Carnosaur 3: Primal Species (1996) Reviews

• A b-movie with spirit

  riddlersrule2007-05-17

  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.

• Good entry, definitely worth a look for fans of the series

  slayrrr6662004-08-13

  `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.

• Look out! It's a rubber raptor!

  BStalker2000-10-29

  Here in England, we've not had the pleasure of seeing Carnosaur 1+2 and the film is just titled "Primal Species". Without the precedent of such un-doubtedly classic prequels, I had no idea what the film would be like (except for some guesswork based on the video cover). Nothing much needs to be said about the film except that it is one of the worst of the worst of the worst films ever. Not that that's a huge criticism. It's extremely entertaining. To be honest the sight of those men in rubber dinosaur costumes was funnier than many proper comedies. Equally funny is the swat team leader's constant smirk and attempts to sound hard. The main death's were enjoyable too, firstly because the sight of fake monsters chewing on people is funny, and secondly because it meant that another annoying character had been wiped out. For an alternative night's entertainment, I would recommend this in a double-bill with something like Demolition University. You'll laugh till you ache or simply fall asleep. Either way, you'll be happy.

• Love it!

  jefuab2013-07-21

  I have loved this film since I was about twelve! The Dinosaurs are ridiculously designed by the awesome John Buechler, but they have the watchable charm and unique-ness that most of his rubbery creations have; the acting is BAD, but there's no one in it I don't want to watch, they're all likable actors and actresses; there's so much blood and gore it could have been shot over the naff sets from a fire-hose, the script is really unimaginative but the cast make it work in a strange sort of way and it's Roger Corman! There are many things wrong with it but I think it's a great way to spend an hour and a half. It's thrilling, involving, and fun. Watch the film!

• Fine effort though there's some problems overall

  kannibalcorpsegrinder2012-11-16

  Receiving word of a terrorist unit at work in the area, a Special Forces unit goes to investigate and finds the terrorists had unintentionally intercepted a shipment of genetically-engineered dinosaurs and races to corral them before they escape. This here wasn't all that bad of an effort, though it's definitely the weakest of the whole series and has its share of faults. One of the biggest issues in the film is the fact that there's an extreme lack of dinosaur action present, as the short running time barely has them even in the movie and the majority of the scenes are all placed at the end which is quite inexcusable for a film about dinos to begin with. Having the film mostly centered around the two military units getting to know each other and forced to work with each other to contain the dinosaurs makes this one quite hard to really get interested in, since the film's main focus is elsewhere instead of on the main point, and the endless scenes of them getting to know each other gets quite exhaustive after a while. As such, the common factor of having the dinosaurs look like puppets is quite hard to get over, though by this time in the series it should be required knowledge going on that's what's going to be featured. There's still some good dinosaur action at the end where they're trapped in the cargo hold of the ship, which means that there's the exploring of the cramped quarters to exploit in terms of suspense and the usual liberal doses of blood and gore on display, as well as in the first big action scene where they escape and menace the terrorists in the warehouse, but otherwise this is the blatant low-end of the series. Rated R: Graphic Violence and Adult Language.