TAMMY AND THE T-REX (1994)
Notes: ImperialEntertainment Corp. / Platinic Films. 82 minutes.
Tammy: Denise Richards
Michael: Paul Walker
Byron: Theo Forsett
Dr. Gunther Wachenstein: Terry Kiser
Helga: Ellen Dubin
Billy: George Pilgrim
Weasel: Sean Whelan
Executive Producer: Etka Sarlui
Associate Producers: Joleen Deatherage, GaryBrockette
Produced: Diane Raffill
Co-Produced: Fernando Celis
Directed: Stewart Raffill
Screenplay: Stewart Raffill, Gary Brockette.
Summary: Cheerleading for the “Panthers” sets us in an affluent high school.Michael fights Billy over Tammy; gay black friend Byron looks on. We cut to Dr. Wachenstein testing his mechanical T-Rex model (why is it smoky?) and wanting to proceed beyond the “limitations of that stupid computer.”
Michael sneaks into Tammy’s room, but schoolchicksrat him out to Billy, who attacks with his gang and leaves Michaelin the local suburban wild animal park where lions run loose.Billy asks him, irrelevantly, “What would you do if you hadthe power to do anything?” In any case, a male lion chasesand mauls Michael before a game warden can shoot the animal. Michaelremains comatose in the hospital, watched over by a drunken UncleBob, his only relative. Dr. Wachenstein and his assistant Helgaintrude and declare Michael dead in order to steal his brain andhook it up to the T-Rex.
The T-Rex with Michael’s brain sees Michael’sbody and then itself in a mirror. It stomps Karl, another assistant,and tries to phone Tammy, and terrorizes drunks. Tammy is weepybut at a party, and when the dino hides in the trees, Billy’sfriend urinates on its leg and gets killed. The dino terrorizesthe crowd, but lets Byron go. The cops afterwards eat disgustinglyat the scene of the massacre and laugh about gutting deer.
Helga rolls up a flattened Karl. Tammy disappearsout the window after the T-Rex shows up and, in a barn, is madeto realize about the dinosaur: “You have Michael’s brain?”
Dr. Wachenstein later views Tammy as bait toretrieve the dinosaur, but Tammy and Byron plan to retrieve Michael’sbody after the funeral. The T-Rex cries at Uncle Bob’s eulogy.Unfortunately, the body is gross and rats are involved, so afteran attempted kidnapping by the Doctor and Helga, Tammy and Byrontry to find a body that will suit Michael’s brain. With the scientiststied up and the T-Rex in a truck, they display their findingsat the local morgue. (“They’re all old over here.” “Deadis as old as you’re gonna get, honey.”)
After a chase sequence, the three are trappedin a barn. Dr. Wachenstein wants to tranquilize the dinosaur,which he nevertheless claims is merely mechanical. The T-Rex isable to kill the Doctor, but the cops open fire and kill it.
We cut to a happy home scene. Tammy has thebrain hooked up to her computer and video camera and does eroticdancing for this bodyless version of Michael, unto a sort of electricalorgasm.
Commentary:It’s actually not bad. The ludicrous, over-the-top humor usuallyworks well, however pre-high-schooly the intended audience.