Terminator II

Plot synopsis:
Ellen Ripley is rescued after drifting through space in stasis for 57 years. She is debriefed by her employers at the Weyland-Yutani Corporation over the destruction of her ship, the USCSS Nostromo; they are skeptical of her claims that an alien killed the ship's crew and forced her to destroy the ship.
The exomoon LV-426, where the Nostromo encountered the alien eggs, is now home to the terraforming colony Hadleys Hope. When contact is lost with Hadleys Hope, Weyland-Yutani representative Carter Burke and Colonial Marine Lieutenant Gorman ask Ripley to accompany Burke and a Colonial Marine unit to investigate the disturbance. Traumatized by her encounter with the Alien, Ripley initially refuses, but she relents after experiencing recurring nightmares about the creature; she makes Burke promise to exterminate, and not capture, the "xenomorphs" as referred to by Burke. Aboard the spaceship USS Sulaco, she is introduced to the Colonial Marines, their commanding officer Lieutenant Gorman, and the android Bishop, toward whom Ripley is initially hostile following her experience with the traitorous android Ash aboard the Nostromo and the Marion.
A dropship delivers the expedition to the surface of LV-426, where they find the colony deserted. Inside, they find makeshift barricades and signs of a struggle, but no bodies; two live facehuggers in containment tanks in the medical lab; and a survivor, a traumatized young girl nicknamed Newt who used the ventilation system to evade capture or death. The crew uses the colony's computer to locate the colonists grouped beneath the fusion powered atmosphere processing station. They head to the location, descending into corridors covered in Alien secretions.
At the center of the station, the marines find the colonists cocooned, serving as incubators for the xenomorphs' offspring. When the marines kill a newborn xenomorph, the other xenomorphs are roused and ambush the marines, killing and capturing several. When the inexperienced Gorman panics, Ripley takes control of their vehicle and rams it through the nest to rescue marines Hicks, Hudson, and Vasquez. Hicks orders the dropship to recover the survivors, but a stowaway xenomorph kills the pilots, causing it to crash into the station. Ripley, Newt, Burke, Gorman, and the remaining marines barricade themselves inside the colony command center.
Ripley discovers that Burke deliberately sent the colonists to investigate the derelict spaceship where the Nostromo crew first encountered the xenomorph eggs, believing he could become wealthy by recovering xenomorph specimens for use as biological weapons. She threatens to expose him, but Bishop informs the group of a greater danger: the power plant was damaged by the dropship crash, and will soon explode with the force of a 40-megaton thermonuclear weapon. He volunteers to crawl through several hundred meters of piping conduits to reach the colony's transmitter and remotely pilot the Sulaco's remaining dropship to the surface.
Ripley and Newt fall asleep in the medical laboratory, awakening to find themselves locked in the room with the two xenomorph embryo implanters, or "facehuggers", which have been released from their tanks. Ripley triggers a fire alarm to alert the marines, who rescue them and kill the creatures. Ripley accuses Burke of releasing the facehuggers so that they would impregnate her and Newt, allowing him to smuggle the xenomorph embryos past Earth's quarantine, and of planning to kill the rest of the marines in hypersleep during the return trip so that no one could contradict his version of events. Before the marines can execute Burke in response to the accusation, the electricity is cut and xenomorphs assault through the ceiling. Hudson, Burke, Vasquez, and Gorman are all killed in the attack and Newt is captured.
Ripley and an injured Hicks reach Bishop in the second dropship, but Ripley refuses to abandon Newt. The group arrives at the processing station, allowing a heavily armed Ripley to enter the hive and rescue Newt. As they escape, the two encounter the xenomorph queen in her egg chamber. The queen, seeing Ripley heavily armed and capable of destroying her eggs, signals guarding xenomorphs to stand down to allow Ripley to leave; Ripley uses this opportunity to destroy the eggs and the queen's ovipositor, enraging the queen, who tears free from said ovipositor. Pursued by the queen, Ripley and Newt rendezvous with Bishop and Hicks on the dropship. All four escape moments before the station explodes with the colony consumed by the nuclear blast.
On the Sulaco, the group discovers the xenomorph queen stowed away on the dropship's landing gear. She emerges and tears Bishop in half. The queen advances on Newt, but Ripley clashes with her using an exosuit cargo-loader and expels it through an airlock into space. Ripley, Newt, Hicks, and the badly damaged Bishop enter hypersleep for their return trip to Earth.

Tags: violence

Review:
The real "Terminator II", with Arnie Schwarzenegger, was probably already in a much advanced stage of production around the time of this movie's release, but these guys didn't care and went ahead naming it "Terminator II" all around the world, except in the USA.
The cast and crew probably thought something like: "Hey, if we're going to upset James Cameron, we better do it right and imitate two of his films at once".
