"The Terror Within" is adequate sci-fi / horror, no more and no less. Still, it's about as good as a low budget Roger Corman knockoff could be; it's reasonably well produced (by Corman himself) and directed if mostly predictable and routine stuff.
It takes place in a future world where most of humanity has been decimated by a chemical experiment that got out of control. But the people of the deep underground scientific base Mojave Station were able to administer themselves an antidote, and now they spend their time foraging for supplies and looking for other survivors. When members of their team encounter a crazed young woman (Yvonne Saa), they find that she's pregnant - but not with any human child. The resulting "gargoyle" that emerges when they try to abort it then proceeds to slaughter the hapless crew one schmuck at a time.
To Cormans' credit, the sets look decent, and also giving the look of the movie some degree of quality is the work of cinematographer Rohn Schmidt, who's gone on to big things such as the feature film "The Mist" and the TV series 'The Walking Dead'. Rick Conrads' music is actually quite good while the creature effects by Dean Jones prove to be adequate. (In an interesting development, the monsters have super sensitive hearing, akin to that of dogs). However, the movie does so much cloning of "Alien" as to be somewhat groan inducing, right down to its creation of two comic relief characters (played by John Lafayette and Tommy Hinkley) clearly patterned after Parker and Brett from the '79 film. It manages to create some suspense, and come up with a somewhat cathartic finale.
A committed B movie cast plays this as well as they can, with Oscar winner George Kennedy lending some credibility to the proceedings. Andrew Stevens (who went on to direct "The Terror Within II") is likable enough, as are lovely ladies Starr Andreeff and Terri Treas. Lafayette and Hinkley are able to generate some laughs, while both Saa and Andreeff supply any eye candy the viewer could want.
If you can't get enough of this kind of thing, "The Terror Within" is certainly watchable if not inspired. As has already been said in other reviews, yes, you can do better, but you can also definitely do worse.
Six out of 10.
It takes place in a future world where most of humanity has been decimated by a chemical experiment that got out of control. But the people of the deep underground scientific base Mojave Station were able to administer themselves an antidote, and now they spend their time foraging for supplies and looking for other survivors. When members of their team encounter a crazed young woman (Yvonne Saa), they find that she's pregnant - but not with any human child. The resulting "gargoyle" that emerges when they try to abort it then proceeds to slaughter the hapless crew one schmuck at a time.
To Cormans' credit, the sets look decent, and also giving the look of the movie some degree of quality is the work of cinematographer Rohn Schmidt, who's gone on to big things such as the feature film "The Mist" and the TV series 'The Walking Dead'. Rick Conrads' music is actually quite good while the creature effects by Dean Jones prove to be adequate. (In an interesting development, the monsters have super sensitive hearing, akin to that of dogs). However, the movie does so much cloning of "Alien" as to be somewhat groan inducing, right down to its creation of two comic relief characters (played by John Lafayette and Tommy Hinkley) clearly patterned after Parker and Brett from the '79 film. It manages to create some suspense, and come up with a somewhat cathartic finale.
A committed B movie cast plays this as well as they can, with Oscar winner George Kennedy lending some credibility to the proceedings. Andrew Stevens (who went on to direct "The Terror Within II") is likable enough, as are lovely ladies Starr Andreeff and Terri Treas. Lafayette and Hinkley are able to generate some laughs, while both Saa and Andreeff supply any eye candy the viewer could want.
If you can't get enough of this kind of thing, "The Terror Within" is certainly watchable if not inspired. As has already been said in other reviews, yes, you can do better, but you can also definitely do worse.
Six out of 10.