Story: A murder investigation in rural Texas has unearthed a horrific death, one that has even the hardened federal agents feeling off balance. Agent Logan (Lorenzo Lamas) is hesitant to suspect the violence was drug related, as the murder scene is a mess, the kind of raw violence that even the most infamous criminals aren’t capable of. As it turns out, the murderer was indeed not a drug runner, but a vicious dinosaur, brought back to life by the mad Dr. Cane (Jack Gould). After a series of strange events lead a group of strangers to converge on Cane’s ranch, can anyone survive the dinosaur chaos that follows or will Cane’s beasts finish off the unwanted visitors?

Entertainment Value: I had simple expectations for The Dinosaur Experiment, hoping for a lot of dinosaur violence and a wooden, but hilarious performance from Lorenzo Lamas. I didn’t get the Lamas factor, but this movie does give the dinosaurs a great deal of screen time, which was a welcome touch, as most films of this kind are stingy with the special effects. The narrative is fine and allows for all that dinosaur mayhem to unfold, but the emphasis on comedy didn’t work for me here. I love horror comedies when they work, but the writing here is not good and the humor tanks in most scenes, even with a game cast that runs with the premise. I liked the dinosaurs, the colorful visuals, and some of the cast’s turns, but it doesn’t balance out the lame humor, sometimes slow pace, and ineffective script, which keeps the entire operation hamstrung. I think the dinosaur scenes work well and are easily the best part of The Dinosaur Experiment, but the rest of this one fell flat for me. If you love low rent dinosaur special effects however, it is still worth a quick look.

I checked out The Dinosaur Experiment for two reasons, the dinosaurs and to see those dinosaurs attack Lorenzo Lamas in violent, blood soaked aggression. But the b movie veteran does not endure such a fate and instead, he has what amounts to a glorified cameo here. So if you wanted to see Lamas mix it up with the dinosaurs, no such luck. The dinosaurs easily outshine the human performers, though some try to camp up their efforts to embrace the b movie atmosphere. I appreciated the energy put into this by some of the cast, but it just didn’t click for me, despite some earnest efforts to make the otherwise forgettable material a little more fun. That is the fault of the script, which lets these eager talents mostly run idle, which is a shame. But the dinosaurs are least fun to watch as they unleash chaos, even if it isn’t enough to save the movie overall. The cast also includes Jana Mashonee, Carrie Newell, Donny Boaz, Cole Brown, and Kim Matula.

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