Species (1995) - Hokey fun in Donaldson's erotic alien actioner

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A great tag-line, which starts over the freaky alien fetus image and ends underneath the title, resounds on this poster for Roger Donaldson's Species

DNA from an alien organism is combined with human DNA, and a very attractive blond alien monster, - who will do anything for sex, - results! Naturally she must be killed!

 

Species is written by Dennis Feldman (The Golden Child (1986)) and directed by Australian master filmmaker Roger Donaldson (Sleeping Dogs (1977)).

The film revolves around an exceedingly silly Hollywood-nurtured plot, but unfortunately the comical opportunities inherent in it are far from explored enough. Generally Feldman instead has taken his own wacky idea a bit too seriously here.

A standardized score and clichés are to be found, - but also entertainment value, secured with Michael Madsen's (The Hateful Eight (2015)) badass hitman character with all kinds of cool lines, such as; "Let's go, motherfucker!" Species also has special effects that are at times frightening and at other times hilarious.

 

Related posts:

Roger Donaldson: 2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

The Recruit (2003) - Farrell and other factors buoy Donaldson's uninspired CIA thriller 

2000 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Thirteen Days (2000) - Electrifying Cuban Missile Crisis thriller 
Cocktail (1988) - Cruise an iconic stand-out in Donaldson's masterful drama

 

 

Watch a trailer for the movie here

 

Cost: 35 mil. $

Box office: 113.3 mil. $

= Box office success (returned 3.23 times its cost)

[Species was released 7 July (North America) and runs 108 minutes. Natasha Henstridge (The Christmas Switch (2014)) was paid 100k $ for her performance. Shooting took place from August - November 1994 in Puerto Rico, Utah and in California, including in Los Angeles. Creature design artist H.R. Giger paid 100k $ of his own money to shoot the 'nightmare train' sequence, which would otherwise have been cut to lower costs. The film opened #2, behind holdover hit Apollo 13, to a 17.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weekends in the top 5 (#4-#5), grossing 60 mil. $ (53 % of the total gross). Roger Ebert gave the film a 2/4 star review, translating to a notch under this one. Sequel Species II was released in 1998, and 2 TV movie sequels followed, none by Donaldson, who returned with Dante's Peak (1997). Henstridge returned in Adrenalin: Fear the Rush (1996); Madsen in Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home (1995). Species is rotten at 43 % with a 5.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Species?

The Golden Child (1986) - Get silly with this!

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With its star in a shiny black jacket and drenched in 1980s colors, this delightful poster for Michael Ritchie's The Golden Child also teases the film's fantastic dual California-Nepal settings

Chandler Jarrell is a social worker in Los Angeles, when he becomes the Chosen One, who is to rescue a divine Tibetan boy child from an evil rat monster-demonic man with the help of a good-looking local woman.

The Golden Child is written by Dennis Feldman (Just One of the Guys (1985)) and directed by Michael Ritchie (Downhill Racer (1969)). Eddie Murphy (48 Hrs. (1982)) is the 'Chosen One', and Charles Dance (The Great Fire (2014, miniseries)) is the rat monster villain, who also naturally has a British accent.
Everything in The Golden Child is as super silly as this summary makes it sound like, and I fall hard for it. It seems like it has about a million drum solos awkwardly wedged into its soundtrack, and The Golden Child is a 1980s film that has 1980s kitsch quality going through the roof.
Murphy is intermittently funny, although it seems involuntarily so in this unusual mix of fantasy, action, adventure, comedy and romance. The effects are funny, and the film's detour to Nepal is handsome and thrilling as another unusual feature in a big mainstream Hollywood comedy. Some may argue that The Golden Child is so bad that it's good, and there's definitely something to be said for that argument.

Watch clips of a body double walking around wit his back to the camera in real Kathmandu, Nepal and Murphy on a Nepalese backlot set in LA in a 5-minute clip from the film here

Cost: 25 mil. $
Box office: 79.8 mil.$ (North America only)
= Uncertain - but certainly a big hit (returned 3.19 times its cost domestically alone and reportedly more than 4 times its cost worldwide)
[The Golden Child was released 12 December (North America) and runs 94 minutes. Feldman's spec script was bought by Paramount in a bidding war for 300k $. Shooting took place in Nepal, including Kathmandu, and California, including Los Angeles, from February 1986 - ?. The Golden Child is played by a 7 year-old girl actress. Composers Alan Silvestri and John Barry walked away from the film, with Michel Colombier's synth-pop score instead being made for the film. It opened #1 to an 11.5 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in #1 for another 4 straight weeks and spent another 2 weeks in top 5, grossing 79.8 mil. $. Its international total is not known, only that it is above 100 mil. $. Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch higher than this one. Murphy called the film "a piece of shit" in a 1989 Rolling Stone interview and reportedly involved himself in the writing of the screenplays for his starring movies after it. Ritchie returned with The Couch Trip (1988). Murphy returned in Beverly Hills Cop II (1987). The Golden Child is rotten at 26 % with a 3.89/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Golden Child?