User Reviews

The third installment of the "Carnosaur" trilogy features a bunch of Keystone Kops-quality military commandos trying to kill two Velociraptors and a T-Rex. I give it a 4 out of sheer sympathy and my affinity for dinosaurs. The movie is definitely the worst of the trilogy, it really can't be taken seriously. More significantly, however, watching this movie I can't help but notice some interesting parallels between the "Carnosaur" and "Xtro" trilogies. The first installment in both franchises is a dark, disturbing film that has become a cult classic, the second is an "Alien" ripoff, and the third is a tongue-in-cheek, almost slapstick (whether intentional or not) movie that has you rolling on the floor laughing. Also, like the "Xtro" franchise, all the "Carnosaur" movies are completely unrelated to one another. They they only carry the franchise name to drum up interest in the "sequels," I guess. Obviously "Carnosaur" and "Xtro" have two different production groups at work here, but if you've seen all three movies of both franchises you find yourself referring back and forth between the two.

A series of B movies that unlike the usual formula, actually get BETTER as they go along. I have all 3 Carnosaur films on DVD, and I can be honest about them. The first one almost sucks. Luckily it has a few cool parts and grisly special effects to keep it going. The second one has better story and action, raising the standard of the film to "good", and by the time we reach Carnosaur 3: Primal Species, we've officially hit good, short, dumb fun. With a perfect mix of Dinosaurs (that actually look pretty nice, especially the T-Rex), with good dialog for the kind of movie it is, a second straight to video sequel, lots of action and humor, it makes you laugh and smile with pure middle-of-the-night-entertainment. If you wanna watch Jurassic Park that bad, then watch it, but don't bitch about how this is a rip-off, because it's not. The book that the original Carnosaur movie is based off of, came six years before Crichton's Jurassic Park was published, so back off it, and enjoy it.

Primal Species comes from B Movie legend Roger Corman and as such everybody who watches this needs to realise that this is a Low Budget B Movie and it knows it.

A bunch of terrorists high-jack a Lorry and kill an entire army doing so, they believe it to hold uranium, but No..... It contains two Dino's with a taste for Human Flesh... Then a Crack team, who might as well be called Delta Force get called in.

OK, This ain't Jurassic Park, and Yes The Dino's are never clearly seen because it's obviously a guy in a Costume that's not too dissimilar to Barney the Dinosaur - only slightly LESS terrifying,but come on guys this had about 1% of Jurassic Park's Budget and as such does what it can.

Does this deserve to be in the bottom 100?....HELL NO!!! I think the nearly half of voters who give this a 1 - are being WAY WAY overly harsh, it's much closer to a 4... it's actually a lot better than a whole host of other movies not in the Bottom 100, and has a similar production value to a Sci-Fi Channel Production. (again Movies which get a overly harsh time from critics here on IMDb)

The acting is as expected in a B Movie although none of the actors take it that seriously, neither does the script

All in All it's an enjoyable B Movie - Not for Film Snobs

** out of *****

Monster fans might get some minor excitement over the third and final entry in producer, Roger Corman's Jurassic Park parody/rip-off about carnivorous dinosaurs (hence the title) munching on military macho types while scientists pursue their agendas for the hungry reptiles used as unstoppable biological weapons. Its a premise that worked well on a modest budget with laughable creature effects and plenty of gore for the first couple of films, but now it seems that all of the originality and ambition has been exhausted in a final attempt to cash in on a sequel-happy studio franchise. Rubbery-looking monsters, nonstop "Warsploitation" clichés, and amateurish performances are just a few reminders that the 1990's direct-to-video craze has been long swept under the carpet resulting in many rare out-of-print digital copies making their way across the Internet. The 'Carnosaur' trilogy is one of those long forgotten series of films that fall into that category. Its too bad that the series ended on a ridiculous note such as this. Billed as 'Primal Species', this is so predictable and washed-out that it doesn't even really matter if Scott Valentine's "war face" is hilarious, or if watching moronic cops and brainless bad guys getting chewed up by what looks like a toy T-Rex you had as a child is your thing. The direction is incompetent, and the editing is a disaster. The monsters get very little screen-time as the camera clumsily fumbles around the action, and minimal bloodshed and gore give this last installment an unsatisfactory grade. Its laughable at best.

Everything in this film is bad , the story , the acting , the effects but its funny , funny , funny !!!Scott Valentine with the army uniform thats ten sizes too big is so bad with the permanent attempt at a scowl on his face as the leader of a special ops group its hilarious ! The ''terrorists'' are as scary and realistic as the ''raptors'' , this is so phoney and bad at everything it tries you have to laugh .The part where the giant T-REX who somehow snuck on board a ship and then somehow got below is blown up and you see the metal pole sticking up where its head was is the perfect ending .If your into bad films , this is the pot of gold , the mona lisa of b-b-bad !!!

