Specimen

Specimen, a direct-to-video science-fiction flick, is just about as terrible as you might guess. Mark-Paul Gosselaar (possibly one of the worst actors that have ever even made a film) plays a man who has always had a strange attraction to water and later finds out that he is the spawn of an alien and that another alien has come to Earth to kill him. Gosselaar--best known as Zack Morris on the terrible sitcom Saved by the Bell--is beyond terrible in a performance that makes Elizabeth Berkeley seem like the next Meryl Streep. (He is even worse in the even worse movie Dead Man on Campus).

This movie is a total waste of the thirty dollars it probably cost to make. Half a Star out of Four.

Oh, overall, this movie is very cheesy, and I wish the aliens had been something other than walking blocks of muscle, but the story was a good idea in its inception. I thought Mark-Paul's acting was just fine, actually. He took the role seriously, regardless of the movie's lower budget, which denotes him as a good actor. Granted, it's been a while since I've seen it, so I can't give a good take on the supporting actors, but aside from the villain's one-note plot motivation, I don't remember groaning too badly. :) The handling of some of our main character's heritage problems (the whole problem with starting fires while asleep) was a particularly nice touch. Considering the budget, I thought they did the best they could--I'd like to see it redone.

A child of extraterrestrial origins is found walking through the fires of a burning building. He's promptly adopted, but still has questions about where he came from. Years later, the boy, now a young man (played by Mark-Paul Gosselaar of Saved by the Bell fame) can start fires with his mind and frequently dreams of his forgotten earlier life while he submerges himself in bathtub water. Another alien (Douglas O'Keeffe) wants to get the young man back.

With shades of much better films (such as Firestarter, the Terminator, and even Starman), this movie can't help but epicly fail in comparison. It doesn't help that the film spots horrendous acting (especially by Gosselaar and O'Keeffe extremely sub-par special effects, and a plot that is a clichéd muddled mess. This is one movie that makes those that are made for the Sci-fi channel (I refuse to call it by the insanely stupid SyFy moniker, but that's another rant) look of Oscar-caliber. That's no hyperbole, this movie is just that bad.

Eye Candy: Carmelina Lamanna gets fully nude

My Grade:D-

That was an hour and a half that I'll never get back. By the way, for a small town, that's one huge community centre. I was confused whether it was a school or community centre or a combination of both. Don't those kids belong in school?

This movie tried to be a combination of The Terminator, Firestarter and Starman, but woefully fell short of the level of intensity.

If you have nothing better to watch, or do, then sit back and watch, but don't expect to be thrilled. There's a reason this movie went straight to video. Mark-Paul must have been short of cash, because this role was beneath his talent.

Young Mike Hillary dreams of fire which kills his mother. He starts sleeping in a bath even as a young man (Mark-Paul Gosselaar). He returns to his mother's home town and uncovers his secret origins with his superpower.

This is a mashup of various sci-fi premises. There is Firestarter, an X-Men, a Terminator, and a Close Encounter. All in all, it's a B-movie. It's not terrible. It tries but it doesn't have it.