Subject: RETROSPECTIVE: XTRO (1982), XTRO 2 (1991), and XTRO: WATCH THE SKIES (1995)

From: [email-masked] (Chuck Dowling)
Date: 28 Apr 1997 16:18:37 GMT

XTRO, XTRO 2, and XTRO: WATCH THE SKIES
                       A film review by Chuck Dowling
                        Copyright 1997 Chuck Dowling

Xtro (1982) NO STARS out of ***** - Cast: Maryam D'Abo. Written and Directed
by Harry Bromley-Davenport. Running Time: 84 minutes.

Stupid and utterly disgusting British horror flick about a boy's father who
is abducted by aliens. Now get this: the father returns to earth three years
later as an alien, he kills a woman and enters her body in order to be
reborn as a man, and then spends the rest of the film killing people in
order to turn into ANOTHER alien. Then there are killer clowns and midgets
and toy soldiers involved in the mayhem. The ONLY reason I watched this
(well, fast-forwarded through it actually) was because I needed to see some
film beginning with 'X', and it was the only one I could find (I'm not
watching "Xanadu"). Amazingly, someone thought so highly of this garbage to
finance two sequels!!! [R]

                                  -----

Xtro 2:The Second Encounter (1991) 1/2 out of ***** - Cast: Jan-Michael
Vincent. Written and Directed by: Harry Bromley-Davenport. Running Time: 92
minutes.

Nine years after Sir Harry Bromley Davenport's smash hit "Xtro", someone
approached him and said, "We want another one!" And so Davenport said, "ok!"
and typed up the script and made this film. And it has absolutely NOTHING to
do with the first. I guess he figured that the film needed the recognition
of his original masterpiece in order to be a success. Heh.

In this film, a group of scientists are able to enter into another
dimension. But by doing so releases a slimy monster. And let the "Alien" and
"Aliens" rip-offs begin! For example, the creature presents itself by, how
else, bursting through someone's stomach! And there are heavily armed
marines to deal with the creatures! Even though "Xtro 2" is a hundred times
better than the original, it still sucks, and at least the original was
original! [R]

                                  -----

Xtro: Watch the Skies (1995) NO STARS out of ***** - Cast: Andrew Divoff,
Jim Hanks, Robert Culp. Written and Directed by: Harry Bromley-Davenport.
Running Time: 97 minutes.

Hmm. Well, I just don't get it. I just don't understand who is funding Harry
Bromley-Davenport and why is he making all these terrible movies about
aliens? This latest installment in the "Xtro" saga (say it along with me)
HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE FIRST TWO!!! Can't we create some sort of law or
something to prevent this??? Not just the use of the title but the actual
making of the movies?

Well, THIS TIME, a group of marines is sent to a forgotten island populated
with bunny rabbits, a senile old man, oh and of course, aliens. The aliens
then start to kill the marines, and I think some of the bunnies too. Jim
Hanks (Tom's brother) plays one of the marines and looks, acts, and sounds
very much like his brother. For just a few minutes, I was enjoying almost
Tom Hanks doing things. Only for a few though. I can't wait for the next
installment in the series that has nothing to do with anything that came
before it! [R]

-- 
Chuck Dowling
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