Credit: Universal PicturesJurassic Park (1993) is one of the most iconic films ever made. It’s the perfect mix of wonder and terror, and while it’s mostly targeted towards universal audiences, there’s no denying that there are moments of genuine horror throughout, from Dennis Nedry’s grisly death at the teeth and claws of a Dilophosaurus to Robert Muldoon’s morbid demise by Velociraptor.
Now, hot off the heels of legendary sci-fi director James Cameron (Aliens, Terminator 2: Judgment Day) revealing that he almost helmed the original 1993 film before it was ultimately passed over to Steven Spielberg, telling Empire (via Games Radar) that he’d have “made it too terrifying and R-rated,” adding that “it would have been Aliens with dinosaurs”, comes a brand-new Jurassic Park short horror film from YouTube channel InGen 2D.
This isn’t InGen 2D’s first rodeo — they’ve already given us a few animated shorts inspired by scenes from Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park, the violent best-seller Cameron would have undoubtedly used as the basis for his “terrifying and R-rated” film. Of course, Spielberg also adapted that book, but the 1993 film is mostly an adventure with only moments of horror.
Previous shorts have included “The Fate of Dennis Nedry”, “The Main Road”, and “The End of Dr. Wu.” Now, the creators bring us “The River Raft”, which is adapted from one of the novel’s most iconic sequences where Alan Grant, Tim Murphy, and Lex Murphy try to escape a swimming Tyrannosaurus Rex in a tiny boat.
The sequence was brought to life for the first time in live action in this year’s sequel Jurassic World Rebirth, albeit with a different set of characters (the Delgado family) and on a new island. Watch the brand-new short film below:
Related: Universal Officially Ends ‘Jurassic Park’ Series Despite Successful Run
Though told in 2D animation, it’s a pretty effective film that not only gives us an idea as to how this sequence would play out if it wasn’t peppered with goofy moments like it is in Rebirth, it also gives food for thought when it comes to the idea of an R-rated live-action film.
Obviously, that’s never, ever going to happen — the franchise is far too lucrative for Universal Pictures to suddenly tailor it towards a limited audience (just look at how Paramount recently shelved the R-rated TMNT reboot). But it also makes us wonder about the possibility of an animated Jurassic film or series — yes, we already have Camp Cretaceous and Chaos Theory, but they’re as family-friendly as the 1987 Turtles cartoon.
For now, we can but dream. And here’s hoping that the upcoming first-person action-adventure video game “Jurassic Park: Survival”, which is set just 24 hours after the events of the original 1993 film, will adapt some of those horror elements from Crichton’s book.
Would you like to see an R-rated Jurassic Park? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section down below!