Remember When Paul Walker Was Mauled By A Lion, Then Turned Into A Robot Dinosaur?
On the list of weird '90s movies, Tammy and the T-Rex stands out for both straight-up absurdity and downright awfulness. In terms of blockbuster hits, it's one of the worst movies ever made. Don't be confused by the title, this is no Jurassic Park. However, in terms of cult movies and terrible classics, this movie is almost impressive for its sheer reptilian weirdness. Honored as one of the most horrible '90s movies, the movie follows teenaged couple Tammy (Denise Richards) and Michael (Paul Walker) on a trippy, psychosexual animatronic dinosaur adventure. When Michael gets killed in freak lion accident (wait, it gets weirder) his brain is transferred to the body of a robotic dinosaur. He then uses said body to get revenge on his high school bullies (who also basically caused his lion-death) while trying to outrun both the police and the mad scientists who created the robo-dino.
During their shenanigans, Tammy and her titular T. rex commit tons of bloody murder, conduct multiple body-snatching attempts, and get mixed up in high-speed police chases. And while that sounds objectively interesting, wait until you pair it with eye-scorching CGI, wildly out of place sexual energy, and utterly painful acting. Mix it all together, and you get the whimsically horrible action/romance/sci-fi cocktail that is Tammy and the T-Rex.
- 114 VOTES
Tammy Decides To Continue Dating Her Dead Boyfriend, Giving His Disembodied Brain A Striptease
Although her boyfriend is technically deceased and without a body, Tammy sees no reason she shouldn't try and maintain a relationship with him. By the film's end, Michael's brain ends up in a bowl connected to speakers and a camera which (somehow) enables him to see and express himself. Forget that Tammy is a young woman with a lot of life ahead of her, and really shouldn't be dwelling on making things work in a one-sided relationship, she takes her passion even further.
She gives the dead and disembodied Michael a striptease dance for his camera eyes, causing his wiring to spark in "excitement." Apparently, she gives him some sort of neo-neurological orgasm.
- 215 VOTES
Where Did That Lion Come From?
In the beginning of the film, after a rousing round of mutual testicular torture, Michael ultimately gets overpowered by Billy (Tammy's ex-boyfriend/a complete psychopath) and his gang, and they throw him into a wild animal sanctuary. The sanctuary is replete with loose lions and jaguars, so Billy clearly set out to murder Michael.
Now, why there isn't extensive security blocking hooligans from running amuck in a wild animal park, and how Michael escaped from the lion mauling before dying, will just have to remain a movie mystery. The next time we see him, he's in a coma, being watched over in the hospital by his drunken uncle.
- 39 VOTES
The T. Rex Can Use A Payphone?
According to this film, T. rexes with the brains of humans have all of the same motor skills as humans (also magically extending, articulated arms). Not only does Michael the robot dinosaur reach out and dial the numbers on a telephone, he does it with a very obvious and poorly-masked human hand. This becomes a trend for Rexy, as everything the robot does with its hands is awkward and screams "I am a human hand covered in bandages!" It defies logic, physics, anatomy, and basically all science in general.
- 48 VOTES
A T. Rex Squishes Everyone At A House Party And It's Not International News
After his transformation, Michael shows up at a house party with Billy, his love rival/dude who totally murdered him. Naturally, he uses his new status as a thunder lizard to get some payback.
While he's at the party, he crushes and devours everyone in his path. It's a campy, reptilian massacre. Somehow, this all stays local news, and the town's police force (which consists of, like, three people) set their targets to the rampaging T. rex. Tammy, of course, sticks by her (now mass murderer) robotic T. rex boyfriend.
- 58 VOTES
The Main Characters Have No Problem With Grave Robbing
So, the plot of Tammy and the T. rex revolves around main character Michael having his brain transplanted from his dying human body into that of a robotic T. rex. As soon as Michael's friends learn his brain lives on inside of said T. rex, they hatch a scheme to get him back into a normal body.
From the start, a staple of this plan involves stealing a dead body to reanimate. When their initial plan to steal Michael's original body doesn't work out, they simply go to the morgue to get him a new one. Of course, there is zero discussion about the ghoulish implications around snatching a corpse because, hey, wacky '90s hijinks.
- 66 VOTES
Michael's Defining Personality Trait Is Eating Roses
While still a human, Michael flaunts his bad-boy, carefree attitude to Tammy by... eating a rose that he gave her? So edgy. So free. While in dinosaur form, Michael eats another rose, to prove to her that he has his original brain. Obviously, it must be her same lovable nutcase, eatin' flowers and breakin' hearts.