Phantasm II (1988) Review

Released 9 years after the first one. This sequel starts right after where the first one left off and then jumps ahead 9 years as Reggie and Mike go on a journey to see out and take down the Tall-man once more, setting a bunch of trends that follow throughout the rest of the sequels including Reggie becoming the main hero and his attempts at trying to have sex with every woman he picks up.

This marks the only film in the series where Mike is played by a different actor, but I think he fits the role fine here and is a decent enough replacement, though I guess it is slightly jarring to go from him back to the original actor in the next film.
The Tall Man and Reggie are still played by original actors Angus Scrimm and Reggie Bannister though, as they would be for the rest of the film series.

The film also had a considerably bigger budget so of course they utilise that to the fullest and like alot of film sequels make thing bigger and bolder with more action and special effects as well as a somewhat lighter tone which all makes for a very fun and engaging experience.

The main theme heard in the first movie is retained, but the score itself is more generic and sounds similar to every other horror film of the time. It also delivers a similar fake-out ending to the first  which may annoy people but I was fine with it.

So yeah, while it does still have flaws and is much more conventional than the first film, lacking that same level of intrigue and mystery, I still found it to be almost as enjoyable. But then I do really like fun action horrors and this one in particular as a certain charm to it. ***1/2

Extreme Dinosaurs: Episode 1 - Out of Time (1997) Review

EXTREME, EXTREME, EXTREME DINOSAURS!

Ah the Extreme Dinosaurs, a cartoon series that definitely screams 90's. A spin-off of previous show Street Sharks, Extreme Dinosaurs had everything Anthropomorphic dinosaurs battling it out, Aliens, Roswell, a rad theme song, words like Carnifcate and Jurrassicate' and names like T-Bone, Stegs and Bad Rap.There was a lot in it to love as a kid and I thought it was super cool myself, I even got a birthday cake one time with a Marzipan Spittor(one of the evil Raptors) on it, though I don't think I ever had any toys surprisingly, still I enjoyed the show nonetheless.

So the first episode gives us the origin story and sets the foundation for the rest of the series. Basically an alien(Argor Zardok) who is a transdimensional criminal, transports to earth from another dimension during the period of the dinosaurs. He's fascinated that the world is solid and that Dinosaurs still exist. He decides to transforms a group of dinosaurs into super warriors who will do his bidding, however these dinosaurs now have independent thinking and refuse to work for him, so he ejects them from the ship and finds some Raptors that he transforms instead who are more loyal thanks to him adjusting the settings.
the Transdimensional police show up, a battle occurs between the dinosaurs and one of the Raptors has a super powerful alien weapon which causes a massive natural disaster which is guess it what killed the dinosaurs.
the Raptors and extreme dinosaurs survive this by all going into cryogenic chambers in the police ship, including Chedra who is one of the law officers.

They are discovered and awoken by an archeologists and they all do battle again and until Roswell agents show up and capture the heroes, who when escaping the facility fight off a bunch of robots.
they then have a poignant moment on the ship as they found out all the dinosaurs have been extinct.and question how they fit in to the world now.
They end up in at a dinosaur museum that's owned by an old country fella, who isn't bothered by talking dinosaurs cause he's seen all kind of shit living near Roswell and he helps them build giant cars using scrap.
They battle with the Raptors again and destroy the weapon that caused chaos at the start. The Roswell agents show up and everyone runs away, though the dinosaurs do capture two of the raptors bury them in an avalanche of snow.
On their way home they proclaim themselves the Extreme Dinosaurs cause they are Dinosaurs that are extreme enough to take on the raptors.

This show gives you everything in it's first episode and is still a barrel of fun to watch today, very enjoyable stuff. ***1/2