While the first sequel to JURASSIC PARK (1993) was still in production, Roger Corman rushed this second sequel to his JURASSIC PARK knock-off CARNOSAUR (1993) to video stores--proving once again that quantity is no substitute for quality.
A group of terrorists hijacks an Army transport convoy and drives the vehicles to a Los Angeles dock. There, the trucks' contents--frozen flesh-eating dinosaurs--thaw out, come to life, and bloodily kill the terrorists, as well as some investigating cops. Rance (Scott Valentine) and his
anti-terrorist squad are called in to take charge of the situation, but the monsters decimate his squad. Soon, he is told by General Mercer (Anthony Peck) and Dr. Hodges (Janet Gunn) that the dinosaurs are part of a genetic medical experiment and are to be taken alive, without being shot. Rance
and his team (who have been joined by a detachment of marines) reluctantly comply and subdue one of the creatures, but it soon wakes up and escapes.
The dinosaurs take refuge in a docked, abandoned ship, and the soldiers board the vessel and head out to sea, hoping to freeze them in the ship's refrigeration compartment. Instead, the creatures pick the humans off one by one until only Rance and Dr. Hodges are left alive. They set off
explosive charges and leap from the ship just before it blows up. Back on the dock, however, one dinosaur remains alive.
While director Jonathan Winfrey does demonstrate some aptitude for creative camerawork and editing transitions, CARNOSAUR 3 remains a slack, unscary exercise. One would think that more would be done with the monsters as the series went on, but this film may actually contain less dinosaur footage
than either of its two predecessors. While this might be considered an advantage given the phoniness of John Carl Buechler's special effects, the one-dimensional characters and acting don't add much as compensation.
In addition to presenting one of the most incompetent anti-terrorist squads in film history (early on, they're stymied by having a stack of boxes knocked onto them), Scott Sandin's script boasts dialogue that's no more creative than "This guy's been carved up like a Thanksgiving turkey." It also
actually manages to pillage the few key story points of ALIENS (the no-firing-weapons command, the discovery of an egg chamber) not already ripped off by CARNOSAUR 2. (Graphic violence, profanity.)