To the avid fans of this kind of trash cinema, it really shouldn't come as much of a surprise that "Terminator II" was directed by Bruno Mattei; here under his favorite pseudonym Vincent Dawn.
Mattei often imitated one and the same movie several times, like John McTiernan's "Predator".
The plot is a hodgepodge of borrowed ideas including slimy mutant monsters, corrupt global corporations, cyborgs, toxic cities, time-traveling and secret experiments.
Samuel Fuller, representing the corporation, is clearly up to no good and one of the female scientists recovers an orphaned girl in an abandoned lab, exactly like Ellen Ripley found Newt in "Aliens", although unfortunately this girl isn't a mute.
There's not the slightest bit of coherence or logic in the screenplay, but that doesn't matter too much, as clearly Bruno Mattei's sole intention was to copy the successful James Cameron flicks as much as possible.
No great shakes that the acting is wooden (and that constant screaming from the Newt character gets truly unbearable), the genetic monsters look completely goofy and the thrills are more silly than rousing, but it's not as fun as it could have been.
Good idea of the setting; a polluted Venice, despite most of the time is spent in dark, dingy and long underground corridors, which is caught by murky photography.
are all completely identical to those seen in ALIENS, such as the mischievous android who more or less plays the "Burke" role up until he gets damaged a bit, then he goes on a TERMINATOR-style rampage chasing after the woman and the young girl.The actual Aliens here are more like genetic mutations, and they don't really look that bad considering they're just guys in monster suits.
Whatever they have to do with the plot is negligible since the movie seems to be more of a post-nuke film having to do with soldiers unlocking some government conspiracy deep in the bowels of a futuristic ruined Venice.The cast is uniformly awful, with several Americans (some with South African accents) in the cast who appear to have little or no prior acting experience, sort of the same situation with TROLL 2 or CRUEL JAWS where I think the production company just wheeled through K-mart asking people if they wanted to act in a film.
Only Fausto Lombardi comes across as anything resembling good, though Chris Ahrens and Janna Ryan are pretty amusing bad movie veterans.The musical score for this picture I believe was liberated from a number of other 80's films, including Blade Runner and Miami Cops.
Much of the footage (with the explosions, etc.) is taken from Mattei's earlier DOUBLE TARGET too.So bad is this film, in fact, that writer/co-director Claudio Fragasso refused to make any more movies with Mattei afterward - and that's saying a lot.
I have to say that I enjoyed it to a certain extent, though it's more fun to wonder how they managed to avoid a lawsuit than it is to actually sit down and watch the movie in one sitting.
While ol' Carny was happy to just steal the basic plot of "Aliens," "Shocking Dark" went even farther, lifting dialogue, shots, and whole scenes from Cameron's super sequel.
I love the Italian zombie flicks that came after Romero's success with the subgenre, so I was happy to see another movie "borrowing" ideas from a classic.
If you can accept the fact that "Shocking Dark" is a rip-off, if not downright plagiarism, you might have some fun with it.Take "Aliens," throw in a little "Terminator," add creatures that are somewhere between "Humanoids From The Deep" and "Forbidden World," and you've got this effective monsterfest, featuring attributes such as awesome locations, cool costumes, and creepy cinematography.
I mean "Sarah" and "Samantha."Sure, it lacks originality, but you gotta respect a movie that brazenly combines the plots of two mainstream American films, and does it with style.
But I do pride myself at being able to maintain at least the appearance of having a professional demeanor when it comes to writing about movies or whatever, and one of the things I learned very quickly when reading other people's essays/comments was to avoid using expressions like THIS IS THE WORST MOVIE EVER MADE or EASILY THE WORST MOVIE EVER MADE.
A good "THIS SUCKS" every once in a while is legit, since stuff either sucks or it rules.Then I saw SHOCKING DARK (or ALIENATORS, as the version I saw was titled) and my view upon such things is shaken.
There is an amazingly annoying movie called THE LEGEND OF BIGFOOT that is a fake documentary about a guy's search for Sasquatch that is actually a lot of idle nature photography edited together with vacation footage and then about ten minutes of staged Bigfoot related scenes, one or two of which actually show some schook dressed up like Bigfoot for about 8 seconds in total.
The most dramatic scene in the film is when a groundhog is hit by a car and it's frantic mate drags it into their hole before a hawk circling overhead can eat them.THE LEGEND OF BIGFOOT is a better movie than SHOCKING DARK.
KID VENGEANCE is a better movie than SHOCKING DARK, and that is saying a lot.
They are silly, goofy, clumsy, cheesy, and hopelessly derivative, but they have the distinction of being watchable.I will let others describe the plot: SHOCKING DARK is in many ways like Mattei's far superior (and highly equally stupid) ROBOWAR: It is a collage, a pastiche of moments, lines, specific incidents, plot ideas, individual shots and even the same title as other movies.
