Editorials
[Retrospective] Why ‘The Lost World: Jurassic Park’ Is a Better Sequel Than It Gets Credit For
Regardless of your thoughts on the Jurassic franchise’s resurgence, it’s quite clear at this point that dinosaurs make for some sweet box-office numbers. Including Fallen Kingdom, we’ve seen four films since the original Jurassic Park, and despite varying degrees of critical success, every single one of them has managed to turn a handsome profit. With more Jurassic sequels inevitably looming on the horizon, I think that maybe it’s time to take a step back and appreciate what I believe to be the most worthy successor the original film.
Naturally, I’m talking about the unfairly maligned The Lost World: Jurassic Park.
It’s hard to overstate the impact that Spielberg’s first foray into cinematic dino-mayhem had on Hollywood. Not only did Jurassic Park blow box-office expectations out of the water, it also became a pop-culture icon, making prehistory cool again and inspiring a whole new generation of future paleontologists. Hell, this was the movie that made me fall in love with movies, and I’m sure that I’m not the only one. Naturally, in a move that surprised absolutely nobody, the studio demanded another one.
Michael Crichton was soon pressured into authoring a sequel to his best-selling novel that inspired the film, and Spielberg once again agreed to direct an adaptation. Things would be harder this time around, however, with the director insisting on completing three different projects (Amistad, Saving Private Ryan and The Lost World) all within the same year.
That’s not to say that the making of Jurassic Park was all fun and games, as people tend to forget how much of a miracle it was that it turned out like it did. With hurricanes delaying shooting and absurd rumors claiming that Spielberg directed portions of the film over the phone due to his commitment to Schindler’s List (he actually was absent for most of the post-production process on JP, shooting his tribute to Holocaust survivors in Europe as he received grainy satellite footage of CG dinosaurs from America), production wasn’t exactly a walk in the park.
Regardless, having already crafted an insanely entertaining blockbuster despite these hurdles, Spielberg once again dove into the fray and attempted to complete this new dinosaur movie as quickly and efficiently as possible. Sadly, the decision to rush this project out for a 1997 release date, while incredibly brave, is probably to blame for its eventual lukewarm reception.
Well, that and Spielberg’s insistence on cloning real dinosaurs and teaching them to act.
And yet, after all these years, I still insist that The Lost World: Jurassic Park is a remarkably entertaining thrill-ride that channels some of Spielberg’s best work in the horror genre, managing to be one of those rare sequels that refuses to rehash the previous film. While the director ultimately ended up discarding most of Crichton’s material during production, Spielberg saw this movie as an opportunity to make something fresh and a hell of a lot darker (something that even the marketing campaign seemed to relish in). While many criticized The Lost World for being more mean-spirited and lacking the original’s sense of wonder, I’m fairly certain that everyone involved had the time of their lives making a bona fide monster movie.
From the very first scene, where a young girl is attacked by a breathtakingly convincing pack of tiny dinosaurs (we’ll talk about the wonderful effects soon enough), the movie establishes a very different tone. This is made abundantly clear with one of the greatest (and most ironic) scene transitions of all time, which introduces us to the film’s greatest asset: the one and only Jeff Goldblum.
Although Dr. Ian Malcom isn’t quite as seductively entertaining this time around, a condition that unfortunately extends to most of the film’s characters, he’s still the highlight of the picture. It’s hard not to smile as Goldblum lets out sarcastic, self-aware quips about the ridiculous nature of the film’s very premise, and his charisma manages to carry The Lost World through most of its blander segments.
Still, these characters are mostly to blame for the movie’s bad reputation. While the casting is just as phenomenal here as it was in the first film, there are simply too many people to keep track of due to the film’s higher body-count, and there simply isn’t enough time to go around. Couple that with some baffling decision-making by the protagonists, and it’s easy to see why moviegoers didn’t connect with this film like they did with the first.
Rest in peace, random InGen mercenaries. You will be missed, I guess.
The problematic character work actually has roots in another of the film’s issues, as it’s obvious that several scenes were cut without much thought given to the effect that their absence would have on the story. This movie is plagued by missing character information and continuity errors due to a sizable amount of deleted scenes, many of which were crucial to make sense of the film’s glorious final sequence. While this could mean that there’s a flawless three-hour cut of The Lost World hidden in a warehouse somewhere, it’s more likely that Spielberg simply realized that his reach exceeded his grasp with this project, and he decided to cut corners in order to guarantee a more streamlined and watchable experience.
