User reviews

Another in a long line of attempts to cash in on the success of the film Alien, this one held my interest maybe two-thirds of the way through, but unfortunately then gets too cheap and silly. I kind of liked the premise, workers on an isolated oil platform digging up an ancient lifeform from deep beneath the ocean floor, then of course they find themselves at its mercy like any respectable monster. But when all's said and done it just follows the same old tired formula, with sacrificial good guys and bad guys, and doesn't have the monster FX to back it up in the climax. Not as bad as most other clones (which is not saying much), but still not worth getting excited over. I gave it a 4.

There is an oil rig in the middle of nowhere.Its staff is looking for oil but their mission is secret.A company geologist played by Joseph Bottoms is looking for alternative oil sources.One day he finds a bunch of small eggs.And creepy looking snake creature,who bites young worker prompting him to die.Whilst mysterious eggs are researched in the lab various oil rig workers begin to die...First of all I consider Peter Carter's "Rituals" to be one of the best and most fascinating survival horror movies of 70's. Peter Carter's "The Intruder Within" is clearly not as stunning.There are some effective moments of suspense,but the plot is silly as it rips-off "Alien".The creature effects are average at best.The atmosphere of isolation is well-captured,though.6 oil rigs out of 10.

This Film was great It had what an average fright flick whould want. The Disipointment was it was made for T.V. Chad Everett, Jennifer Warren Joseph Bottoms Rockne Tarkington and James Hayden star in this film about a creature that has been drilled up by their oil rig by Antartica. The small creature turns into a monster that begins to kill off the crew members of the Oil-Rig. The film would have been better if it was not made for T.V. and Had more Violence and Gore like PREDATOR and ALIEN did. But the Director failed to commpelte good effort and the monster was Just a costume but dose look frighting. I recommed this film catch on T.V. or Rent it. It is a good clone to ALIEN and Predator. 8 stars out of 10.

Ridley Scott's magnificent Sci-Fi/horror classic "Alien" spawned (pun intended) a massive amount of rip-offs, most of which are cheesy, sleazy and excessively gory B-movies like "Creature", "Xtro", "Forbidden World" and "Inseminoid". The 1981 "The Intruder Within" is also a blatant "Alien" rip- off, but considering this is a low-budgeted and made for TV production, you shouldn't expect to see any outrageous bloodshed or flamboyant special effects here. Instead, the film relies almost entirely on its fairly unique setting of a highly secluded oil rig somewhere in the middle of a not specifically mentioned ocean (and even if it was specifically mentioned, I must have missed it). The crew of an oil rig of the Zoltran Company is drilling at a very unusual place, and Chief Jake Nevins is beginning to suspect that something isn't kosher. Personally I think it's their own damn fault, because who would want to work for a company with such a sinister name as "Zoltran"? You just know that they're up to no good! Anyways, the geographical engineer on board recovers a few odd and nasty eggs from the sea and a couple of poor suckers die in mysterious circumstances. Turns out Zoltran is looking for a monstrous species that already exterminated humanity once before, millions and millions of years ago, and now they found it! "The Intruder Within" is an admirable effort to bring an atmosphere- driven monster flick, but most of the script is dull and predictable. There are a couple of noteworthy moments of tension, for example the moody opening credits, and the cast members do whatever they can. Deep sea monsters, whether alien or earthly, are a rather unusual topic for TV-movies and director Peter Carter also tries hard to make his film like a regular feature, but many aspects (like music and editing) quickly reveal the television trademarks. Naturally the creature itself doesn't appear on screen until very late in the film, supposedly because it isn't fully grown yet, but even when it briefly and vaguely appears it's all too obviously a crew-member is a cheap rubber suit. Okay entertainment for monster-movie fanatics, but passable for everyone else.

Here are the parallels: Blue collar workers aboard an isolated company oil rig (fuel-refining space ship) stumble upon several prehistoric (alien) eggs that spawn powerful and ferocious creatures with an unusually rapid growth rate, one of which "impregnates" a female (male) member of the rigging crew who has a creature burst out of her (his) stomach...all under the watchful eye of a treacherous company geologist (science officer).

Unbelievable.

I'm shocked nobody got slapped with a lawsuit for this one.

Still, the oil-rig setting is inventive and most of the performances are half-decent, as is some of the dialogue. But the action and suspense (what little there is of both) show up in fits and starts... and this TV movie was obviously hindered by too many budgetary and content restrictions to make any kind of an impact.

