Classic B-Movies don’t come better than a Roger Corman
production although ‘89s The Terror
Within is not among one of his best nor is it one of his worst. In a post-apocalyptic world a group of
survivors are holed up in a military bunker away from the devastating effects
of a war that had catastrophic effects on everyone left exposed above. One of the after effects of the war is the
existence of deadly mutants that populate the earth and kill everything they
come into contact with. What these
mutants don’t kill they mate with to continue their species.
Hal (George Kennedy) is the leader of this group of
survivors that are trying to survive in this harsh new world. During a routine hunt for food and supplies
on the surface, part of Hal’s team discovers evidence that humans have been
living on the surface without any effects from exposure but one of these humans carry the offspring
of the mutants within her. When this
survivor from the surface world is brought back to the bunker the mutant baby
hatches and all hell breaks loose within the bunker and Hal and his group of
survivors must hunt down the mutant before it hunts them down and kills them
all.
Like any Corman film this film borrows heavily from other
films especially Alien (1979) and a
plethora of Corman’s own sci-fi and fantasy films. Kennedy was a well-known character actor of
the ‘80s and ‘90s and is a big draw for this film even though he has limited face
time. The rest of the film has an
equally capable cast and what the film lacks in originality it more than makes
up for it in entertainment value and gore.
Corman’s films have never been one to shy away from monsters
and despite the low-fi special FX it delivers in entertaining the audience who has
come to expect the cheesy stories and monsters.
