This movie wanted to compete with Terminator and Aliens, but no one remembers anymore

In 1989, five years after Terminator, the Italian director decided to release a second T-800 adventure, even before the real Terminator 2, which James Cameron signed on for in 1991. But as if the killer cyborg character wasn’t enough to fill the movie. The same filmmaker decides to combine this world with aliens to release a feature film, which he calls “Terminator II”. It is also known today as Shocking Dark.

When the city of Venice becomes so polluted that it must be evacuated, a team of scientists is sent to investigate the source of the evil. In order to protect them and explore with them the vast underground network under the city, they are accompanied by a commando. And soon, people who have lost their minds, a dangerous creature and an unstoppable cyborg attack them!

Directed by Bruno Mattei, to whom we owe space horrors like Manhattan Rats and Cannibal Virus, Terminator II/Shocking Dark features newcomer Heaven Tyler, who plays a Ripley-esque, Sarah Connor-esque role. We will never see him on screen again.

Obviously, this production without a lot of resources, mostly unprofessional casting and a franchise heist story that doesn’t belong to it, shockingly dark makes it difficult to watch the film as a whole, despite its calibrated running time of 1h30.

The script is such a mess between Aliens and The Terminator without ever rising to the level that Bruno Mattei’s feature film should be reserved for those who can have fun with its colossal flaws and find the old-fashioned charm behind it. Exploitation film like we (fortunately or unfortunately) don’t do anymore.