Species II (1998)

An astronaut gets infected with alien DNA during the first mission on Mars and runs amok on earth. Preston and Laura team up with a peaceful, genetically re-engineered Sil to track the monster down.

Director:

Peter Medak

Writers:

Dennis Feldman (characters), Chris Brancato

Stars:

Natasha Henstridge, Michael Madsen, Marg Helgenberger

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael Madsen	...	Press
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

Storyline

Mykelti Williamson and Justin Lazard are a pair of astronauts who make the first successful manned mission to Mars. Lazard's character gets infected by an alien and slowly begins to mutate. When they get back to Earth all he has on his mind is to have sex with Henstridge!

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Plot Keywords:

female nudity | impregnation | breasts | sex scene | loud sex | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Action | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

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

Details

Official Sites:

MGM

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 April 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Species 2: Offspring

Filming Locations:

University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$7,274,008, 12 April 1998, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$19,165,560, 28 June 1998

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$7,600,000, 23 August 1998

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), FGM Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the first film, Laura likened humanity to a galactic weed spreading throughout the galaxy, like The Day of the Triffids on Earth, as well as Invasion of the Body Snatchers or Quatermass which had tripodal Martians.

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Goofs

A close up of Eve reveals a pulse when she is seemingly dead in the ambulance. However, Eve is actually still alive at this point, as is revealed in the sequel, Species III.

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Quotes

Dennis Gamble: Dr. Baker runs this facility. She cloned the Sil embryo.
Press Lenox: Oh, okay, well what should I call her: Sil lite?
Dr. Laura Baker: Her name is Eve.
Press Lenox: Eve? How very biblical.

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Alternate Versions

The VCD (Video CD) version is edited:

• Excessive sexual and violent scenes, including profanities are censored.

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Connections

Features The Pink Panther Show (1969)

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Soundtracks

Don't Answer the Door
Written by James Johnson
Performed by B.B. King
Courtesy of MCA Records
Under license from Universal Music Special Markets

User Reviews

A sequel that lacks new ideas

Of course, killing the alien was no reason to stop the producers from making a sequel. The cliffhanger from the end of part one (a rat with alien DNA might spread it like a disease) was completely ignored though. Although we were told in the original movie, the alien DNA came from light years away, it is now found on Mars (just around the corner in astronomical terms), and astronauts take it home to Earth. Since there was a bit of gore and sex in the first movie, there is a lot more gore and sex in the second one, as if that could improve the quality in any way. We get a lot of cliché characters, from the corrupt senator to the uncompromising general, and the survivors of part one are treated carelessly by the screenplay: Helgenberger lends a willing hand to cruel experiments, Natasha Henstridge returns as the alien's latest clone, but during the whole first hour of the movie, she has nothing to do except sit around in a glass cage. Madsen just needs to run around armed and look cool - he understandably gives a lackluster performance. The sequel was definitely not as intelligent as the original and tries to hide the lack of ideas with gallons of blood. I voted 8/5/6/7 for the 4 parts of the series.