Release Date: 21 Dec 1994
Run Time: 90 minutes
Origin: USA
Mimi's Rating: 4.5 yellow roses out of 5
"Hang on your boobs girl. It's gonna be a bumpy ride."
Tammy and the T-Rex is one of the best "bad" movies I've seen in a long time. I can barely justify giving it the title of "bad". It's low-budget, yes. But, it's also hilarious, cartoony goodness with just enough self-awareness to make a rollicking good time for its audience.
The film opens at a high school where we meet our leads: Tammy, a cheerleader (Denise Richards), and Micheal (Paul Walker) a football player. We also get an amazing T-Rex-themed song during the opening. I'm a sucker for cheezy theme songs. They also meet Tammy's best friend, Byron (Theo Forsett), and once again we see that classic 90s trope, the gay sidekick.
Outside the school, Micheal attempts to give Tammy a yellow rose which she declines. You see, Tammy has a violent and possessive ex named Billy who Tammy fears will hurt Micheal. Micheal eats the rose which is... weird. And oddly enough, an important plot point.
Tammy's worries about Billy come to fruition when he arrives at the school looking for her and begins to fight Micheal. This fight ends in what is referred to as a "testicular standoff". Yes, Micheal and Billy grab each other by the balls until forcefully separated by the town's hick cops. After, Micheal reveals that he was wearing a protective cup the whole time. And Billy didn't notice? I guess he just assumed Micheal has really hard balls. Upset by these events, Tammy runs home.
Now we are introduced the the villains of the story and the animatronic T-Rex. Is it just me, or does the T-Rex model resemble Shin Godzilla? Working on the T-Rex are Dr. Wachenstein (Terry Kiser) and his gaggle of sidekicks: his main assistant, Helga (Ellen Dubin), his bodyguard Karl, and his other assistant, Bobby (John Franklin). They test the T-Rex's strength and abilities and we find out that Dr. Wachenstein wants a human brain for the T-Rex so that he can create a lifeform that is "immortal".
That same night, Tammy calls Micheal to come to her house so they can make up. Micheal rushes over and the two mend their relationship. Micheal gifts her a bracelet and they begin to get frisky. There's a comedic cut to Tammy's father saying "Ooh that's hot" as he drinks a cup of tea. Having been alerted that Micheal is at Tammy's house by his two female crew members, Billy arrives with all his buddies and they storm Tammy's house. Micheal manages to avoid Billy at Tammy's house but is captured all the same. Billy and company take Micheal to what I assume is some sort of big cat sanctuary and leave him there to get mauled by a lion. Micheal is saved by the game warden before the lion can finish the job.
The next day, Tammy and Byron visit Micheal in the hospital. Hilariously, Micheal looks completely fine despite having a large cat use him as a chew toy. The entire hospital scene is very funny and it's when the movie starts to come into its own. Dr. Wachenstein and Helga arrive at the hospital having been tipped off about Micheal's untouched body. They fake Micheal's death so they can make off with the body. Kiser and Dubin deliver some big laughs in this scene and work well off each other. Also, fantastic physical comedy from the duo as they try to leave with Micheal even though he keeps waking up.
The laughs continue when Dr. Wachenstein gets Micheal back to the lab and successfully transplants his brain. This is probably the scene with the most gore and it's used to great comedic effect and still manages to fit the cartoon-like tone of the film. Definity check out the Gore Cut if you're interested in this movie.
When Micheal awakens in his new T-Rex body, he goes on a rampage killing Karl and Bobby (Karl is comedically flattened like a cartoon character). And this is when my favourite running gag of the movie starts. When Micheal-Rex has to interact with things, the arm of the creature is someone's arm in a rubber T-Rex arm and the way it interacts with the world makes no sense physically and makes me laugh every time it happens.
After escaping the lab (and using a payphone), Micheal-Rex turns into a Ray Harryhausen effect and heads off to find Tammy. We then see that Tammy is at a backyard party with Byron, even though her boyfriend died a few hours ago. Oh, and Billy and company are also at this party. Of course, Micheal-Rex ends up crashing the party but only after Tammy has left. Micheal-Rex gets revenge on his tormentors in a variety of fun and gory ways. Once again these are pretty decent gore effects for this kind of movie. After his rampage, he picks up a terrified Byron and dusts him off.
Thanks to Micheal-Rex's party rampage, he now has the town's two yokel cops and Sherriff Black (who happens to be Byron's father) on his trail. The two bumbling cops have some pretty great lines, and one of the duo is played by the great character actor Buck Flower.
The next day we see Dr. Wachenstein and Helga planning how they will retrieve Micheal-Rex. Meanwhile, this monster is walking down a suburban street in broad daylight on his way to Tammy's house. He spirits Tammy away from her house like he's King Kong. At his barn hide-out, Micheal-Rex manages to convince her of his identity through a game of charades. He tried eating a yellow rose again but that didn't work.
"You have Micheal's brain?"
Now with Tammy, and later Byron on his side, the trio are looking for a human body for Micheal-Rex. They attempt to retrieve his original body, which doesn't go so well. But, we do get a scene of Micheal-Rex crying at his funeral which involves water pouring out of the model's eyes. Next, they try to find him a new body at the morgue and we get some great comedic interplay between Tammy and Byron.
Before they can all decide on a body for Micheal-Rex the police arrive which leads to a car chase, and then a T-Rex-back chase as Tammy flees with Micheal-Rex.
"Damn, that girl can ride!"
Will our two star-crossed lovers make it? Will Micheal get back into a human body? Find out in: Tammy and the T-Rex!
When I decided to watch this movie, I expected a movie that was going to be well, "stupid" and best case scenario "so bad it's good". And while Tammy is silly and dumb, it's in that self-aware way that all the best B-movies are. It fully embraces everything that it is and I thoroughly enjoyed it and had many laugh-out-loud moments.
As for the performances, everyone is delivering their best here. Denise Richards is the heart of the movie with her sincere performance and the supporting cast hamming it up in the best way. Stand-out performances from Terry Kiser and Ellen Dubin who play their villain roles like two cartoon characters come to life.
So, if you're interested in seeing a "how did this get made" rom-com/sci-fi/horror movie, you won't waste your time with Tammy.
Bonus: The story was written in a week.
Why you should watch:
Great jokes and gags that don't let up.
Fast-paced and you won't feel like you're wasting your time.
Pretty good low-budget gore effects used for comedy (a personal favourite).
It's a "see it to believe it" kind of movie.
Why you shouldn't watch:
You don't like gore.
You don't like campy movies.