While I would kill to see a restored and extended edition of the film, it seems that Spielberg prioritized making a fun movie above all else, even if it meant leaving some elements rough around the edges, and I can respect that. Even so, I find it easy to forgive many of these flaws once the film goes into full-on survival-horror mode towards the second half.
Ironically, there is a surprising amount of gruesome deaths in this rather heavy-handed parable about animal conservation. The kills aren’t even limited to the antagonists either, with severable likable characters being ripped apart in the most brutal ways that a PG-13 rating can provide. From velociraptors hiding in tall grass to pissed off T-Rex parents, Spielberg masterfully extracts every last drop of suspense from these monsters, with a few standout sequences even being comparable to some of the best parts of Jaws.
And speaking of monsters, dinosaur effects have literally never looked better. The film’s darker palette allowed for some extremely realistic-looking CG models that blended in seamlessly to their shadowy environments, putting most modern effects work to shame. While the CG did have its flaws, mostly during awkward day-time scenes, Stan Winston’s jaw-dropping practical effects are just as magical now as they were then. Even Roger Ebert praised the authenticity of the production, claiming that “It can be said that the creatures in this film transcend any visible signs of special effects and seem to walk the earth,” before proceeding to complain about the rest of the picture.
The catering budget must have been huge.
The effects during the final kaiju-inspired sequence in San Diego were also magnificent, as your brain eventually stops trying to tell CGI and puppetry apart and just accepts that these are living, breathing dinosaurs. The funny thing is that this wasn’t even in the original script! After production had already begun, Spielberg thought that it would be fun to bring the dinosaur rampage closer to home for a more memorable finale, and I couldn’t agree more with the bold decision.
Additionally, the film also boasted what was arguably the best promotional material of the franchise so far, featuring the best toys, video games and supplemental media. The marketing seems to have taken a liking to Spielberg’s darker vision for the sequel, adding bloody wounds to action figures and making posters that advertised something more akin to a horror attraction instead of the first film’s wondrous theme park.
The Lost World: Jurassic Park may not be as good as the first film, but judged on its own merits, it’s still a damned fine monster movie. It may be a darker and meaner experience, and there are a few cringe-worthy moments here and there (I still can’t believe that the first dinosaur killed by a human in these movies was murdered via gymnastics), but this is still a ride worth taking in 2018, even if you’re not a fan of the more recent JP sequels.
Editorials
Before ‘The Blair Witch Project’, ‘Alien Autopsy’ Showed How Real Found Footage Could Feel
The line separating artist from con man is a lot thinner than you might initially believe. While I think we can all agree that lying for the sake of profit is actively malicious behavior, isn’t it also true that the faux documentary aspect of The Blair Witch Project is half the reason why that film became such a cultural phenomenon? After all, if there’s one thing filmmakers have in common with stage magicians, it’s that misleading and misdirecting audiences is simply part of the job.
That’s why I’ve developed a habit of mostly ignoring the moral quandaries behind many of film and television’s biggest “hoaxes” in favor of appreciating the narrative elements that drive productions like Mermaids: The Body Found and even Animal Planet’s highly underrated The Cannibal in the Jungle. However, if there’s a definitive case of a highly publicized broadcast fooling the world into taking it seriously, it has to be Fox’s infamous 1995 TV special Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction.
It’s been over three decades since that eerie footage first haunted television screens right at the peak of the ’90s ufology craze, and in that time, the video has taken on a life of its own. From countless parodies and references in everything from The X-Files to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater (as well as John Dower’s recently released tell-all documentary The Alien Autopsy Scandal, which I’d highly recommend to genre fans everywhere), there’s no denying the legacy of the Alien Autopsy video. However, I rarely see the tape discussed as what it truly is: a highly convincing found footage film directed by a passionate stage magician and brought to life by masterful practical effects work.
That’s why I’d like to invite readers to join me on a deep dive into one of the most infamous broadcasts of all time in an attempt to reevaluate the footage as a fascinating narrative experience rather than a complete hoax.