`Carnosaur III: Primal Species' is an above-average quality sequel in this series of the films.

**SPOILERS**

A team of terrorists hijacks a top-secret military convoy, thinking they have captured weapons-grade plutonium. Instead, the convoy was carrying dinosaurs, and the dinosaurs attack and kill the squad of terrorists. A military recovery team learns the convoy is stopped in a warehouse on the local waterfront, and immediately goes out to retrieve it. The dinosaurs attack the squad, leaving only three soldiers. Back at their headquaters, their captain (Scott Valentine) refuses to go back unless they kill the dinos, but the scientist in charge of the operation (Janet Gunn) orders them to merely capture the dinos. Heading back out to the warehouse, the team gets additional help with a Marine Task Force. Together, they still can't control the dinosaurs. They finally find a way to get them under control: luring them out to a ship, sailing them out to see and blowing the ship up.

The Good News: While this film won't win any awards for its FX, the dinos are still pretty realistic. It's still pretty better than the first one, but the second one is the most realistic of the movies. This film isn't as gory as some would believe, but only a few scenes are actually gory. There is the traditional limb ripped off and even some bloodsplatter, but this is the driest of the three films. The locale of the movie is a nice change, making the switch to a warehouse instead of in an open area like the first one. It was also very good in designing suspense. There was a lot of scenes were you were waiting for a dinosaur to pop out of somewhere and take a bite out of someone, and more often than not, that did happen. I have to give a film some recommendation when it delivers on suspense that it sets up.

The Bad News: For some reason, this had some scenes that could've been taken out of the movie, despite the fact that it's barely over 1 hr. and 20 mins. The scenes showing the Soldiers and the Marines getting to know each other could've been trimmed, and several other small scenes could've been cut out. Also, there are a lot of shots of very obvious puppet dinosaurs shown. The T-Rex at the end is a very good example. It looked real in only a few seconds in the whole film. In fact, the dinos are only in a few minutes of the movie. They were missing for most of the movie. I counted only about a half-hour worth of screen time for the dinos. This should've been dragged out far longer for a film about dinosaurs, and it being so short in the first place, would've only made the film that much better. The recasting of Rick Dean, who was Monk in part two as Polcheck in this one, was a nice touch but confusing, as he seems to play the same role in both movies: a wise-cracking soldier who doesn't seem too interested in the rules of the situation.

The Final Verdict: If you don't mind watching about a half-hours' worth of dinosaurs in an 1hr. and 20 min movie, this isn't that bad of a movie. It may leave you confused why it's so long with so many scenes that could've been cut out, but it is still a worthwhile edition to the series.

Rated R: Graphic Violence, Adult Language.

I haven't seen the first two - only this one which is called Primal Species in England. I don't think I'll be bothering to look them out though.

This is an awful film. Terrible acting, bad dialogue, cheap rubber monsters. Everything about it is so nasty. The most sympathetic characters die really quickly and leave you with the annoying ones, especially one called Polchak, who is an incredible jerk. No-one like that would survive 5 minutes in the army. He lasted for ages but I was pleased when he finally got his head got chewed off - I was having nightmares he was going to survive. The Colonel was rubbish too - all moody pouts and clueless shouting. And the specky Doctor looked and acted like she was out of a porno. I was waiting for her to take her glasses off, shake her hair and turn into a vamp, but she didn't. Pity that, as it would've livened the film up no end.

Didn't Roger Corman used to make half decent films once?

Carnosaur 3: Primal Species starts as an American army convoy is ambushed by a gang of terrorists thinking that it is transporting uranium, the terrorists kill everyone & drive off in the trucks. They stop at a warehouse on a dock where they're leader Dolan (Cyril O'Reilly) opens one of the trucks expecting to find the uranium, instead they discover genetically reconstructed Dinosaurs that attack & kill them all. Meanwhile the army has sent Colonel Rance Higgins (Scott Valentine) & his anti-terrorist unit in to sort things out, unfortunately they are attacked by the Dinosaurs as well & half of the squad is wiped out. The warehouse & dock is sealed off so the Dinosaurs cannot escape & Rance is told he & his team are to capture the Dinosaurs so blonde scientist Dr. Hodges (Janet Gunn) can continue her experiments on them, without weapons, with only a few men & orders to bring the Dinosaurs back alive Rance has his work cut out just to not end up as Dinosaur food let alone complete his mission without further loss of life & it becomes apparent that it's not exactly clear who is hunting who...

