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.