I will admit that the *LOOK* of the film is pretty polished: they found some sort of a huge power plant, hung up a bunch of neon lights, dressed a mob of clowns up like the Power Rangers, and have them scuttling about pretending to be various cast members of ALIENS, PREDATOR, FULL METAL JACKET, ROBOCOP, PLATOON and THE TERMINATOR.
If you watch the movie with the sound off it is actually rather impressive looking at times.
But if you listen to what the people are saying it is so close to so many other movies we have seen so many times -- but just awkwardly different enough to avoid a lawsuit -- that it is disorienting and annoying.
The exasperation of futility.That is what watching SHOCKING DARK is like when viewed the same way one would watch any other movie.
Crappy looking alien creatures, which look like they were assembled from odds and ends found in someone's kitchen, chase the film's "heroes" through the tunnels and canals of Venice.Bleached-out photography ruins the effect of on-location photography in Venice, making all exterior scenes so washed out as to be nearly unwatchable, while interior photography has a dull, blue/ grey tint to it.Howl with laughter as the cast covers their ears when a loud scream is heard, if you can stay awake that long.Not even good for many unintentional laughs, however.
The funniest thing about this is that it was released in some countries as either 'Terminator 2', or 'Alien 2', (both ripping off James Cameron, and having ultimately nothing to do with either film) and also known as the nonsensical and pointlessly titled 'Shocking Dark'.
I have never been so happy to watch a heavily edited version of a movie.Dark, dingy, and oh-so-boring; is it any wonder that the film sat unreleased for nearly a year upon completion?.
One can glean some indication of the quality of Shocking Dark from the fact that it was the final collaboration of Bruno Mattei and Claudio Fragasso, the latter having reached the end of his tether.
But to be honest, as far as plagiarism happy no budget Italian cack goes, Shocking Dark isn't all that bad, that is to say it might send you to sleep but it won't have you clawing your eyes out with frustration.
Altogether I can't possibly recommend this to anyone who isn't cursed to watch every available Bruno Mattei film, but for those that have to it's better than a poke in the eye with a wet stick.
This is good fun if you like cheap Italian versions of expensive American genre movies, which I do.The plot concerns a group of actors in plastic armor running down many hallways and into several rubber aliens.
It rips off (poorly) from just about every significant sci-fi film ever made (including BUT NOT LIMITED TO Star Trek, Aliens, Predator, Highlander, Mad Max, Terminator, etc).
It was simply named "Terminator II" because of some similar plot ideas to the Schwartzenegger movie, and probably to cash in on the success of the original film.As an unofficial sequel, it doesn't hold a candle to the official one made in 1991, a classic in it's own right.
James Cameron's Screenplay + No Budget = Really Bad Movie.
James Cameron's Screenplay + No Budget = Really Bad Movie When making our your list of the worst films of all time save a spot for this junk.This movie is LITERALLY a rip off of 'Aliens' from 1986.
The aliens do not even exist in the same scenes as the "actors" they are total separate model shots filmed with a completely different camera.Worst of all is the set.
This movie is literally remaking the 'Aliens' screenplay (right down to the dialogue) without any budget.As for the title, this film is neither "shocking" nor "dark" but it is 'Alien 2.' FYI 'Aliens' war released overseas as 'Alien 2' because some languages do not use plurals..
When modern directors 'pay homage' to something, they kind of put a respectful twist on an existing idea, but when Bruno Mattei (sadly no longer with us) 'pays homage' to something, it means he rips everything off wholesale and recreates it almost line for line, only with less money, bad acting, bad special effects etc etc.
On and on and on it goes until your jaw just gives up and takes root on your chest.Scenes are created almost word for word ('Momma says monsters don't exist, but they do don't they?'), but the difference is that Bruno either doesn't have the money or has embezzled it and still has to deliver the film, so everything is filmed in a large factory or somewhere and the acting is so terrible that the 'newt' character had my ears bleeding with her screaming.Where's the enjoyment in this, you ask?
Well, it's a Bruno Mattei film, so all those elements he's stolen are diluted and all the boring stuff in Aliens is thrown out of the window.
The film isn't long and it seems even Bruno gets bored when he stops copying Aliens and starts doing a Terminator rip off instead.There are many layers to Bruno Mattei films but whether or not they are really there we'll never know.
Terminator II (1989) ** (out of 4) This here is a Bruno Mattei film so that right there tells you that it must be a rip-off of something much better.
The title will make it seems as if this is trying to cash-in on the success of James Cameron's THE TERMINATOR but instead this is actually a rip on his film ALIENS.
The story is pretty simple as the setting is a futuristic Venice where soldiers and civilians are living underground but soon there's a breach and people are getting attacked by a creature.If you've seen ALIENS then you're pretty much going to recognize countless scenes here.
Look, Mattei wasn't an original person and it's doubtful he could really make what most would call a "good" movie but at the same time his name has pretty much become a cult favorite and a sub-genre all its own.
