Top Bar
Musique Machine Logo Home ButtonReviews ButtonArticles ButtonBand Specials ButtonAbout Us Button
SearchGo Down
Search for  
With search mode in section(s)
And sort the results by
show articles written by  
 Review archive:  # a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Tammy and the T-Rex - Tammy and the T-Rex(Blu Ray) [101 Films - 2021]

One of the more wacky genre films to appear from the 1990s was Tammy and the T-Rex- it's a bizarre blend of lopsided teen comedy & huge stalking creature feature- with touches of gore bound splatter, kooky Sci-fi, and a quirky romance. Here from 101 Films is an Ltd edition Blu Ray release of the film- bringing together a 4K scan, commentary track, and some other neat extras.

Tammy and the T-Rex appeared in 1994-it was directed and co-written by Englishman Stewart Raffill. His directing career began in 1971 with family adventure film The Tender Warrior, moving onto fast-paced action comedy of 1981’s High Risk, through to conspiracy fired Sci-fi adventure of 1984’s The Philadelphia Experiment. In all between the ’70s and 2010s, he helmed eighteen feature-length films. Tammy and the T-Rex certain highlights Raffill genre-jumping playful-ness, and (mostly) managers to keep afloat with its wacky & often wonderful flow.

The film focus in on High School sweet-hearts Tammy(Denise Richards) and Michael( Paul Walker)- the pair’s relationship is marred somewhat by Tammy's bad-boy psycho ex Billy (George Pilgrim) and his gang on coons. One night Billy & his cohorts capture Michael, and decide to drop him down in the local wildlife park- he gets attacked by a lion and land-ups in hospital. Next coming into the story is shifty & over-the-top European doctor Dr Wachenstein(Terry Kiser)- whose made a animatronic Tyrannosaurus, which is controlled by a computer. He decides he needs a real human brain in the Rex- so they kidnap the starting to come round Michael- whisk him off to their lab, whip his brain out & puts it into the T-Rex. Fairly soon the now aware dino decides to escapes and tracks down Tammy. Into the mix, we get Tammy's uber camp  gay African American friend Byron(Theo Forsett)- a trio of bumbling &  sleazy joke-cracking cops featuring prolific B–movie actor George 'Buck' Flower.


The film is an ultra cheese-lined romp that shifts 'n' slides from battling teen angst, onto camp-it-up mad doctor high jinks, though to head ripping & gut spilling gore, onto bizarre dino human romance. With the whole thing edged with a quirky sense of humour & wackness- with acting that shifts between OTT, camp, and deliberately dumb. It’s certainly fair to say that Tammy and the T-Rex will not be for everyone- but if you enjoy wacky genre-blending it’s a must.

Moving onto this new Blu Ray- and the 4K scan looks bright, punchy & buoyant in it’s 90’s colour scheme. On the extras front there’s nothing brand new on the disc it’s self, as the extras here come from the Vinegar Syndrome release from last year- but if you’ve not got this then the extras are most worthy. First, we get a commentary track from Stewart Raffill and producer Diane Kirman- this is a nicely laid-back & chatty affair, with the pair discussing the origin of the film- basically they were given one million $’s, an animatronic Tyrannosaurus, and three weeks to make the film- with a script, actors, and everything else been needed to be put in place. They move onto talk about this been Walker’s and Richards first film, and how they gave very passioned performances, with the whole cast very much in on the joke/ tone of the film. They move onto discuss Raffill animal training background & how the wild animal attack scene was done, comment on locations & much more- all told an entertaining track.
Next, we get a selection four of stand-alone on-screen interviews- these each run between eleven and twenty-five minutes a picec- there with director Stewart Raffill, actress Denise Richards, actor Sean Whalen, actor George Pilgrim. Lastly, we get the original PG13 cut of the film with all the gore of course removed- this is taken from a video source. With the finished release there’s an inlay booklet this features a few writes-up in the form of ‘A Teen-Rex Romance’ by Liam Hathaway and ‘Making Monsters: Masters of Animatronics’ by Barry Forshaw- not sure if these are new or not, also I’m not sure what else is featured in the inlay booklet as we were just sent the screener disc for review.


Tammy and the T-Rex is a lot of cheesy & gory fun- and if you're in for wacky & comic creature feature it’s a must. Great to see 101 Films giving this picture a UK release, so more people can enjoy this campy & gore-bound romp.

Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5

Roger Batty
Latest Reviews

Tammy and the T-Rex - Tammy and t...
One of the more wacky genre films to appear from the 1990s was Tammy and the T-Rex- it's a bizarre blend of lopsided teen comedy & huge stalking creature...
290324   Piranha - Piranha(DVD)
280324   Typhoon Club - Typhoon Club(B...
270324   Jerzy Skolimowski Collection ...
260324   Latex Choker - Sealed
260324   Occlusion - 59: No Input Wall
260324   Nihil Impvlse - Anabasis
260324   Marta Forsberg - Sjunger För...
260324   The New Boy - The New Boy( Th...
250324   The Stargazer’s Assistant - ...
250324   Liza Lim - Annunciation Trip...
Latest Articles

The Music of Clay Ruby & Burial H...
Over the last couple of decades Wisconsin native, Clay Ruby has been creating some of the world’s finest dark electronic music under the Burial Hex mon...
280324   The Music of Clay Ruby & Buri...
290224   Sutcliffe No More - Normal Ev...
100124   Occlusion - The Operation Is...
181223   Best Of 2023 - Music, Sound &...
051223   Powerhouse Films - Of Magic, ...
181023   IO - Of Sound, Of Art, Of Exp...
210923   Lucky Cerruti - Of Not so Fri...
290823   The Residents - The Trouble W...
110723   Yotzeret Sheydim Interview - ...
250523   TenHornedBeast - Into The Dee...
Go Up
(c) Musique Machine 2001 -2023. Twenty two years of true independence!! Mail Us at questions=at=musiquemachine=dot=comBottom