Non-Horror Exploitation: Terminator II (A.K.A. Shocking Dark) (1990)

You might think that James Cameron's Terminator 2: Judgement Day is the only Terminator 2 out there. That's incorect. In 1990 (although filmed in 1988/89) Bruno Mattei directed an unofficial sequel which shamelessly was called Terminator 2. It's really incredible how they even got away with it (even though the movie was never released as Terminator 2 in the USA).

In a polluted future Venice researchers work to improve the situation. One day, unknown forces start killing them. A team of soldiers and a couple of civilians is sent to investigate. Soon, they encounter strange murderous creatures. 

Terminator 2 can be described as a compilation of everything that was ''cool'' around that period. Some influences from Aliens (1986), some influences from Predator (1987) and of course a lot of influences from The Terminator (1984). Writer Claudio Fragasso took everything he liked from those movies and created one himself. It should not come as a surprise that Fragasso was involved in this project. He has been involved in numerous unofficial ''sequels''. His most famous one obviously being Troll 2 (1990), the unofficial sequel to Troll (1986). He also directed The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3. No, not Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 which you might be familiar with and which was directed by Jeff Burr. Fragasso directed a movie called Non Aprite Quella Porta 3 (1990). In Italy Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies where released under the title Non Aprite Quella Porta, causing Fragasso to fool the Italian audience in thinking it was an official third part of the franchise. Obviously Bruno Mattei didn't shy away from ''borrowing'' stuff for his movies either. Take for example the Goblin soundtrack he apparently used without permission for his movie Virus (1980).

Back to the movie, which turned out to be quite mediocre. The acting, even for a movie of these standards, is absolutely terrible. The worst one was without a doubt Haven Tyler (not surprisingly this is her only acting credit). What's even more painfull is that Tyler has the lead role and is supposed to be some kind of Sigourney Weaver type of character. Needless to say the cast is very weak. Usually you'll see some familiar faces turn up in B-movies like these. Not in this one though. Most of the cast are one-time-actors. Geretta Geretta is about the only exception with roles in Demons (1985) and Rats: Night of Terror (1984).

The monsters in the movie are pretty much never really shown on screen properly. Not to mention the few times you do get to see them the monster design is pretty weak. The pace of the movie is decent but because the action is so predictable and uninteresting it still feels quite boring. The atmosphere is pretty good though. A lot of that has to do with the cool setting in the dark underground tunnels. The crew even plays around with some interesting lighting choises. The soundtrack is pretty decent as well, although not memorable. The movie goes pretty over the top in the last 15 minutes with a bit of timetraveling, the Terminator chasing two ladies in Venice and the eventual ending where the Terminator guy is killed (or sent back in time???) by some kind of electrical device.. Pretty vague...

Even though the poster is pretty god damn amazing, the movie itself is pretty tasteless. The monsters look poor, the gore is non-existent and the action is mostly lame. The atmosphere is good though and the setting is pretty awesome as well. It's not as cool as the poster makes it look like it is though.