Product Details

• Actors: Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Douglas O'Keeffe, Ingrid Kavelaars, Andrew Jackson, David Nerman
• Directors: John Bradshaw
• Writers: John Bradshaw, Damian Lee, Lauren McLaughlin, Sheldon Inkol
• Producers: Damian Lee, Helder Goncalves, Jeff Sackman
• Format: Color, EP, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Allumination
• VHS Release Date: January 27, 1998
• Run Time: 85 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 1575233096
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #393,305 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Mark Paul Goesselaar fans won't be disappointed with Specimen. They're probably too young to remember Firestarter or The Terminator so they won't recognize where most of the plot came from. Mike (played by Goesselaar, who was the blonde kid on the original TV show "Saved by the Bell") starts fires with his mind and is probably a spawn from an alien species. He is tracked down by Eleven, a bounty-hunter/racial-cleanser/clean-up-janitor--who knows?--but Eleven really wants to destroy Mike. Most of this chase takes place in the largest community center in the free world. For all its plot and scene pilfering, there's an attempt at originality (Mike has to sleep in the bathtub to keep from burning down the house), but most of the time, this film can barely produce a spark. --Keith Simanton

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars THE TERMINATOR MEETS FIRESTARTER, April 15, 2004

By 

Michael Butts (Berkeley Springs, WV USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Specimen (DVD)

SPECIMEN is a molding of two other movies: "Firestarter" and "The Terminator." They even have the two aliens appear in the buff, cute little buns and all. Mark Paul Gosselaar plays Mike, a young man who has the ability to start fires; he is the spawn of an alien who impregnated his mother, and the aliens have sent a terminator type guy (played with muscular aloof by Douglas O'Keefe) to bring him back or destroy him (why, they never say). In steps another alien, Andrew Jackson, who we find out has closer ties to Mike.
Mike teams up with a teacher and the local sheriff to understand what's going on; the sheriff (played dead pan by David Kerman) believes the story about Mike's birth, but Mike doesn't. How else can he explain his powers, though?
Low budget and corny, SPECIMEN nevertheless works because there's a modicum of sincerity to its thin storyline. The special effects are chintzy, but the locale is beautiful.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mark-Paul Gosselaar--great!, May 9, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Specimen [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I liked this movie. The story is intriguing. The only problem I had with this movie was with some of the writing--it was a little bit stilted in some places. The character of "Eleven" was just a little bit lame. I thought Mark-Paul Gosselaar was great. He made the character (Mike) believable and sympathetic and made the whole movie watchable and enjoyable. I liked that this movie wasn't just a bunch of scenes jumbled together for effect, but told a slowly unfolding story as it went along.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Specimen - A movie so bad it is good, November 1, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Specimen [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I would almost consider the movie "Specimen" a high class "B" movie in the SciFi genre. If you liked the movie "Firestarter" with Drew Barrymore in the '80's, you may like this movie.

Mark-Paul Gosselaar (Saved By the Bell) actually does a decent job in his role as Mike Hillary. In this, what I consider to be, a low buget film.

Think of "specimen" as an updated version of the movie "Firestarter." Specimen has more of an alien feel to it, on a low budget scale. I am not into "B" type movies. However I can say I liked this movie. A movie so bad it's good.

Recomended for the SciFi or "B" movie fan