The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This film is titled "Xtro II: The Second Encounter"; however, is not a sequel to the first film in any way. We go from a father abducted by aliens who returns to impart horrifying powers to his son to a film that rips off the film Aliens and the lesser Corman film, "The Terror Within" as it involves a monster moving around air ducts and picking off victims. The first film was not great, but it was different to say the least. This one is nothing that has not been done numerous times and it does not do it as well. I mean, "The Terror Within" was not a great film, but it did better with the formula of monster on the loose in a facility than this one did.The story has an experiment about to take place as a group of scientist or something or other is about to traverse into another dimension! Well, something happens and so the two scientists who are working on the project and apparently hate each other have different ideas on how to rescue them. One wants to send in troops to this other dimension where nobody seems to return alive and rescue the team that got sent off, the other wants to bring in her boyfriend who did make it back, but would rather not tell anyone that there are horrible monsters in the other dimension. Soon a monster is on the loose, the doctor who despises everyone is infected and everyone is locked in. And for reasons unknown everyone in this film hates the walls in this facility because despite the monster being huge and right in front of them they always have to expend a ton of ammo on the walls before hitting the beastie.This film just has too many failings to be be entertaining, even in a bad way. The monster looks okay, kind of a combination of a Xenomorph form the Alien franchise and that thing that showed up at midnight in the horror film, "House". Unfortunately, you will not get to see much of it as there is just way too much build up in this film. Meanwhile, in the also low budgeted, "Terror Within" the monster is on display a lot more. Speaking of that film, in it they got George Kennedy to play a role and he looks bored and uninterested. That being said, he is understandable and though you can tell he does not want to be there, he goes about it in a professional manner. Here we get Jan-Michael Vincent and he not only seems like he does not wish to be in the film, he also seems to be drunk! He slurs and at times it is hard to understand what he is saying. Feel bad for him as his star looked so bright and then he kind of fell hard, but they would have been better picking an unknown.So, the film has nothing to do with the first film and the third film would have nothing to do with either film. The only thing the films share in common is the name Xtro with the first film being the most original of the bunch. This one is an Alien ripoff and the third film is like Predator had they replaced the cool looking Predator with a gray and did not have a budget to higher a bunch of cool action stars. This one might of worked better if they just had some cool more elaborate deaths and not had a guy who was drunk during the film. More monster action and more fodder for the monster to kill. Kind of a joke at the end how the creature was dispatched and then the only odd moment in the film as a woman appears says some stuff and then they fade to the credits. Strangely, the film almost plays like it is a sequel, but not to the first Xtro, but rather one where Jan-Michael's character entered the other dimension and had an elaborate adventure.

Now I got to admit this is far better then the first movie. I mean no wonder why it had nothing to do with the first movie, who'd want to be connected to that rotting British Cheese. The whole other dimension story line works and Jan-Michael Vincent does a pretty good job acting in this one. The creature is cool, so cool that they reuse it in another movie called LETHAL TARGET. Which I didn't realize until recently. But that's another story. Now just because this is better then the first movie (like it could be worse) does not make it perfect by any stretch of the imagination. There is some major character and some story issues. There are some really unlikable creeps in this movie and it was a tad weak on plot in points. But as sad it is for me to say, this is the best this series gets or ever will get. 8 STARS

I saw this movie for the first time when I was a young teenager, and I actually liked it. I honestly couldn't tell that the acting was bad, the suspense was absent, the plot was non-existent. So, is it then safe to say that this movie probably was made by young teenagers, unaware of the different aspects that make a good sci-fi/horror movie work? I had the chance to re-watch it last night, so I did. Better had not done it, because it's another childhood memory shattered.This movie indeed is a shameless ALIEN rip-off. There's a chest-burster-scene, there's a BIG gun attached to a soldier's body like in ALIENS, there are soldiers crawling through air-shafts with somebody looking at a monitor telling them the creature's closing in on them,...It's a shame, really, because the 'other dimension'-concept had potential. The film-makers should have shown more of it. Like the soldiers scouting the landscape or them entering the dome you see in the distance. Actually, you don't see sh!t. Just some fuzzy transmitted images on a monitor. I guess they didn't have the budget to write all that in the screenplay, since they clearly used only three sets or so.I'm still trying to figure out why I liked this movie back then. I think because there's some mild gore in it (chest- & face-bursting and an exploding dude at the end), but they cut away from it too quickly. So it must have been the creature, which looks reasonable (but still rubbery) and fairly dangerous when it shows its teeth, but it moves way too slow.Anyway, I'm waisting too much words on this crappy movie. The important thing is: XTRO II: The Second Encounter is actually no sequel to XTRO (1983). The two movies have absolutely NOTHING in common. I even think the first XTRO is worth tracking down and watching it, 'cause it's a peculiar and unique little sci-fi/horror-gem. XTRO II is not. But if you want to see every possible ALIEN rip-off: Be my guest.

Scientists at a secret underground complex have found a way to travel to another dimension. Three dimension-travelers are the first to go through the gate - but are soon attacked by something that interrupts the communication with Earth. This horrible something uses the gate to travel back to the underground complex. Most of the staff are evacuated, except four heavily-armed militaries and Dr. Casserly and Dr. Summerfield who just can't stand each other. It turns out that the creature is a alien monster that craves human flesh. Not the best horror film I've seen. Some very nice creature effects and the filmmakers sling some pretty cool gore at us but There's virtually no tension, suspense or atmosphere. It was dull, too, why were all the sets so foggy? Couldn't they afford proper lighting? Or were the sets even complete? It's an OK time waster at best, at worst... 4/10.