Species 2 (1998)

Species II (1998)

Taglines: Mating season begins…

Species 2 movie storyline. In the science-fiction thriller Species (1995), Natasha Hentsridge appeared as the beautiful but deadly Sil, a human-alien DNA combo. In this sequel, Hentsridge portrays Eve, a government experiment concocted to gain an understanding of how to combat future aliens, while Michael Madsen and Marg Helgenberger repeat their roles from the earlier film. When astronaut Patrick Ross (Justin Lazard) returns from the first manned Mars expedition, he’s infected with the same DNA that spawned Sil and Eve.

Hailed as a hero, Ross is pressed into politics by his father (James Cromwell), a senator. Any woman who beds the sexually active Ross is immediately impregnated, with embryos quickly developing and killing the mother. Ross hides the offspring on a family estate, as LA cops begin to detect a pattern in the female deaths. At the lab where scientists are monitoring Eve, Dr. Laura Baker (Helgenberger) realizes that Eve has a telepathic link with Ross, and that these two hybrids hope to couple.

Press Lennox (Madsen) and Colonel Burgess (George Dzundza) figure Eve can be used to lead them to Ross. Cleared as a murder suspect, Mars mission astronaut Dennis Gamble (Mykelti Williamson), joins Lennox and Baker and gets in on the action as everyone involved closes in on Ross. Richard Belzer does a cameo as the President of the U.S., while Peter Boyle makes an uncredited appearance as a scientist.

Species II (1998) - Natasha Henstridge

Species II (also known as Species II: Offspring and Species II: Origins) is a 1998 American science fiction horror thriller film, sequel to the 1995 film Species. The film was directed by Peter Medak and starring Natasha Henstridge, Michael Madsen and Marg Helgenberger, all of whom reprise their roles from the first film.

The plot has Patrick Ross, (Justin Lazard) the astronaut son of a senator (James Cromwell), being infected by an extraterrestrial virus during a mission to Mars and causing the deaths of many women upon his return. To stop him, the scientists who created the human-extraterrestrial hybrid Sil in the original Species try using a more docile clone of hers, Eve (Henstridge). The film was followed by Species III (2004).

On April 10, 1998 in 2510 theatres, the film finished at $7.2 million, ranking number four on its opening weekend. Domestically, the film grossed only $19.6 million from its $35 million budget and $26,817,565 overseas, making the film a box office flop.

Species II (1998)

About the Story

Three years after the events of the previous film, Commander Patrick Ross leads a manned mission to Mars. Soil samples collected by Patrick’s team of astronauts contain an extraterrestrial substance which thaws aboard their capsule and attacks them, causing a seven-minute contact gap with mission control. With seemingly no subsequent negative effects, the astronauts return to Earth to public celebration.

However, an institutionalized former scientist, Dr. Cromwell, reacts to their return with violent panic. Meanwhile, Dr. Laura Baker has created a clone of Sil named Eve, whose alien DNA is suppressed to make her more docile. Her team conducts experiments on Eve, hoping to find a way to combat the alien species should it ever return to Earth. Every experiment is unsuccessful as Eve’s biology adapts.

Upon their return, Patrick and his team are told to refrain from sexual activity for ten days. Patrick disregards this advice and has a threesome with two sisters following a fundraiser. During intercourse with the second woman, he begins to sprout tentacles. The woman notices his transformation while she is stroking his body and is horrified at the sight of him where she tries to free herself from his clutches.

Both women experience accelerated pregnancies, ending with Patrick’s half-alien children tearing out of their abdomens. Patrick hides both corpses and his rapidly growing sons on the property of his father, U.S. Senator Judson Ross. The next day, Patrick tells his father he cannot remember the previous night’s events. Senator Ross indicates that he is aware of Patrick’s behavior and tells him to focus on his political goals.

Dr. Orinsky, one of the NASA scientists who examined Patrick, discovers something amiss about his blood sample and desperately tries to contact Cromwell. However, Orinsky is ambushed and disemboweled by an alien Patrick, who snuck into the labs. Laura discovers that the DNA in Orinsky’s wounds is distinct from Eve’s, prompting Colonel Burgess, the military supervisor in charge of her project, to reunite her with Press Lennox to contain the new threat.

ress and Laura seek out Cromwell, Orinsky’s former professor, and learn that he discovered that the alien species had attacked and destroyed Mars in ancient times. Because of his fears that alien DNA might remain on Mars to infect anyone who visited the planet in the future, Cromwell urged the government to abort the mission, but was institutionalized to suppress his protests.

Species II Movie Poster (1998)

Species II (1998)

Directed by: Peter Medak
Starring: Michael Madsen, Natasha Henstridge, Marg Helgenberger, Mykelti Williamson, George Dzundza, James Cromwell, Justin Lazard, Sarah Wynter, Myriam Cyr, Raquel Gardner
Screenplay by: Chris Brancato
Production Design by: Miljen Kreka Kljakovic
Cinematography by: Matthew F. Leonetti
Film Editing by: Richard Nord
Costume Design by: Richard Bruno
Set Decoration by: Suzette Sheets
Art Direction by: Mark Zuelzke
Music by: Ed Shearmur
MPAA Rating: R for strong sexuality, sci-fi violence / gore and language.
Distributed by: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release Date: April 10, 1998

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