Synopsis

The plot of this Tokugawa Pictures classic is nearly identical to that of Michael Crichton's novel, Jurassic Park. A fairly rich man, John Hammond, decides that a great way to make money would be to open up a theme park with live, genetically engineered dinosaurs. Like the well-known story goes, various people (lawyers, mathematicians, paleobotanists, paleontologists, etcetera) encounter these dinosaurs and many of them get eaten. Unlike Crichton's version, this one has a fair amount of slapstick humor spread throughout the script.

Here are some examples of the humor to be found in this movie:

• MULDOON: "It's tingling, sir!" (referring to dandruff shampoo)
  HAMMOND: "That means it's working!"
• GRANT: (in awe, looking up at a giant herbivore) "Is it a..."
  HAMMOND: "Brachiosaur?"
  GRANT: (nods)
  HAMMOND: "No, but you really can't tell from this angle."
  GRANT: "God, it's huge." (walking closer)
  HAMMOND: "He knows."
• GRANT: (after a T-Rex flips their car over) "Are you guys okay back there?"
  MALCOLM: "I'm fine." (looks to the side) "Tim's dead."

Add to these spoken jokes an underlying morbidness (a raptor rips off the lawyer's head and it rolls around through the rest of the movie), references to many other movies (Muldoon gets knifed in the shower by a raptor in a scene imitating Psycho; Hammond shakes in fear as a raptor drools an inch away, like in Alien 3; and Hammond builds a mountain of mashed potatoes like Richard Dreyfuss does in Close Encounters of the Third Kind) and some sick visual imagery (Grant eats raptor "feces" (brownies and chocolate frosting) to determine where it is at this time; Nedry's disembowelment is juxtaposed with Muldoon's voracious spaghetti eating), and one has an idea of this movie's tone. Added in the middle of the movie, just when people start to get attacked, is a five minute "intermission" which is actually a shameless SPAM advertisement.

Influences

Obviously, the primary influence is Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park. (It also drew from the Hollywood interpretation, but to a lesser degree.) Other movies or shows that Diuretic Park ripped off include the following: Alien 3, Psycho, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Predator, The Naked Gun, and Aladdin.

What does "diuretic" mean?

According to Webster, it is an adjective meaning "increasing the volume of urine excreted." This word was chosen because, first of all, it sounds like "Jurassic," and second of all, that's exactly what would happen if a dinosaur attacked you.

Method

Firsts

• Perhaps the most notable of achievements in this picture is the creation of the rubber raptor head. Originally intended to be worn as a mask, it was created through a long and somewhat expensive process (sixty dollars' worth in raw materials). First, I approximated the shape of the raptor head with crude styrofoam blocks (it should be mentioned that the raptor and the tyrannosaurus seen in this movie are life-size). Then my mom and myself used paper maché to mold the finer details, and finally stuck in pistachio nuts for teeth. When this mold dried, we painted latex over the entire surface, but no paint stuck to the rubbery texture, so we needed to improvise. The solution: we mixed dry paint pigments into wet latex, then painted several new paint layers onto the mask. Finally, while the latex was still drying, we shoved marbles into the eye sockets.
• The raptor was not the only dinosaur shown in Diuretic Park; a full-size tyrannosaurus head (with movable neck and lower jaw) was constructed with cardboard. (It was flat and featureless, so its only practical application was with sillhouettes.) The T-Rex was used in a scene where it flips the Diuretic Park tour van onto its side. This effect was achieved by coordinating the actors' movements (flinging themselves to the side) with the camera's movements (tilting the proper way). It was really a simple visual trick, but it was surprisingly effective.

Lessons learned

• If you attempt to make something out of latex, expect to spend weeks completing the task.
• Learn how to adjust the iris on your camera (instead of having it on "automatic" aperture). In this movie, John Hammond (played by Chris Murray) often appears in his office, in front of a well-lit window. Since the camera exposed for the brightest area, his face was almost always underexposed. In this case it would have been preferable to open the iris even more, thus bathing him in heavenly-looking light and bringing detail to his face.
• The best scenes in comedies occur when the actors dismiss whatever reservations they might have in real life circumstances. For example: I tend to use a toothbrush to brush my teeth, but as Muldoon, I used a hairbrush; Aaron Hemphill is normally somewhat mature, but as Nedry, he threw an exceptionally embarrasing temper tantrum; Jeff Claxton is a really cool guy, but as Worker 2, he tossed that attitude aside when he gets his head bitten by an angry raptor. Actually, this idea works for serious movies as well; if you are serious about acting, you should be prepared to do things you would never normally do. (There is a reason it's called "acting.")

What people think

"It [is] a tense erotic thriller [...] that offers powerful and thoughtful insights into the ultimate consequences of genetic engineering [...] filled with jaw-dropping performances by some of the finest young actors to grace the screen."

--Scott Rubey

"Hands down, the funniest picture of the year! Great family fun!"

--Aaron Hemphill