Doc discovers the Dr. Tiptree’s secret lab, and endeavors to gain access. Armed with a gun, he locates her and threatens her to reveal what she has done. Meanwhile, in opposition to further construction of the desert, the hippies chain themselves to the construction vehicles. Unfortunately for them, the vicious dinosaur finds them chained to the vehicles and unable to flee. The hippies make easy prey for the hungry predator.

Threatened at gunpoint, Dr. Tiptree reveals her plot to wipe out mankind with a new race of bio-engineered dinosaurs. She has created a virus that infects women only. The virus causes the women to become pregnant, give birth to tiny dinosaur embryos, and then die. Ultimately, all women on Earth would become infected, leaving the human race to die out (while the dinos would take control). Thrush discovers she has contracted the virus…

The government organization known as FEMA has discovered the nature of Dr. Tiptree’s research. They declare martial law, and starts killing all the townspeople whom they believe are infected with Dr. Tiptree’s virus. Doc destroys the mad scientist’s laboratory, but not before Dr. Tiptree releases her genetically engineered Tyrannosaurus Rex. Doc manages to grab the antivirus, and flee from the vicious dinosaur. He heads back to the construction site where Thrush is waiting, but the vicious Tyrannosaur is pursuing. Realizing that their only hope of surviving is to kill the dinosaur, Doc commandeers a huge construction vehicle to use it as a weapon against the dinosaur. And the government forces continue to exterminate those who are infected. Who will survive?

Here is a sample of the graphic mayhem:

• A guy’s head is ripped off, and the veins and arteries dangle from his severed head.
• Sheriff Fowler shoots a dinosaur’s head at point blank range, and the dino head implodes.
• A dino rips a guys face off.
• An injured dino impales a cop using it’s sharpest talon.
• A dinosaur bites the leg off a hippie, and chows it down as she watches helplessly.
• A small (but vicious) dino shreds 3 teenagers inside their truck; blood splatters everywhere.

Make no bones about it, CARNOSAUR is no JURASSIC PARK. That’s not to say the film is a total waste. Roger Corman ponies up a bigger budget than usual, and writer/director Adam Simon makes the most of it. Simon has a surreal visual style, except for when the camera lingers on the carnage. Simon’s script is confusing at times and over reaching at others. The story structure is not linear. For instance, Doc does not storm the laboratory at the end of the film (like most exploitation fare); instead he breaks into the lab before the halfway point. Then his captive, Dr. Tiptree conveniently explains her actions and motivations over the next twenties minutes, only revealing bits and pieces of her scheme along the way. This makes for a particularly long exposition for the audience, so Simon works in some other kill scenes then takes us back to the lab. A very unconventional narrative for a Corman film.

Simon’s style is creepy and depressing, with subtle doses of black humor. For example, the scene where the granola hippies chain themselves to the construction vehicles only to become dinosaur chow is a classic. Parts of the movie are strangely vulgar, but this is refreshing since this is a dinosaur movie. Though the themes of genetic manipulation to create dinosaur embryos are borrowed from JURASSIC PARK, the film stands on it’s own. Except for the sequels there are no other movies like CARNOSAUR. The acting is passable, but the off-kilter performance by Diane Lane is certainly worth praising. It would be very easy to take her character over the top with a David Gale-like performance, but Lane keeps it check and makes it all the more real, even though CARNOSAUR is anything but.

The special effects are a mixed bag. Some of the stalking scenes when the dinosaurs are little vicious hunters are effective, because the critters are barely glimpsed. It seems the bigger the dinosaurs get, the less real they look. All the dinosaurs are well designed, but their movements are stiff and awkward. The Tyrannosaur who appears in the climax looks real enough, until he moves that is. But don’t get me wrong, these are not amateur effects. You never see any zippers, strings, holes, or other such flaws, and the dinosaurs never appear to be ‘floating’ or anything like that. John Beuchler’s company provided the analog effects and the gore scenes. It’s worth noting that the gore scenes are much more realistic than the dinosaur ones, so this is one dino film you wouldn’t want your kid to see.

