When Jan-Michael Vincent Met Discount Aliens
Sequels are supposed to expand the story, deepen the mythology, or at least give you a fresh reason to waste 90 minutes of your life. Xtro II: The Second Encounter does none of these things. Instead, it takes the barest skeleton of the first Xtro(already a cult oddity) and strips it of everything remotely interesting. What’s left is a bargain-bin imitation of Aliens, populated by drunken performances, cheap sets, and a monster that looks like it escaped from a Chuck E. Cheese dumpster fire.
The Plot: Aliens With Half the Budget and None of the Talent
The movie opens in the most 1990 way possible: a top-secret underground lab called Nexus, run entirely by a computer. Because if movies have taught us anything, it’s that you should always let your life-or-death decisions be managed by a glorified Speak & Spell.
The government, naturally, decides to open a portal to another dimension. Why? Don’t ask. Three volunteers are sent in, immediately attacked by something unseen, and only one stumbles back—scratched, hysterical, and ready to birth an alien parasite like she’s auditioning for The Jerry Springer Show: Interdimensional Edition.
Enter Dr. Ron Shepherd (Jan-Michael Vincent), the architect of Nexus, who was previously forced out of the project because he blew up the last one. He’s coaxed back into action by his ex-lover Julie, who apparently didn’t get the memo that dating men who blow up science labs is a bad idea. Together with a squad of mercenaries straight out of Central Casting for Guys Who Die Quickly, they set out to stop the creature before it eats, impregnates, or scratches everyone in sight.
The Cast: Stumbling Through the Wreckage
Jan-Michael Vincent as Dr. Ron Shepherd
Vincent’s performance deserves its own horror subgenre: “Actors Held Hostage by Alcohol.” Director Harry Bromley Davenport admitted later that Vincent spent most of the shoot either drunk, vomiting, or forgetting his lines. Watching him on screen is like watching a man trapped in a perpetual hangover: squinting, sweaty, and one bad line reading away from collapsing. He couldn’t even look in the right direction without being pointed like a Labrador at feeding time.
Paul Koslo as Dr. Alex Summerfield
Koslo plays the resident jackass scientist. His main contribution is being scratched by the alien-host volunteer, which starts his slow transformation into “infected guy.” He growls, sweats, and sneers through scenes like a man who knows he’ll never escape VHS hell.
Tara Buckman as Dr. Julie Cassidy
She’s the love interest, the emotional glue, and occasionally the only one trying to act. Unfortunately, no amount of commitment can save dialogue like, “We have to tell the world… something.”
The Monster: A Poor Man’s Predator
The alien itself is the kind of creature you’d expect to see in a high school haunted house. It’s rubbery, it’s clunky, and it has the terrifying habit of looking like it might fall apart if someone sneezed too hard. When it attacks, you don’t feel fear; you feel sympathy. Not for the victims, mind you, but for the guy sweating inside the costume.
Even worse, the film hides the monster for half its runtime, filling the void with endless arguments in corridors that all look like the same five feet of plywood painted grey. When the alien finally shows up in full, it’s almost a relief—you can stop imagining how bad it looks and just confirm it with your own eyes.
The Sets: Welcome to Cardboard Corridor Central
Most of the film was shot in a Vancouver warehouse, and boy does it show. Nexus is supposed to be a cutting-edge underground government lab, but it looks like the break room of an abandoned tire factory. Every hallway is the same, every lab is indistinguishable, and the control room has fewer blinking lights than my toaster oven.
The production couldn’t even afford decent goo. When characters stumble upon alien slime, it looks suspiciously like KY Jelly poured out of a dollar-store bottle.
The Action: Mercenaries Who Can’t Shoot Straight
No sci-fi horror is complete without mercenaries, and Xtro II obliges with a squad of muscle-bound clichés: one tough guy, one nervous guy, one guy who sacrifices himself for the greater good. Sadly, they can’t shoot straight, can’t act, and can’t convincingly lose a fistfight with a rubber monster.
When one merc tries to climb an elevator shaft and falls to his death, it’s less tragic and more slapstick, like watching a drunk uncle topple off a ladder. Another sacrifices himself with explosives, but the alien walks away unscathed, proving even the film’s attempts at heroism are pointless.
The Direction: Competent in the Saddest Way
Director Harry Bromley Davenport, who also made the first Xtro, admitted he hated the script and considered the project “artless.” But like a man paying off gambling debts, he showed up and did the job. The result is technically competent but soulless, like an episode of Stargate SG-1 if everyone forgot how to act and the monster was played by a man in a rented suit.
The Drinking Game (If You Dare)
If you really want to enjoy Xtro II, turn it into a drinking game. Take a shot whenever:
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Jan-Michael Vincent looks like he forgot what scene he’s in.
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Someone says “parallel dimension” with zero conviction.
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The monster screeches like a dying vacuum cleaner.
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A character makes a dumb decision that directly gets them killed.
Just don’t use real alcohol—you’ll be in Vincent territory by the halfway mark.
Final Thoughts: Why Does This Exist?
Xtro II exists because someone realized they owned the title “Xtro” and thought, “Hey, we can make a sequel even if it has nothing to do with the first film.” What we got was a Frankenstein of clichés: a pinch of Aliens, a dash of The Thing, a sprinkling of The Fly, all stirred together in a vat of mediocrity.
It’s not scary, it’s not exciting, and it’s not even accidentally funny in the way some bad movies are. It’s just… limp. The only thing horrifying is watching Jan-Michael Vincent stumble through scenes like a man who wandered into set thinking it was an AA meeting.
