Species III is a 2004 science fiction film. Directed by Brad Turner and Written by Ben Ripley, it is the third installment of the Species series and stars Robert Knepper, Sunny Mabrey, Robin Dunne, Amelia Cooke, and John Paul Pitoc. Natasha Henstridge, who was contracted to a trilogy commencing with the first Species film, briefly reprises the role of Eve in the opening scene. The story is about an alien seductress who is immunologically stronger becomes the only hope for her species to live on as they decay succumbing to infections and illnesses.
Its American broadcast premiere was on the Sci-Fi Channel. It was then released to video in both a standard and an unrated version. The film was shot in high-definition video.
Species III (2004) - Official Trailer (HD)
Plot[]
The film begins immediately where Species II left off. Hours after the events of the previous film, the medical van transporting Eve has lost its way but when the co-driver tries to radio their superiors, the driver stops and holds him at gunpoint. Both are surprised by the alien child (now called "half-breed") named Portus appearing in the back window and killing the co-driver with his tongue. In the back the driver finds Portus and Eve, who goes into labor and gives birth to a newborn alien. While Portus strangles Eve with his tongue and kills her, the driver wraps the newborn into his jacket and runs off through the forest as a military helicopter finds the deserted van. Government agent Wasach orders an autopsy and afterwards the burning of Eve's body.
The driver is revealed as Dr. Bruce Abbot, teaching biochemistry at university who believes it is wrong to decide whether a species should live or die. In his home, he keeps Eve's offspring who within a few months has grown into a young girl named Sara. Portus, the half-breed that killed Eve, also aged, visits Dr. Abbot in his office, asking to see "it" (Eve's offspring) but then partly decays and dies horribly in his chair. The shocked doctor asks Dean, a student whose funding is in jeopardy, to assist him in his research to create a perfect alien DNA, promising him funding and future awards.
In Abbot's absence, Sara pupates in a similar fashion to Sil: by forming an organic cocoon and emerging as a naked grown woman. When Dr. Nicholas Turner, a fellow professor, arrives at Abbot's house, he comes across Sara, who tries to use her nudity to seduce him into sex, but rejects him when she detects that his genes are imperfect. Dr. Turner annoyed at his lost opportunity and implies his raping intentions. In defense Sara transforms into her natural form and kills him by using her tentacles to stab into his head. Sara then finds some clothes, puts them on and strolls onto campus, and finally makes contact with another half-breed named Yosef. The two begin to mate and undress but then Sara rejects him when she discovers that he suffers from diseases, angering him. Later on, at Abbot's house, Abbot and Dean decide to take another blood sample from Sara. Abbot prepares to take the sample but Sara admits that she would prefer for Dean to take the sample. Dean complies but as he does so, Yosef attacks Sara and tries to impregnate her through rape. Abbot sprays hydro-chloride gas over the lab, in an attempt to kill Yosef. But when Yosef was about to rape Sara, Dean rushed in, and Abbot followed him, trying to fight off weakened Yosef. Dean saved Sara from the room, but Yosef managed to kill Abbot before succumbing to the hydrochloride gas and dying. Left in charge, Dean ponders whether he should continue alone. Sara urges him to save her species. Later, Dean follows Sara to his campus where he stops in a classroom where she tries to seduce him into copulation, but he sees her in her alien form, so he resents and stops her.
Meanwhile, Dean's campus roommate, Hastings, contacted a website, on which a woman called Amelia wants to date biochemists, feeding her data from Dean's notes. Amelia, the leader of the half-breeds responds to it and begins to arrive at his campus. On her way she stops at a gas station to refuel her car. Amelia goes to the lavatory where she partially undresses to clean her minor deformities caused by failing immune system, but leaving her right breast exposed and her left one partially exposed. A gas station attendant named Cobb follows Amelia to the lavatory and is aroused by Amelia's partial nudity. Amelia copulates with Cobb on a toilet before she kills him without pity, remorse or hesitation using her tongue. She then arrives at the campus where she meets Hastings. Amelia freshens up by stripping naked, going into a sauna. She leaves the sauna and walks naked down the corridor into Hastings' room. The sight of Amelia's nudity arouses him. Amelia senses Sara's presence and kidnaps Hastings. At Abbot's house, Amelia and Sara pressure Hastings into creating the perfect species so that both can have mates.
