Director: Chris Walas
Writers: Mick Garris, Jim Wheat
Stars: Eric Stoltz, Daphne Zuniga, Lee Richardson
Run Time: 1 Hour, 45 Minutes
Link: https://amzn.to/3iuTSMx
Synopsis
Veronica is giving birth as Stathis watches on in concern. Mr. Bartok comes in secretly to watch the procedure. It’s a weird-looking creature, and Veronica dies giving birth to it. The monstrous baby splits open and a normal-looking human baby is hiding inside. Credits roll.
The child grows at an unusual rate, and it has some genetic anomalies. He has a photographic memory and never sleeps. Bartok introduces himself to little Martin, and they become instant friends. He annoys the scientists regularly because he’s too smart.
He’s curious about what’s in Zone 4, where he cannot go. Martin hacks the computer, gains access to Zone 4, and crawls through the air vents. He finds many experimental animals in cages, including a big golden retriever that he likes. The next night he goes back, but the dog has been transferred to a different bay. Martin goes there and finds a room with his father’s telepods and scientists using the dog as a test subject. The dog comes out mutated and vicious. Bartok says “the dog didn’t live long after that; at least he didn’t suffer.”
Then Martin turns five, and he looks like a grown-up Eric Stoltz. He’s now old enough to go outside on his own, and Bartok gives him a nice little apartment on the grounds of the facility. Bartok explains, “No more mirrors, no more prying eyes.” Bartok wants him to start working for him on the telepod problem. They still can’t get the second pod to re-assemble anything correctly.
He meets Beth, a girl who files things. He borrows her cactus for the machine, and it comes out… weird. They go to an office party and hear about one of the experiments that lived for two whole years. The thing just won’t die. Martin goes to see what it is, and it turns out to be his dog, who wasn’t euthanized, and still suffers terribly. Martin is not pleased. He goes back into the animal’s lair and kills it painlessly.
He gets the machine to work, and he successfully teleports a cat. Then he noticed that his arm is getting weird bumps and sticky stuff inside. His genetic anomalies are starting to activate, and they expect a metamorphosis is approaching. Martin starts to get sick, but they transfer Beth across town. Martin’s apartment is bugged and has cameras.
Bartok explains everything. He wants to see what Martin will turn into. The bio research possibilities were endless. Martin escapes the lab and goes to find Beth. The two of them go to find Stathis, the only survivor from the first film. He doesn’t tell them anything they don’t already know. Lots of angst and whining commences as Marty continues to evolve. Beth eventually calls Bartok for help, and by that point Martin has grown a cocoon.
Before long, Martin “hatches” and eats his doctors. He’s a full-fledged, fully evolved monster now, more muppet than man. Once everyone else is dead, Bartok shoots Marty McFly and appears to seriously wound him. But it’s a trick to lure Bartok in closer. Martin grabs him and activates the telepods– in gene-swapping mode. He drags Bartok, kicking and screaming into the telepod. Beth hits the button to activate the device.
Martin comes out, covered in slimy goo, but otherwise human again. Bartok, on the other hand is a nasty mutant pile of glop, but he’s a live too. They end up putting him in the sad dog’s cage because he deserves justice for making the dog suffer.
Commentary
This takes about ten percent of the body horror of the first film and combines it with lots of teen romance and angst. It’s a horrifying combination. The last half hour has lots of action and fighting, but it takes a long time to get there.
\
The creature looks good, but is obviously a big puppet. It still looks better than the CGI stuff we get so often today. There are some fantastic gore shots and messy deaths.
The first hour is mostly just build-up to Martin’s natural change. Unlike Seth Brundle in the first movie, Martin was born with his mutation, so he’s completely innocent and deserves a happy ending, which he gets here.
Overall, it’s not as good as the previous film, but it’s not bad.