People can call him a hack and a no-talent freak but the man did carve out a rather interesting piece of history for himself.TERMINATOR II, also known as SHOCKING DARK, ALIENS 2 and countless other titles, isn't nearly as bad as you might think but at the same time there's no question that there's not too much going on here.
The biggest problem I had with the movie is the fact that the majority of the action takes place in the dark and more times than not it's really difficult to see what's going on.
Also, the monster outfit looks decent considering the low-budget but at the same time he has got to be the biggest sissy in horror film history.
There are countless times where he will grab someone yet the smallest thing makes him let go to where the body count is rather small.The performances are pretty much what you'd expect in a movie like this.
The dialgoue is downright awful at times including a bunch of racial fighting, which makes you wonder if DAY OF THE DEAD was another thing getting ripped off.
Basically a ripoff of Aliens and a bit of Terminator with guys wearing uniforms that look like they were last used in an Ed Wood sci-fi movie running around a power station.
And I mean direct; not just individual shots, but _entire scenes_ are lifted wholesale from Aliens.For those who like their movies mind-boggling it's probably a must-see, but for those who like good movies it's one to avoid.
This movie starts with the same scene as in Aliens when the Marines awake and dress themselves.
Instead this review is for the Severin release of SHOCKING DARK, a movie made in Italy by folks that obviously went to the movies.Let's just say up front that this movie is a complete rip-off of ALIENS with a touch of THE TERMINATOR thrown in for good measure.
More than that, it's a rip-off of those movies with a budget that may have matched a days' worth of catering on the real films.
Shades of the Terminator!When released the movie came out in some places as TERMINATOR 2 and in others as ALIENATORS hoping to cash in on the success of those films the movie is not a tribute to either.
Instead it is yet another movie made by director Bruno Mattei, the Italian director known for working in various exploitation genres and for basing many of his films on those already made.
If you go in knowing this up front the odds of having fun with the movie greatly increase.So let me start with the good.
To begin with Severin has done an amazing job with this movie, presenting it in the cleanest looking format possible, a hi-def blu-ray release scanned in 2k from the Director's cut negative discovered in a Rome lab vault that looks gorgeous for being such a low budget film.
When people yell excitedly you expect them to read that word as well like "Captain come here he said excitedly!" The sets, while looking good, look like someone had a friend who worked at a power plant who let them in the back door at night to shoot the movie.
Near the end of the film Dr. Drumbull and the young girl find another room in the Venice facility that has a time machine they use to escape Fuller.
They've even gone so far as to include a few extra items like TERMINATOR IN VENICE an interview with co-director/co-screenwriters Claudio Fragasso and co-screenwriter Rosella Drudi, ONCE UPON A TIME IN ITALY an interview with actress Geretta Geretta (who some will remember from the movie DEMONS and alternate Italian titles for the film.
If you're a fan of Italian horror films, Eurotrash films, the films of Bruno Mattei or just all around fun horror movies that shouldn't be taken too seriously then you need to see this one.
Boy, does this deliciously dreadful doozy cover all the essential Grade Z low-rent schlock cinema bases with positively jaw-dropping ineptitude: We've got clunky (mis)direction by the notorious Bruno Mattei, tin-eared profane dialogue, obnoxious macho meathead characters, clumsily staged action sequences, a meandering story which unfolds at a plodding pace, cheap sets (the main underground lab location looks like an old, leaky, rundown factory -- and probably was exactly that!), hokey monsters, laughably lousy dubbing, a ridiculous surprise ending that comes totally out of left field, and, best of all, a shamelessly derivative script that steals wholesale from "Aliens" with a dash of "The Terminator" tossed in for extra tacky measure.
Say what you will about Bruno Mattei, but the dude knows how to grab you from the first frame of travelogue footage!The film starts in a control room, where a bunch of dudes in grey and yellow futuristic jumpsuits watch a research base and most of Venice fall into chaos, as one guy keeps screaming that there are mutants everywhere.
There are no survivors, just chunks of videotape that they watch.Basically, if this feels more like Aliens than the Terminator rip-off you were expecting, buckle up.
While this movie was released as Terminator 2, Mattei and his cohorts Claudio Fragasso and Rossella Drudi, who activated their Wonder Twin powers of insanity to create Troll 2, refuse to stop at covering one film.
If you love movies where people fall to their deaths, this should be in your collection.If you thought there wouldn't be a Newt character, you aren't watching much Italian cinema.
And why, when I knew this was also called Terminator 2, was I so surprised and elated that the Bishop character was also a Terminator?Finally, the ending - if you think that they're not gonna get time travel somewhere in this wedding soup...just wow.If you come to a party at my house in the next few months, chances are that you will be forced to watch this movie while I scream like a maniac and laugh my ass off.