Saurians Blu Ray Review (Visual Vengeance)

Saurians is a 1994 dinosaur horror film written, produced, edited, and directed by Mark Polonia (Cocaine Werewolf, Cocaine Shark, Church of the Damned, Hallucinations, Splatter Farm franchise, Feeders franchise, Bad Magic, Lethal Nightmare, Hellspawn, and Camp Blood franchise). It was produced by John Polonia (Savage Vows, Terror House, Dinosaur Chronicles, Peter Rottentail, WildCat, Razorteeth, and The House That Screamed franchise). The sequel Saurians 2 was made in 2023!!!! When a routine construction blast shakes their entire sleepy town, a group of unlucky local archeologists which includes Alan (played by: Mark Polonia from Amityville Rex, Pandasaurus, Saurians 2, Jurassic Prey, and Dinosaur Chronicles), Lynette (played by: Maria Davis from Saurians 2, Pandasaurus, Jurassic Prey, Amityville Island, and How to Slay a Vampire), Charlie (played by: Matthew Satterly from Church of the Damned, Night Crawlers, HalloweeNight, and Nightmare Vacation), and others discover that the explosion has awakened two ferocious dinosaurs from a centuries-long slumber. The Hunter (played by: Todd Carpenter from Hellspawn, Feeders franchise, Bad Magic, Dinosaur Chronicles, and Jurassic Prey) arrives to take care of this jurassic problem. The dangerous beasts run amok in the woods on a rampage of terror to the whole community!!!! Saurians is unintentionally hilarious in every possible way. It has ridiculous dubbing, cheap visual/special fx, and some wacky performances all over. Director Mark Polonia is very respected in the shot on video community, he did some real solid work with his brother back in the day for some of their earlier projects. He’s still making low budget features after all these years, he’s currently on his 105th movie. He’s done several similar style monster projects but this is his first one when it comes to Dinosaurs. Polonia is very hit or miss to be honest so you never know which one you’ll get from him so it’s always an interesting surprise. Jurassic Park was the biggest hit at the time so he decided to do his own no budget version to capitalize on it’s popularity. Dinosaur Horror was barely touched before that one blew up but it spawned all kinds of rip-offs including Saurians. The script covers your typical plot points in these types of micro productions. Dinosaurs are resurrected from their deep sleep after a big mistake is made. The experts are caught in the middle of it. There’s something corrupt about their small town and a known hunter is brought in to fix the problem before it’s too late. The cast for Saurian includes Mark Polonia, Maria Davis, Matthew Satterly, Todd Carpenter, Todd Michael Smith (Splatter Farm), Dustin Davis (Colt Jackson: Enforcer), Josh Nagy (Peter Rottentail), and Todd Rimatti (Night Crawlers). I will say that it’s loaded with violence, death, body parts, and gore once it finally kicks in. That’s probably the most positive element about it, those nasty fx have that classic SOV look to them. Besides that, there’s nothing really good about Saurians. Almost everything is a total disaster when it comes to this independent feature but you can’t look away from it. It doesn’t even reach the “it’s so bad that it’s good” compliment. It’s extremely weird and beyond random that it ends up being very funny out of nowhere so at least it’s not boring at all. It’s the perfect candidate for something like Rifftrax or Mystery Science Theater 3000 especially with it’s outrageous stop motion fx. They are definitely two of the worst dinosaurs that I’ve ever seen in cinema. Saurians probably works much better with a group of friends or an audience under the influence. I personally wouldn’t revisit this again and I love a bad dinosaur experience like everyone else but this is more than that. It’s a complete one and done for me. I am still curious about it’s sequel so I’ll give that one a shot someday. Regardless of any negativity here, I do respect anyone that puts the effort and time into a full length like this. I completely understand that you can only so much with so little but Saurians feels more like a bonus movie addition to a home video release rather than the main attraction. It’s currently streaming on Tubi if you are curious about it!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation and special features from Visual Vengeance in association with Wlld Eye Releasing! This 1080i (1.33:1) uncensored transfer is from a brand new restoration from the original tape elements. This was shot on Super 8, they tried to do whatever they could to give Saurians it’s best possible quality on home video. It’s obviously a huge step above compared to any older version. It’s the definitive edition. The rough and raw appearance actually works to it’s advantages, it just fits better for this do it yourself production. It adds to it’s over the top atmosphere. It has the brand new exclusive “Audio Commentary” with director Mark Polonia moderated by Visual Vengeance. It has the brand new exclusive little over 7 minute “The Making of Saurains” with Mark Polonia and Maria Davis. They go over the history of the project. They used 2 different cameras and it was made a few months. It had a few distribution deals that fell through. They had issues dubbing it. They are both very honest and blunt about Saurains. They chat about it’s past VHS home video release that motivated them to extend it a little more compared to the original. It has the brand new exclusive almost 5 minute “Saurains Locations Visit”. Mark Polonia goes back to a variety of older locations for this independent film. It has a little over brand new exclusive 4 minute “Interview” with actor Todd Carpenter. He chats about his character in this. He talks about his experience doing Saurains. He goes over some locations and memories from it. He shares some inspirations for the role. It has a little over brand new exclusive 7 minute “Interview” with producer/director Kevin Lindenmuth. He chats about his career and some of his projects here. He mentions working with a producer that lead him to knowing Mark Polonia. They traded tapes of their movies back in the day. He talks about having footage that he shot that fit Saurians that ended up being inserted into it. It has the almost 4 minute “Saurians Stop Motion Outtakes”. It has a little over 8 minutes of “Saurains Super 8 Raw Footage”. It has the unreleased almost 56 minute “Rae Don Home Video Version” of Saurians. It has an “Audio Commentary” with director Mark Polonia moderated by Visual Vengeance. The best addition to this home video release is the 2004 bonus movie “The Dinosaur Chronicles” directed by Mark Polonia that’s a little over 68 minutes. I think it’s actually a little better than Saurians. It has the brand new exclusive little over 4 minute “The Making of The Dinosaur Chronicles” with director Mark Polonia. He chats about the origins of this project. It came from a mix of an unreleased movie mixed with some newer footage. He goes it’s complicated history. He shares some personal and inside stories about it. It all came from a label needing an additional feature for their multiple film set that was sold in big retail stores. Unfortunately, they didn’t pay what they owed when it was actually released. It has various Visual Vengeance related “Trailers” including Saurains and The Dinosaur Chronicles. It has a “Trailer” for the sequel Saurians 2 from Wild Eye Releasing. It comes with a slipcover, 2 different artworks underneath, retro sticker sheet, The Dinosaur Chronicles insert, and a mini poster. Visual Vengeance once again gives an obscure production the royal treatment on home video. Saurians is loaded with so much bonus material so that alone makes this worth adding to the collection if you are fan of it or Mark Polonia. It’s available everywhere right now, RECOMMENDED!!!!