Species - Special Edition [1995]

Amazon.co.uk Review

There's a kind of perverse marketing genius at work in Species, a cheesy sci-fi hit from 1995 in which scientists create a half-human, half-alien woman named Sil (Natasha Henstridge) who's capable of morphing from a slimy, tentacled creature into a blonde babe with the body of a Playboy centerfold. This makes it easy for Sil to lure gullible guys who are only too willing to indulge her voracious mating urge, realizing too late that sex with Sil is anything but safe. As the body count rises, a handpicked team of specialists tracks the alien's killing spree, but their diverse expertise is barely a match for the ever-morphing Sil. Borrowing elements of the Alien movies (including bizarre alien designs by Swedish artist H.R. Giger) and spicing them up with some tantalizing nudity, Species is a wet dream for creature-feature fans--kind of like watching a sci-fi vampire fantasy while browsing through the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

Species with bells & whistles.......2004-09-09

OK...I'm not going to spend too much time reviewing the actual film itself - I'm sure you all know what this is about and any real fan would have probably bought the bog standard version already. No, what you probably want to know is what this "Special Edition" contains and if it is worth swapping your other version for. Well in a word....NO.

Don't get me wrong, if you really want this film then THIS is the version to buy, make no mistake, but if you already own the basic release of this film then my advice would be to stick with what you've got.

This "all singing all dancing" version does contian two audio commentaries (One from actors Natasha Henstridge and Michael Madsen with director Roger Donaldson and another from director Roger Donaldson, producer Frank Mancuso Jr., Special Effects executive Richard Edlund and creator of the Sil creature Steve Johnson ) and an alternative ending. There are the usual featurettes that we come to expect on these Special editions; 'The Making of', Interviews, Designing Sil etc etc and it is all presnted in glorious Anamorphic 2.35:1 Widescreen
and Dolby Digital (5.1).

The film itself hasn't aged badly at all and still remains oddly compulsive viewing, (but then a Page 3 girl who morphs into a killing machine is always gonna grab your attention right lads?)

All in all, there IS fun to be had here, but is this a genuine attempt to give the viewer more value for money or just a cynical effort to milk the franchise and whet our appetites for Species 3 ?

Customer Reviews:

Good but could be better.......2007-01-07

The world superbike championship may have been dominated in 2006 by Troy Bayliss but that doesn't make this DVD any less worth buyuing, the racing is excellent as ever, and its great that the DVD wastes no time on dozens of interviews and just shows the racing.

The only thing about the review that is slightly disappointing is its length, 24 races squeezed into 220 minutes means you only get about 5 minutes per race for some of the races although it does average at more like 8 or 9. However as the races are generally 40 minutes or so that means the action is very choppy and there is little flow.

Maybe next year they can copy the British Superbike review in going to 2 DVDs, which means you get at least 15 minutes a race. Then it becomes proper highlights rather than choppy collection of the races main incidents.

Still its a miles better than the last few Moto GP reviews.

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