The Invisible Raptor is absolutely absurd, completely outlandish, and an undying love letter to Steven Spielberg. If you were of a certain age in 1993 like me, then Spielberg’s Jurassic Park probably was a major paradigm shift in your developing movie brain. The film explodes with majesty and horror. It’s the perfect blend of thrilling adventure and terrifying dino mayhem. It has been mimicked, copied, and pasted for decades. Even the in-universe sequels can’t stray too far from its masterful setup and delivery. There have been more than a few homages in film that hit the mark, and some that leave you scratching your head (The VelociPastor (2018)). But I will always bite on anything Jurassic Park-inspired, so here we are.
Mike Capes as Dr. Grant Walker in the horror, comedy THE INVISIBLE RAPTOR, a Well Go USA Entertainment release. Photo courtesy of Well Go USA Entertainment.
Starring Mike Capes (Adjunct) and David Shackelford (Kingpin; Good Burger), The Invisible Raptor is about . . . well, exactly that. The film opens with Sean Austin (Hard Miles) in an underground lab running tests on a caged, invisible raptor. Keeping with the lore of Jurassic Park, these raptors are smart, smart enough to not only turn a doorknob, but to use a key to unlock the door first. Oh yeah, and kill a scientist, take out his eye, and use his eye for the retina scan lock so it can escape. That’s pretty darn smart, and that is the kind of mindless nonsense you can expect from the film. While it rides the line of zany and a farce, it’s most certainly a comedy, but it can’t decide if it will ironically take its premise super seriously, or continually mock itself.
One of the best aspects is lead actor Mike Capes, who plays Dr. Grant Walker, a clear nod to Sam Neill’s character in Jurassic Park. Playing a disgraced paleontologist who is forced to take a thankless job at a tourist trap called “DinoWorld,” he has a knack for raptors and he plays the entire film straight. So, whether he’s discovered a rare dinosaur anus or is digging through dino dung to fish out a retainer, it’s all business. The only problem is that the scenarios become so outlandish that he just tends to appear foolish. Playing opposite him is Shackelford, who is so grossly the opposite of Capes’s steely Dr. Walker that they could be in two separate films. Shackelford’s Denny is nothing but pratfalls and bad jokes. Mix that with over-acting and some mind-boggling line deliveries and his character really starts to wear you down.
Caitlin McHugh Stamos as Amber in the horror, comedy THE INVISIBLE RAPTOR, a Well Go USA Entertainment release. Photo courtesy of Well Go USA Entertainment.
The supporting cast really doesn’t bring anything to the table. Walker’s love interest in Caitlin McHugh (The Vampire Diaries) is developed for the whole film, but her character of Amber is so unlikable that there is nothing to root for there. Sandy Martin of Napoleon Dynamite fame plays a chicken wrangler named McCluckskey (get it! Cluck!) who, and I’m not lying, presents herself sexually to the raptor to distract it, and then gets humped by the raptor, who is at this point covered in urine (it’s a long story involving a small prosthetic penis). All this is for laughs, I guess? The film is definitely cranked to 11 and takes big swings with its premise, which is admirable.
The film moves along quite nicely for its nearly two-hour runtime. If you are a fan of gore, there is a fair amount of practical effects that will keep you interested. Having your raptor be invisible will definitely help keep the budget lower, all the better to buy more buckets of blood and guts. The raptor has some fun gags, like being shot with a red helium balloon a la the yellow barrels in Jaws (1975), and the ensuing carnage the floating balloon inflicts is hilarious and horrifying.
Sean Astin as William ‘Willie’ Walsh in the horror, comedy THE INVISIBLE RAPTOR, a Well Go USA Entertainment release. Photo courtesy of Well Go USA Entertainment.
More than anything, The Invisible Raptor is a love letter to the early films of Steven Spielberg. The names of the characters, the font of the opening credits, and music in DinoWorld are all direct references or homages to Jurassic Park, E.T. (1982), The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), and Jaws, to name a few. Even Vanessa Chester plays her character from The Lost World for a scene. It’s all loving and genuine, and it’s the only thing that kept me from turning this off halfway through. But when the credits rolled, I did think fondly of the creative kills, insane story, and Mike Capes remaining stoic throughout. This film will definitely find its audience and it is miles better than the Sharknadoes of the world. If it was a little less silly, and a little more scary, it would be an instant classic for the nostalgia-seeking crowd.
In theaters and on digital December 6th, 2024.
For more information, head to the official Well Go USA The Invisible Raptor webpage.
Final Score: 2 out of 5.
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Categories: In Theaters, Reviews, streaming
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