Species II

There's a kind of perverse marketing genius at work in this cheesy sci-fi hit from 1995 in which scientists create a half-human, half-alien woman named Sil (Natasha Henstridge) who's capable of morphing from a slimy, tentacled creature into a blond babe with the body of a Playboy centerfold. This makes it easy for Sil to lure gullible guys who are only too willing to indulge her voracious mating urge, realizing too late that sex with Sil is anything but safe. As the body count rises, a handpicked team of specialists tracks the alien's killing spree, but their diverse expertise is barely a match for the ever-morphing Sil. Borrowing elements of the Alien movies (including bizarre alien designs by Swiss artist H.R. Giger) and spicing them up with some tantalizing nudity, Species is a wet dream for creature-feature fans--kind of like watching a sci-fi vampire fantasy while browsing through the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. --Jeff Shannon