Ira de Mutante

Well, I had a chance to sit down in 2020 to watch the 1989 movie "The Terror Within" for the first time. I had already seen the 1991 sequel "The Terror Within II" and wasn't impressed with that, but still I managed to sit down to watch this first movie as I hadn't already seen it.

And while "The Terror Within" wasn't an overly impressive or outstanding movie, it was at least better than its sequel in many ways. But I will say that "The Terror Within" is not a bad movie, as there are far worse movies of this type out there. It is watchable and enjoyable enough for the cheesy movie that it is.

The storyline is pretty straight forward and very easy to follow. It is a storyline that is a lot akin to the story told in the "Alien" movie, like it or not. However, the movie was sort of dystopian future in its setting, and it actually worked out well enough.

As for the cast in the movie, then I was only familiar with George Kennedy, and it was sort of odd to see him in a movie such as this. While he fared well enough in "The Terror Within", he did feel a bit out of his element in this type of movie.

"The Terror Within" is a creature feature, and luckily we do get to see a lot of the creature that is stalking the characters in the subterranean complex. Sure, the creature design are old and bears witness to being made in 1989, but I am sure that back then they were pretty impressive. But by todays standards, then this was a mere rubber suit with a facial mask that was unable to articulate.

I am rating "The Terror Within" a mediocre five out of ten stars. The movie was watchable and sort of entertaining enough. However, this was by no account a milestone in cinematic history. Nor is it a movie that actually spurs a second viewing once you've seen it the first time.

But what else would expect from the likes of Roger Corman?

Chemical warfare experiment kills of most of the world's population. There are a few 'normal' people left like our protagonists (Andrew Stevens, George Kennedy, Teri Treas, etc..) and then there are the gargoyle-like creatures who impregnate female humans in order to procreate their own kind.

See, Andrew Stevens & Co. are left inside an underground lab that spared them from the effects of the plague, so in one of their reconnaissance patrols out in the desert, they bring back a wounded human female (Yvonne Saa) to the complex in order to treat her. When they find out is that she is pregnant and that she was impregnated by one of the monsters, they decide to do an abortion. But just as they're about ready to perform the procedure, the little gargoyle pops out of her stomach ALIEN-style and escapes into one of the complex's air vents. It's an ok scene but we've all seen it before.

Stevens & Co. then spend the rest of the movie trying to hunt down the creature as they are slowly being killed off one-by-one. The best scene is towards the end of the film when one of the gargoyles is trapped in the ventilation shaft and is cut up, sliced and diced by the fan blades. Pretty good although I wish it were more graphic.

It looks like Corman & Co. spent a little bit of money on the set design but don't expect any of the fanciest gizmos from STAR WARS or any of the ALIEN sequels. At least the sets don't look too much like cardboard.

Released on DVD the same time as THE NEST (Teri Treas appears in both), you could do a lot worse on a Saturday night. You could also do a lot better, too.

6 out of 10

A Roger Corman quickly produced cheapie that wears its influences proudly, as many elements (character descriptions to lifted sequence ideas) just reek of Ridley Scott's 1979 feature ''Alien''. However this systematic fodder remains enjoyable (for most part, despite its often lumpy pacing) on a very b-grade level, as it doesn't pretend to be anything else than cheap, exploitative fun. Instead of being set in space like that classic, the action takes place in a post-apocalyptic setting due to a chemically induced plague wiping out the majority of the earth's population. Nevertheless a small bunch of scientists are holding up in an underground laboratory in the bone-dry desert, but their existence is soon threatened by genetic mutations known as gargoyles. These beasties are quite randy too, because at nearly every opportunity they go out of their way to impregnate the women. What the story lacks in imagination (as it does draw upon a predictable amalgam) and coherence, it makes up for in durable performances (a likable Andrew Stevens, George Kennedy, John Lafayette, Starr Andreeff and Terri Treas all keeping it straight) and gruesomely tacky splatter (even though it doesn't have much impact in engineering the deaths and tawdry jolts). Being rough and crude, it's kind of similar in style / budget to the likes of ''Creepazoids'' and "Parasite". The creatures are kept off screen during the first half, to only be heard and getting some POV shots. Nonetheless we do get to see them, and it's a fair looking monster design of a man in a rubber suit. Everything looks low-rent, which is cemented by its compact setting and stuffily framed direction but still lingering within is a grim atmosphere. The music score tagged to the project isn't too bad either, being high-strung but ominously pitched. Mechanically uninspired, but gruellingly cheesy entertainment.

The Terror Within (1989)

*** (out of 4)

Yet another ALIEN clone from producer Roger Corman. This one here takes place in a post-apocalypse world where a group of survivors live safely in a shelter. Their good lifestyle takes a turn for the worse when a large monsters gets inside and starts a killing rampage. THE TERROR WITHIN is in no way, shape or form an original movie but fans of mindless monster movies should really enjoy it as we get a fun cast, a great monster, several gory death scenes and an all around good time. The film not only has elements of ALIEN but we also gets bits and pieces taken from THE THING and also several very important "moments" from HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP. It's clear the goal of this film was to deliver an old-fashioned monster movie that you'd see at the drive-in in the 1950s but they took it a step further by adding in the gore and nudity that you'd expect to see in an exploitation film from this era. I think the most surprising thing is that a monster movie like this could get made and released in 1989 because this type of film pretty much died out at the start of the decade when slashers arrived on the scene. The cast includes a fun lead performance from the one and only Andrew Stevens and we get nice support from Starr Andreeff, John Lafayette and Oscar-winner George Kennedy who was square in the middle of his exploitation days. Another major plus is the wonderful costume design of the monster. The monster is without question one of the most memorable of the decade and the amount of detail in everything from his face to the body is just pretty remarkable and especially when you consider the budget. The film also offers up some pretty violent death scenes with a lot more blood than you were typically seeing in horror films during this period thanks to the MPAA. There's a delivery sequence that certainly goes over the top. THE TERROR WITHIN isn't a classic but I think it's a very good monster movie that has a lot going for it.

Annoyed by the modern zeitgeist drama-queen productions, I am lately on my mission to watch movies of the good old times (everything before 2k). The Terror Within and its successor The Terror Within II are both trashy and cheesy B-movies but entertaining and, last but not least, with some moments of gore here and there. So if you are interested to watch a story set in a post-apocalyptic world with some genetic degenerated monsters on the hunt for human women to breed some more monsters, part one and two of The Terror Within may be of interest to you. In my humble opinion that mix is a very promising and strong premise for a movie ;)

Final words: both movies got a well deserved rating of 5 by me - one point I simply did add for the fact that those movies do not pretend to be anything other than what they are - trashy and bloody monster movies without any tendency to educate us on topics like gender, migration, race, daddy issues, climate change and whatever other stuff haunts our world and minds today. Conclusion: The Terror Within = popcorn entertainment for the very charming kin who got a little notion to bad taste stuff.