Search - The Terror Within on DVD

Halfway Decent "Alien" Knockoff

Lonnie E. Holder | Columbus, Indiana, United States | 03/17/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The only real drawback to this science fiction monster movie is that it is just a little too close to the classic movie "Alien." Survivors from an underground laboratory rescue a woman from the outside world after an experiment goes awry and kills most of mankind, with the exception of mutated creatures that bear some semblance to the creatures that appeared in the 1984 monster movie "C.H.U.D.," without the glowing eyeballs. It seems that the monsters in this movie also desperately needed an orthodontist.



Now that the woman is within the secure facility, the survivors learn that she is pregnant. The baby turns out to be (surprise!) a mutated creature, and it promptly munches on the hand of the lady trying to extract it. In a scene copied directly from "Alien," the critter looks around and heads for the ventilator shafts. This movie does explicitly explain that the baby critter is growing at a phenomenal rate, and you had to guess that in "Alien."



The underground survivors, led by Hal (George Kennedy, "Airport," "Charade," the original, and better, "Flight of the Phoenix" and dozens more television and movie appearances), arm themselves with flame throwers and laser and try, vainly, to track the creature down and kill it. This creature has a marvelous ability to heal itself even after being burned, hacked and beaten, so it is very difficult to kill.



In spite of the seemingly direct copying of the essential elements of "Alien," including the level by level searching for the creature, the flamethrowers, and the use of the ventilation shafts by the creature, this movie is a good watch. The appearances of the creature were predictable, but the creature was nicely done. The movie refuses to allow its low budget prevent it from being an entertaining movie. Essentially, this movie tried hard to be enjoyable.



There is a lot of blood in this movie. Blood tends to squirt and gush quite frequently, so this movie is absolutely not for children. The monster costume was nicely done too; again not for children. However, adults who like bloody monster movies and are willing to forgive a blatant rip-off of "Alien" may find this gory monster movie to be entertaining. I know I did. Enjoy!

"

Pretty good horror flick from Roger Coreman

K. S Schneider | Springfield, OR United States | 05/30/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is worth at least 4 stars. When survivors of a worldwide plague, rescue a lone woman,they soon find out a shocking discovery:she's pregnant...and it's not a human! Now they must fight a desperate deadly battle against the ever-growing, ever bolder mutant. It stars George Kennedy and Andrew Stevens."

Not too bad, not very good, either.

Jueichi Shen | Knoxville, TN United States | 02/18/2002

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Roger Corman-produced post-apocalyptic horror flick involves a beast running loose inside a shelter. Yes, it's Alien underground! Begins well and suspenseful, but loses all momentum by killing off the film's most likeable character (played by Starr Andreef, who's rather hot), and some poorly choreographed attack scenes don't help. Features mostly shoddy monster effects."

The Originality Lacking Within

Hip_School_Preppie | Bethel, CT | 07/19/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"This movie is a direct cross of Alien and The Beast Within. Alien, a great Sci-Fi flick, had the birth and rapid growing which was poorly repeated in this flick. The Beast Within (notice the title similarity), which was a decent horror movie for it time, has the same theme of a monster trying to mate with every woman it comes across. They took two good movies and made one pretty bad one. The low budget definitely didn't help. The "Gargoyle" reminded me of Godzilla. A rubbery suit that was too big for the guy wearing it. Water, or some sort of goo/liquid sprayed on the suit would have helped - looked too dry. I will give it 1 star for gore though."