The TV Special That Convinced Millions It Was Real
Ray Santilli next to Extraterrestrial replica in ‘The Alien Autopsy Scandal’
For starters, regardless of whether or not you believe that there was in fact an extraterrestrial crash in Roswell during the summer of 1947 and that some form of autopsy was performed on the victims, the producers behind the black & white recordings, Ray Santilli and Gary Shoefield, insist that their video was a “restoration.” Though I’d argue that the proper word is “remake”of genuine footage that was too damaged to air on television. That’s why the duo went on to recruit filmmaker and eccentric magician Spyros Melaris and sculptor/monster designer John Humphreys to bring their version of the autopsy to life and sell it to the highest bidder.
This is where the story of the Alien Autopsy as a narrative experience really begins. Melaris claims that his approach to the faux recording consisted of striving for extreme period accuracy in both shooting equipment and setting while also planting subtle details that would initially seem like mistakes but could later be revealed to actually fit the time period. That being said, the filmmaker was under the impression that the short would be released for free as a PR stunt, with the team later producing and selling an informative documentary chronicling exactly how the footage was faked and commenting on how easy it is to manipulate public perception with a good old-fashioned magic trick.
This obviously isn’t how things went down, and that’s likely the reason why Melaris has since distanced himself from everyone else involved with the project. Yet, no amount of behind-the-scenes drama can undermine the genuine effort that went into making the short as impressive as it is. From the sourcing of real animal organs from a local butcher to make the organic part of the creature more lifelike to the highly detailed sculpt that made use of a hollowed-out underlayer that could be filled with fake blood and assorted viscera, there’s a reason why so many Hollywood specialists are still impressed with the artistry on display here.
Of course, the believability is only half the story, as I think that the best part of the autopsy is how Melaris builds on the existing tension by obscuring certain details and often embracing the chaos of what a real examination of extraterrestrial life could feel like. The camera often goes out of focus at just the right time to make certain effects hit even harder, and we can only speculate as to what the hazmat-suited doctors are gesticulating about during the operation. There’s a real air of mystery to the whole thing that almost makes it feel like a cosmically terrifying, cursed film containing forbidden knowledge that civilians were never meant to see.
So when Fox’s Fact or Fiction brings in the specialists to comment on the film and its otherworldly subject, it’s no surprise that we end up with one of the most memorable mockumentaries of all time – albeit one where the participants are unaware that the footage they’re commenting on is basically a large-scale practical joke. A joke that the network was obviously in on, as many participants claim that the TV special cut out significant portions where guests point out that they believe the footage to be an elaborate hoax.
The Lasting Impact of the Hoax Turned Cultural Event
Regardless, I remember going to bed terrified after watching reruns of the special and thinking about the respected pathologist who claimed that the body was almost certainly inhuman, with even effects maestro Stan Winston commenting on how difficult it would be to recreate some of these visuals through practical puppetry. That’s not even mentioning Jonathan Frakes’ dramatic hyping up of the disturbing imagery as if he was talking about the tape from The Ring, with his spooky demeanor here likely being responsible for his later role as the host of Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction a few years later.
Personally, I’d argue that the Alien Autopsy phenomenon had just as much of an impact on me as a horror fan as The Blair Witch Project, a film that was almost certainly influenced by the success of this immensely popular hoax (to the point where they even produced their own TV special commenting on Heather’s found footage). Even if Fox didn’t intend to produce a narrative feature about the aftermath of the Roswell crash, the end product still holds up remarkably well as a highly entertaining mockumentary exploring the idea that we may not be alone in the universe.
While neither Santilli nor the rest of the production team has ever commented on this, I also think it’s very likely that the idea of a faux Alien Autopsy could have been influenced by Dean Alioto’s The McPherson Tape/UFO Abduction. I’ve already written about how this granddaddy of found footage was co-opted by rogue ufologists who began selling bootlegs of the tape at conventions as if it were real evidence of a close encounter, so it’s not that much of a stretch to imagine that Santilli and company could have heard about this phenomenon and been inspired to come up with their own highly profitable hoax.
At the end of the day, it’s unlikely that the Alien Autopsy film is recreating any real footage from Roswell, but I can still appreciate the short and the accompanying television event as a standalone horror story that still influences the way we see found footage to this very day.
After all, the possibility that something could be real is often much scarier than finding out for sure – and that’s why I think Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction is still worth revisiting three decades down the line.
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