Joseph R
Given its small budget, CARNOSAUR, is an underrated gem. It is its own beat. The atmosphere is somber and sour. The score is chilling, all actors play their character types well. Diane Ladd stands out as the villain from the 1984 Carnosaur novel, but I can't remember his damn name cuz I am too high right now.
The gore and attack scenes are brutal. I don't care if it isn't CGI or Jurassic Park quality. No, creative miniatures and imaginative effects are the best. If you can accept Showa Godzilla, then you can appreciate all that went into film. Anyway, watch it, you chicken butt.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/09/23
Full Review
Jens B
I couldn't figure out what the hell was happening most of the time but I will gladly watch every part of this franchise before I will even consider watching those Jurassic World Movies.
Rated 1/5 Stars •
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
07/20/22
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Audience Member
You have to love a movie that has a rubber dinosaur effect and also the budget to get Diane Ladd in its cast, much less one based on a book.
Dr. Jane Tiptree's (Ladd) plan to exterminate the human race with a lethal virus and replace them with her own genetically created dinosaurs, which seems like something I can get behind. She's been creating special chickens — Death Laid an Egg? — that hatch lizards and give people the flu and you know, that's a very specialized plan for taking over the world.
Doc Smith (Raphael Sbarge) and Ann Thrush (Jennifer Runyon) are our protagonists and man, they're ineffective throughout this movie and pay the price for it. I mean, for a movie with an obvious rubber dinosaur this is a movie that will shock you with scenes of families getting gunned down like they wandered onto the set of The Crazies.
Within a secret bunker, the new world order plans to repopulate the human face through artificial wombs and strict fertilization rules; Diane Ladd gets herself sick off her own disease and dies but not before she gives birth to a baby dinosaur and Smith crashes a backhoe into another big lizard. But — and man, I feel like saying spoiler warning but I doubt anyone cares about Carnosaur as much as me — he gets the cure to Ann just in time for government troops to shoot them and burn their bodies.
The really funny part is that Roger Corman rushed this out before Jurassic Park and had Laura Dern's mom — Ladd — in his movie, which is some kind of casting miracle.
"The last thing we need is a biotech panic about chickens!"
Rated 1/5 Stars •
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
02/06/23
Full Review
Audience Member
The fact that this came out the same year as Jurassic Park makes me sad.
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
01/17/23
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Audience Member
A few weeks before Jurassic Park brought us wonder, awe, and intensity, we had Carnosaur. An annoying, ugly-looking trash-heap that to this day shocks me as to how it was released in theaters.
0/10
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
01/22/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Written and directed by Adam Simon and partly produced by legendary b-movie producer, Roger Corman, "Carnosaur" was actually released prior to the blockbuster smash "Jurassic Park." While it beat "JP" out of the gate, this schlocky flick wasn't really aiming for the big time.
"Carnosaur" is about a secret organization that is attempting to breed dinosaurs by combining the DNA of chickens, vultures, iguanas, and other such reptiles. When a Deinonychus--which is really a janky-looking puppet-- is birthed as a result of the experiment, it goes on a rampage and kills the scientists and ordinary people living in the desert.
The film follows Doc Smith (Raphael Sbarge), a drunkard security guard and Ann or "Thrush" (Jennifer Runyon), an environmental activist. Both of them uncover the strange plot of the Eunice Corporation who is trying to bring back dinosaurs, a project spearheaded by Dr. Jane Tiptree (Diane Ladd).
Memorable scenes from "Carnosaur" include:
Clint Howard (Ron Howard's brother) getting his head ripped off by the Deinonychus as it swings down from the rafters.
A group of unsuspecting young adults being disemboweled by the Deinonychus while frolicking in their Jeep.
And finally, the big showdown with the T-Rex with a skid loader.
I have to mention, that the ending of the movie is very unexpected and dark.
The effects are low-budget and cheap looking, but that's the charm of it. The acting isn't so great, but it's not cringe-worthy either. The kills are over-the-top and gruesome, and the epic final conflict with the T-Rex is the definite highlight of the film.
I would place "Carnosaur" squarely in the "It's So Bad It's Good" category of horror films.
Get your friends together, have some drinks, and enjoy the mayhem!
Rated 1/5 Stars •
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
01/12/23
Full Review
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