Along the lines of "The Thing", with a touch of "Alien", "The Intruder Within" is no more than a mediocre creature feature. The boredom of an isolated oil drilling rig crew is translated to the screen as mostly boredom for the audience. Over 19,000 feet down, the drill encounters an unknown life form that is fascinating to the on board scientist. Where have you seen that before? Pick any similar monster film. Interestingly there are only good looking women working on the rig, one of whom is date raped by the undersea intruder. The beast itself goes through an all too familiar metamorphosis from hand puppet to man in rubber suit. Overall the movie lacks tension, and is loaded with way too much meaningless dialog. - MERK

Back in the day, Starlog was hyping this film as an almost sequel to Alien. With the popularity of the film, folks were ravenous to see more chest bursters in action. That said — this has nothing to do with the original other than stealing just about every single plot point.

Instead of space, this film goes to a more terrain — yet not less remote — location: an oil rig packed with folks like Chad Everett (TV's Medical Center, Mulholland Drive, Airplane II) as our mustachioed hero, Jennifer Warren (Mutant, Slap Shot) as his love interest and fellow rig worker, Joseph Bottom (The Black Hole) as the villain, Rocke Tarkington (Ice Pirates) and Paul Larsson (The Blaster from Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome!). It's worth noting that every conversation the characters have — pre-alien — is about hooking up. They're far from the mainland and feeling the urge to just get it on because all the drilling is getting them hot and bothered.

I hesitate to even write the plot to this, as I could just write the plot for Alien: crew finds eggs, someone goofs about and pays the price, the monster starts stalking the ship, hijinks ensue. Again — this film is hypersexualized, as one of the first monster attacks is more rape than attack. And there's always a KY jelly like substance leaking out of everything. It's also pretty bleak — the raped crew member dies after she gives birth to a full-sized alien and just about everyone dies pretty horribly — if off-camera, as this was still broadcast TV.

There's also one well-done section of the film that explains that whatever the creature is, it predates the Biblical Flood and has lived beneath the ice for millions of years — very Lovecraftian themes that are never followed up on, sadly. Plus, being the '80s, there's a subplot about the oil company Zortron and how they may want the creature and eggs more than the oil (again, a plot point taken straight from Alien) and some character work about cheating spouses.

The actual creature suit is pretty nice and holds up well to being in the light. It was created by James Cummins, who also contributed to House, DeepStar Six (I'll be getting to that one), Enemy Mine and The Beast Within. It's very Giger-influenced to the point that many people incorrectly report that Giger worked on it. That said, it's pretty strange to see an alien climb a ladder!

For all the exposition, set-up and character development, this movie ends just when it seems like it's picking up steam. Who knew all it takes is a flare gun to defeat an alien? It certainly surprised me! The Intruder Within got to the party early, but it's not the best of movies — filled with blocked off TV movie direction, too dark camera-work and a short running time. That said — it still has some charm and you can find worse ways to spend 100 minutes.

READ MORE AT http://www.thatsnotcurrent.com/xeroxenomorphs-1981s-the- intruder-within/

People used to put EFFORT into TV movies...back when they used to make them. This certainly can be boring at times, but the location has originality to it, and it puts the characters in an isolated spot in the world...the tone with this is set early and it helps give you that sense for the rest of the movie. The romantic subplot isn't too bad either, since Chad Everett is a pro's pro anyway. I like that meals they eat too....Chad Everett whips up those omelettes for himself and Jennifer Warren, and Rockne Tarkington makes that awesome plate of steak and other trimmings one night for the crew in that kitchen. Now that's good eatin!

Due my reassessment process of my movies which I had watch in my teenager years it was already scheduled, a hard to find picture, so I've to call our friend Youtube and bingo, it was there on average print with dubbed version in Portuguese, best impossible quite sure and for nostalgic reason I went for to my night session.

At oil rig nearby Antartica the crew are drilling very deeply when came up an Alien specimen from ancient ages, the rest is too predictable, the casting is enough good for this little Sci-Fi-Horror flick as Chad Everett, Jennifer Warren, Rockne Tarkington, Joseph Bottoms and Matt Clark among others.

Thanks for reading.

Resume:

First watch: 1986 / How many: 2 / Source: TV-Youtube / Rating: 5.5.

Workers on the Zortron 101 oil rig bring up an unusual discovery from deep beneath the ocean floor. A deadly incident ensues, and a crewmember's gloomy prophecy seems to come true. Then, the real terror begins.

THE INTRUDER WITHIN is a well-realized, made-for-TV horror / monster movie. Around this time, many movies were coming out trying to capture the atmosphere of paranoia of John Carpenter's THE THING, and / or the visceral, killer creature horror of Ridley Scott's ALIEN. Both of these classics had that sense of being closed-in and isolated. This movie uses that to great effect. It combines these elements without being overly derivative. There are similarities, especially the ALIEN-like creature, but that doesn't ruin things. This movie is still far better than any of the other rip-offs.

The team of roughnecks are believable, led by Jake (Chad Everett).

Back to the monster itself. It's a superb man-in-a-rubber-suit creation, especially considering the confines of telefilms of its era.

Loads of creepy fun throughout its running time...