Dean is picked up by agent Wasach, who also monitored the Amelia website and observed some connection to the disbanded project Athena. The two interrupt creating the proceedings at Abbot's house and then take Sara's harvested eggs. The three humans flee to a nearby experimental power plant, followed by Amelia and Sara, the later of which strips naked off-screen and transforms into her natural form. Dean attempts to trap Sara and Amelia in the plant's core. When Sara's eggs fall into the core, Amelia attempts to kill Dean but is stopped by Sara, who throws Amelia into the core. Dean manages to close the shaft to the core just in time to prevent a nuclear disaster, but not before Sara also falls down the shaft.
Later, when Hastings drop by Abbot's house he finds Sara alive, along with a young boy. Dean explains that he pulled her to safety and created the perfect mate for her, using the salvageable parts of the half-breed DNA so that Sara wouldn't be alone.
Dean asks Sara why she saved him, since with her eggs gone there was no reason to, Sara doesn't answer, but it's indicated that she's grown to care for Dean. After Sara and her mate have departed, Dean reveals to Hastings that he ensured her mate would be sterile, thereby preventing any offspring.
Cast[]
- Natasha Henstridge as Eve
- Robert Knepper as Dr. Bruce Abbot
- Robin Dunne as Dean
- Sunny Mabrey as Sara
- Amelia Cooke as Amelia
- John Paul Pitoc as Hastings
- Michael Warren as Agent Wasach
- Christopher Neame as Dr. Nicholas Turner
- Patricia Bethune as Colleen
- Joel Stoffer as Portus
- James Leo Ryan as Yosef
- Savanna Fields as Young Sara
- Reed Frerichs as ISD Staffer
- Marc D. Wilson as Crew Chief
- Matthew Yang King as Specialist Robert Kelley
- Jason Sarcinelli as Male Alien
- Rick Dean as Cobb
- Jim Cody Williams as Farmer at Gas Station
Production[]
Executive producer Frank Mancuso Jr. who also worked on the previous Species films, wanted the sequel to be aimed more at young adults, so the characters were written to be younger than what was originally planned. They decided to cast Sunny Mabrey as the main blonde alien. Amelia Cooke was also taken for the role. Also, Mancuso wanted the creatures to look slightly different from H.R. Giger's original concept. The alien species was then redesigned by Rob Hinderstien. A scene which was changed due to budgetary reasons had Sara scratch a campus student's cheek with her alien finger, which looked like a spike. Instead, this was changed to Sara throwing the man over her into a hedge in the final film. Also, Sara was named after Sara Lee desserts.
Reception[]
Species III received mixed but mostly negative reviews, holding a 33% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 6 reviews. It did however receive better reviews than Species II, and received 2.5 out of 5 stars with positive reviews stating "while the script is fairly underdeveloped, it is decent enough to watch and for a straight to video film was a hell of a lot better than Species II, this film is for fans who enjoyed the first two films, there is enough gore and nudity to make it into a film that is enjoyable enough to watch, the acting and the special effects were also decent enough to make this into an entertaining sequel".
With negative reviews stating "this film is underdeveloped with an absurd plot and bad special effects, this film just reuses old ideas and is not worth your time, it is a pointless sequel that lacks an effective story to make it a watchable film, it is just camouflaged by nudity", many fans were disappointed with the surprise death of the character Eve (Natasha Henstridge) and reacted negatively to her simple cameo.
Sequel[]
A fourth film, Species: The Awakening was released directly to DVD in 2007. While it does continue the Species series, it was a mostly stand-alone film, not a direct follow-up to the previous film (it does, however, mention the project from the first Species movie).
Trivia[]
- This is the first Species film where the main female alien character is not killed. It is also the only film of the four in which the main alien is never pregnant nor has sex.
- Sara is notably different from last hybrids. While she still has the Mating Instinct like Sil and Eve, Sara also considers the idea of sex solely for pleasure; having offered Dean sex, even after deeming him incompatible for reproduction. Additionally showing regular human attraction, something Sil and Eve didn't have; they just went for any man.
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