Another aspect that separates CARNOSAUR from JURASSIC PARK or even older films like ONE MILLION YEARS B.C., is that those films use dinosaurs to fill you with a sense of awe and wonder. CARNOSAUR totally strips away these elements, and presents dinosaurs as dark, repulsive enemies to mankind. The climax of the film bucks the traditional happy ending, for a totally downbeat one. A conclusion where the dinosaurs are revealed to not be the true threat after all. The film also has elements of black humor (and some unintentional humor too) to keep things in perspective.

SIGHT

Unfortunately, this is a full frame presentation, cut from the original 1.85.1 ratio. The image suffers from that washed out, over-scanned look. It’s not that this is a bad transfer; it’s actually good for full frame, but it would have been much easier on the eyes had it been widescreen. Like the tone of the film, the cinematography is dark. On this full frame transfer, it is a little too dark. Luckily the black level is perfectly calibrated, so you can still make out those shadowy night scenes. And what scenes they are; VelociRaptor-style dinos chowing down on the local populace, causing blood and guts to flow everywhere. The image is very good—good enough to reveal the shortcomings of the special effects. These are obviously of the rod puppet variety. The blood and gore effects are well done, though. Depending upon the angle used, in a few scenes the dinosaurs look convincing, but for the most part, you want to laugh. Anyway, the detail level is pretty good, and you can make out the snakeskin covering of the critters. The interior sets are rather small and produce that claustrophobic feeling that a movie like this needs. Colors are bright and vibrant (well at least they are in the few daylight scenes). Most of the film is dark and intentionally so. The cinematography has a dusty sheen. The dominant color schemes are brown, olive, gray, and dark blue. The final showdown between the Tyrannosaur and the construction vehicle are nicely edited together and filmed, but the lack of realism in the Tyrannosaur’s movements made the creature inferior to those dinosaurs from older films like VALLEY OF THE GWANGI or BEAST OF HOLLOW MOUNTAIN. I detected no DVD mastering flaws such as bleeding, chroma noise, edge enhancement, or compression artifacts. There is really nothing bad about the image, but just the lack of widescreen is disappointing.

SOUND

New Horizons has remastered the audio to a powerful Dolby Digital 2.0 mix. The forward soundstage has lots of directionality and separation, and anchors the sound field nicely. The rear soundstage provides sound effects, ambiance, and filters in the memorable score. There is no hiss, drop-outs, or distortion. The soundtrack is appropriately bass heavy. When the dinos walk, you feel the rumble of their footsteps. The clash between the Tyrannosaurus and the construction vehicle is full of loud clanging and large doses of bass. The dialog comes through the center channel and sounds crisp and clear. Some sound effects also emanate from the center speaker, and there is a hint of harshness in them (as heard in the scene where the teenagers are partying in the desert). Nigel Holten’s score combines symphonic and electronic; and sounds like music from an episode of THE X-FILES (that’s a compliment). The score was well done, and has CD-like fidelity in the sound mix. A surprisingly strong Dolby Surround mix from New Horizons.

FEATURES

There are several trailers for New Horizons properties, including CARNOSAUR (FF, DD 2.0,:55), PIRAHNA (FF, Mono, 1:25), DANGEROUS CURVES (FF, DD 2.0, 1:30), and the classic HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP (FF, Mono, 1:08). I found the trailer for CARNOSAUR better than the film itself. The same can be said of HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP (both trailers are in good shape as well).

CONCLUSION

Although not a great film by any means, CARNOSAUR still has a lot of valid cult elements, and therefore is worth checking out on DVD. Fans of JURRASSIC PARK and classic dinosaur movies may want skip this. Horror and monster fans will definitely eat this one up. The movie delivers on it’s premise, but the movie pretty much is just an excuse to show dinosaurs munching on humans. With a title like CARNOSAUR, what do you expect? To be fair, this is one of Corman’s better recent efforts. New Horizons surprised me with the audio and video quality, and the well done DVD menuing system. The biggest drawback to the film is it should have been widescreen. But what do you expect for $14.95?

THE CARNOSAUR COLLECTION is available from DVDEmpire.com

CARNOSAUR DOUBLE FEATURE is available from DVDEmpire.com

CARNOSAUR #: PRIMAL SPEICES is available from DVDEmpire.com

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