The Terror Within II

Andrew Stevens returns as David to the sequel, but this time he also acts as writer and director. Gargoyles are still roaming around the world and people are also still living in secret bases. David along with his dog Butch is out collecting raw materials so they can create a vaccination to battle the germ that has been accidentally let loose on the human race. David is colder and more desperate this time around. This time around I found it was PREDATOR that was being ripped off, but not to the degree ALIEN was in the original.

In addition it seems this sequel gets a lot of criticism as being a bad film, but personally I didn't find it any worse than the original. In fact I found it more original with its story. The music by. Terry Plumeri was good even though at times it seemed quite similar to Alan Silverstri's score to PREDATOR. If you really liked the original give this one a try if you want. If you didn't like the original I would just say skip this one. Also starring Andrew's mother Stella Stevens, R. Lee Ermey and Renee Jones. Executive producer was the king of B movies Roger Corman.

Although widely considered as one of the lousiest (of many) earthbound- "Alien" knockoffs of the late 80s, I personally always had a weakness for "The Terror Within". This shameless imitation - produced by the equally shameless Roger Corman - featured non-stop gore, cheesy monster effects, and dumb but hilarious plot errors.

And you know what? I didn't expect anything less (or more?) from its rapidly put together sequel! R. Lee Ermey replaces George Kennedy, but other than that "The Terror Within II" is almost an exact replica of part one. A handful of last survivors are still hiding out in a subterranean laboratory, mutant creatures still dwell the earth's post-apocalyptic surface on the lookout of women to impregnate, and if the creatures don't wipe out the survivors some sort of random deadly virus will. Heck, even the idiotic dog-whistles remained in place as one of the sole effective weapons to battle the mutants. The only innovative aspect here is that a mutant's ripped off finger (!) slowly metamorphoses into a puddle of prowling blob/goo that attacks from inside the safe lair!

Well yes, this film is quite bad, but also thoroughly enjoyable. For some inexplicable reason (let's call it B-movie logic) only gorgeous women survived the apocalypse, and they're also eager to strip topless. Andrew Stevens, the lead hero of the original, promoted himself to also being the writer and director of the sequel, so the first idea he put in the script was that a gorgeous blond girl (Clare Hoak) falls in love with his character and immediately offers her body to him. Nicely done, Andrew!

The Terror Within II (1991)

** (out of 4)

Andrew Stevens co-wrote, directed and stars as David in this sequel to the 1989 cult film. This time out, there aren't too many humans who survived a nuclear fallout, which resulted in a number of mutants running the land. David meets up with a woman and soon team up with a colony to try and defeat the mutants once and for all.

THE TERROR WITHIN was one of the better low-budget ALIEN clones as it featured a terrific monster, a nice cast and some great gore effects. This sequel was obviously working with an even smaller budget but if you're a fan of this type of post apocalyptic film then there's plenty to enjoy here. There's no question that it falls well short of the original movie but there's still enough "B" movie fun here to make it worth watching.

I've always been a fan of Stevens so it was fun getting to see him play the tough action hero. When we first meet his character he's walking around with a full beard and playing with his lovable dog. From here he is given a love interest and it's pretty much all war from here. Stevens was certainly a lot of fun in the lead role but we also got nice support from the likes of R. Lee Ermey, Chick Vennera, Stella Stevens and Clare Hoak. Granted, these aren't Oscar-worthy performances but that's not what this film called for.

The action scenes are well-directed for the most part and Stevens manages to keep the film moving at a nice pace. Add in a little bit of nudity, some sex scenes and you've got the type of R-rated movie people would have wanted to rent back in the day. The creature effects aren't nearly as effective as the first movie but I did like the look of them here. There's also some nice blood and guts scattered throughout the film.

With all of that said, THE TERROR WITHIN II features a pretty basic and unoriginal story and there's certainly not enough tension to make it a complete success but it's an entertaining B movie.

The oohgaa freaking horn is annoying as hell right when the movie starts and just keeps getting worse as the thing goes on !!

this film is not as good as the first but hey it still somehow works although the speed is slow and the makeup is laughable but still it is ok to watch on a boring sunday afternoon but it will not give you the Alien feel of the first one.