Product Details

• Actors: Brad Johnson, Marjean Holden, Gerrit Graham, John Christian Graas, Cyril O'Reilly
• Directors: Stephen Cornwell
• Writers: Don Jakoby, Kevin Rock, Kim Steven Ketelsen, Nick Paine, Wallace C. Bennett
• Producers: Andrew Hersh, Douglas Curtis
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
• Language: English, German
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Vidmark / Trimark
• VHS Release Date: January 1, 1998
• Run Time: 97 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302999790
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #91,511 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Different Strokes for Different Folks, I guess ..., January 25, 2004

By 

the_review_guy (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Philadelphia Experiment 2 [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Reading the variety of reviews here I see that some love this film and prefer it to the first. Some loved the first and didn't like this film. To each his/her own, I suppose. I preferred the original film and eagerly anticipated the sequel when I found out it had been produced.

I saw this movie back in the early 90's but didn't remember much about it except that Brad Johnson was in it, and it didn't seem as good as the first movie. So I ordered the movie used on the internet.

While I was watching the movie, I thought how cool it would be to have a time machine. Then I could go back before I saw the movie and get 98 minutes of my life back. By the time the movie got to the end, it had redeemed itself somewhat. One notable exception was the captivating Marjean Holden whom our hero meets in the (alternate) future. And the German scientist (Gerrit Graham), son of another German scientist from World War II provides (eventually) an interesting double (though it can be fairly argued triple) role.

It must be clearly stated. This movie is totally unlike the first film (except that it includes a bit of footage from the first), so prepare yourself. Apparently they were working on a tight budget and this shows up in the special effects.

I think the screenwriters (or film editors) decided to make the audience experience the same confusion as our hero does when he travels through time (I'm sure that didn't spoil the plot for anyone). For this reason, the film seems oddly disjoint and you have to be patient enough to wait for the ending to fully comprehend what happened. Are there plot holes? Yes, large enough to fly a plane through. But at least the ending brought the film to a (somewhat) logical conclusion. And for that I give the film three stars. If you watch the film a second time, it will make a little more sense regarding what the screenwriter/director were trying to accomplish.

If you like Brad Johnson (a decent actor with not much room to move here) and/or Marjean Holden you'll probably find enough about the film to like. But again I say, this is not at all like "The Philadelphia Experiment". When the F-117 Nighthawk Stealth Fighter was shown to the public, a host of (bad) films emerged with the F-117 as the centerpiece. I've seen a few of them and almost automatically avoid any movie where the F-117 is used because of this. If you can hang on until the ending, I think you'll understand the film better.

You may want to rent this one first, before you decide to add it to your collection. Maybe there will be a director's version someday on DVD. And without the trailers for some other obviously bad Vidmark films. I recommend fast-fowarding over the previews preceeding this film on VHS. Fortunately, these were not on the TV broadcast of the film when I first viewed it.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Philadelphia Experiment 2- Okay 90's Movie, November 11, 2001

By 

Lee Jordan (Natchitoches, LA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Philadelphia Experiment 2 [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This movie was much better than the first. It made more sense for a time travel story. It continues on with the main character from the first movie living 9 years into the present he was accidentally sent into. From 1984 to 1993. They sure do show he had been there a while with him having his own son from the woman he met in the original picture. I do not understand why they did not have her in the second movie. But this movie did make a lot of sense with German decendants altering history by having their ancestors win World War 2 against the Americans. What great effects of time changing and the story turning out that the U.S. is no longer the free coountry it once was. Now it has been ruled by the Germans and is in honor of Hitler. The main character is the only one not affected becase he is not truly a part of that time line. But in the end he finds a way to travel back and undo the bad guys' work. Then history is set back the way it's supposed to be. It's amazing how he kills the bad guy's father and that results in the slug never being born cause he gets erased from existence. I wonder if there will be a Philadelphia Experiment 3? But I doubt it. No one is a huge fan of these movies. Or at least not from what I see.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars PLEASE NO 3, July 15, 2004

By 

Michael Butts (Berkeley Springs, WV USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Philadelphia Experiment 2 [VHS] (VHS Tape)

THE PHILADELPHIA EXPERIMENT was a freshly original film when first released. This follow-up is so muddled and poorly realized that it's hard to tell exactly what is going on. Obviously filmed on a tighter budget, the movie moves at a snail's pace and Brad Johnson is lost in this convoluted and ultimately enigmatic film. Gerrit Graham is like the Klaus Kinski of B-movies, overacting with relish and abandon; it's a shoddy performance to say the least. Any movie that deals with time travel is bound to make some technological flubs, but this movie is bathed in errors. Tension surrenders to confusion and the viewer is left in the shadows of an unexplained vortex. There, did that confuse you enough???