Dinosaur Island
Die Insel der Dinosaurier

USA 1994
produced by
Jim Wynorski, Fred Olen Ray, Roger Corman (executive), Mike Elliott (executive) for Wyn-Ray Productions
directed by Fred Olen Ray, Jim Wynorski
starring Ross Hagen, Richard Gabai, Antonia Dorian, Griffin Drew, Michelle Bauer, Peter Spellos, Tom Shell, Steve Barkett, Toni Naples, Bob Sheridan, Nikki Fritz, Becky LeBeau, Robin Chaney, Wendy Griffen, Deborah Dutch (as Debra Dare), Wendy Spahr, Carrie Curtis, Jennifer Klein, Darlene Sellers, Diana Brown, Pam Green, Lisa Biossat, Sheri Hicks, Julie Baltay, Christopher Wooden
story by Bob Sheridan, screenplay by Bob Sheridan, Christopher Wooden, music by Chuck Cirino, special effects by Hal Miles, mechanical dinosaur by John Carl Buechler, cinomatography by Gary Graver

review by
Mike Haberfelner

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An army captain (Ross Hagen) and two of his officers (Steve Barkett, Bob Sheridan) are to take three deserters (Richard Gabai, Peter Spellos, Tom Shell) back to the USA when their helicopter crashes on an uncharted island. There, the captain's men are soon killed by dinosaurs, while he and the deserters meet an apparently immortal amazon tribe - who do have a problem though: A big dinosaur threatening to destroy their village if a virgin isn't sacrificed every solstice - and somehow our heroes seem to fit the descriptions of the "chosen ones", the Gods who have come to kill the big dinosaur ...

The captain worries aplenty while the deserters get quite friendly with three native girls (Antonia Dorian, Griffin Drew, Michelle Bauer) and see to it that they don't end up as virgin sacrifices next (or ever, with the emphasis on "virgin"). The amazon queen (Toni Naples) is against all of this, but seeing her tribe siding with the strangers, she cuts a deal with the captain to provide him with some weapons if he takes the deserters with him once the big dinosaur is finished. Against all odds, our heroes succeed - and when they have, even the queen changes her mindb of getting rid of the strangers, also because she has developed some feelings for the captain ...

To fully appreciate this film, one has to understand first: Filmmakers Jim Wynorski and Fred Olen Ray did not join forces on this one to make the next Citizen Kane, rather to give their (largely male) audience circa 80 minutes of mindless entertainment. And what hardly ever fails to entertain the common male?

Dinosaurs, boobs, and a bit of puerile humour, all garnered with a bit of action/violence. Dinosaur Island delivers all of this aplenty, and especially the dinosaur effects (a mixture of stop motion and life size [!] models) are rather well-done in a retro-kind of way. Now again, all of this will not give you the feeling of having read Shakespeare, but if you can turn your brain off for an hour and a bit (probably with the help of a beer or two), and in the company of a few like-minded mates, you will probably find some qualities in this movie ...

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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