My review was written in May 1989 after a Times Square screening.
"The Terror Within" is a low-budget, no frills monster pic from Roger Corman. It lacks freshness and is a routine entry in regional release, with only modest video prospects.
Corman is no stranger to the apocalyptic sci-fi genre, having helmed the similar "The Day the World Ended" in 1956. Here newcomer Thierry Notz helms a version of Ridley Scott's "Alien" on Earth: with their rations running out, the scientists -led by George Kennedy at the underground Mojave Lab for Disease Control in California -are fighting off mutants topside, as virtually the entire human race has been killed off by a plague.
They discover a pregnant girl (lovely Yvonne Saa), whose fetus has a vastly accelerated gestation rate. Group's doctor, Terri Treas, operates to remove the little monster, which pops out ("Alien" chest-burster-style) to quickly grow and terrorize our heroes.
Pic benefits from a streamlined screenplay by Thomas Cleaver, who pares down the obviously derivative plot to bare essentials with no flab. Dean Jones' creature effects are interesting, but production is too chintzy to make the film required viewing for genre fans.
Kennedy punches the clock in a routine assignment; ditto hero Andrew Stevens. Femme cast fares better, with Starr Andreeff quite sympathetic in a dramatic role (she finds out she's carrying a mutant fetus as well) and Treas authoritative as the pic's take-charge character.