Quickly following Carnosaur 2 (1995) which itself followed Carnosaur (1993) & directed by Jonathan Winfrey (who apparently has a part in the film as someone called Bob although I don't remember anyone by that name) the Carnosaur series of films aren't getting any better are they which Carnosaur 3: Primal Species proves beyond any shadow of a doubt. I now have had the 'pleasure' of sitting through all three Carnosaur films & actually in chronological order too! Lucky me. This time round the scripting duties went to Rob Kerchner & it's basically a mix of ideas & rip-offs from Aliens (1986), Jurassic Park (1993) & Deep Rising (1998) (yes I know Carnosaur 3: Primal Species was made a couple of years before Deep Rising), I'd probably put Carnosaur 3: Primal Species as the worst of the series.. The film is far too predictable & by-the-numbers I mean there's the Dinosaurs, the team of military soldiers who can't use their weapons & the final 30 minutes which has the soldiers & Dinosaurs hunting each other within the confines of a huge ship. That's all there is to it really, a few people are killed by the Dinosaurs before the hero saves the day & gets the girl, the end. All the trappings & shortcomings of the low budget horror film are here, annoying character's, bad one-liners, stupid decision making, illogical plots, bad special effects & poorly researched science. However, having said that while I wouldn't describe Carnosaur 3: Primal Species as a good film at least it's short at 80 odd minutes, it moves along at a fair pace & isn't too boring, it's perfectly watchable in a (really) bad sort of way & as long as you have sufficiently low expectations it might keep you quiet for an hour & a bit.

Director Winfrey obviously doesn't know how to shoot special effects as the Dinosaur scenes are the worst in the entire Carnosaur series, the T-Rex at the end looks pathetic. It looks like something made by kids as part of a school project from paper mache! The Velociraptors are just guys in poor looking rubber suits that don't seem to have any movement in them at all, Winfrey tries to use quick edits & strange camera angles to try & cover up some of the suits deficiency's & inject some life, pace, threat & menace into them. He fails on all counts. The blood & gore has been toned down in Carnosaur 3: Primal Species, there are a few mutilated bodies, some severed limbs & various bit part character's have they're arms & heads bitten off.

Technically the film is average, there isn't much style to it & the special effects really are embarrassing at times. The music rips-off the theme from Predator (1987). The acting wasn't great & you could tell everyone in front of the camera knew they were making crap.

Carnosaur 3: Primal Species is an OK way to pass the time if you like bad low budget horror films much like myself, however there's very little here by which I could recommend it to any normal member of society. To add to his long list of credits Roger Corman produced. The opening ending suggests that a further Carnosaur sequel could be made, I can hardly wait... Like the other Carnosaur films footage from this was edited into another Dinosaur themed Roger Corman beauty called Raptor (2001).

If you thought CARNOSAUR was a cheesy and cheap B-movie then wait until you get a load of PRIMAL SPECIES, the third in a series that started off with a bad film and got progressively worse from there! Taking place in just two locations (a warehouse and a ship – but don't worry, the two are interchangeable, just supplying a clichéd 'industrial look' background for the action), PRIMAL SPECIES is dull, derivative, worthless and dumb – and those are the good points. This time around, the inspiration is clearly ALIENS, as a bunch of uninteresting soldiers run around shooting at dinosaurs and finding lots of eggs in the process. The script is cheesy and stupid beyond belief, even rehashing the "carved up like a turkey" joke from the first movie! All the characters are mundane and boring, from the female recruit (Vasquez from ALIENS anyone?) to the unintelligible comic relief and the stolid commander. Even the supposedly sexy female scientist is a bore, never cracking a smile or proving her acting worth at any moment.

This is a film that utilises lots of smoke-and-mirrors style effects to hide the paucity of the budget. The dinosaurs, when they're see, are a rubbery travesty, worse than any similar effects you'll see in a 1950s monster movie. Most hilarious of all is the T-Rex, a life-size model that can't actually move. The bit where the T-Rex explodes has to be the funniest part of a film otherwise devoid of unintentional humour. Whilst CARNOSAUR offered a ton of gore effects to enliven the proceedings, PRIMAL SPECIES has one bloody moment in which a load of severed body parts are found on a warehouse floor. Otherwise, heads and arms are gooily removed, usually in shadowy areas so you can't see what's going on very well. It's not enough to save the movie. Give this farce a miss!

******SPOILERS*******

Terrorist are terrified when the cargo that they stole was genetically engineered dinosaurs,now they send in a team of Commandos to kill the dinosaurs. My ratings for this movie.

ACTING:4/10.THE acting isn't that good especially the main actor in the movie,it's like they made him eat lemons.

SPECIAL EFFECTS:3/10.These are the worst dinosaurs i have ever seen.They look rubbery.But the kills scenes are the highlight of this film.

CREATURE MAKEUP:10/10.The Raptors in the movie are a lot scarier than the JP Raptors. But the main problem is are the SFX,if the SFX of this movie are a bit more convincing they could take on the JP Raptors any time.

MUSIC:10/10.An incredible music score by Kevin Kiner.

ACTION:5/10.Gives quite an amount of action,horror and suspense.

DIRECTING:6/10.Acceptable directing from Jonathan Winfrey.

THE FINAL VERDICT: This is a really fun b-movie except for the FX,i don't care about how people think of this movie.I recommend it