Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

In the bleak future the world has been ravaged by biological warfare. The rough'n'tumble David (a solid performance by Andrew Stevens, who also wrote and directed) has to race against time to find the necessary ingredients for a cure for a plague that's been decimating mankind. Matters are complicated when a pair of hideous deadly mutants get loose in an underground compound where a ragtag group of survivors are holed up. Stevens keeps the familiar, but still enjoyable story moving along at a snappy pace, maintains a grimly serious tone throughout, delivers a satisfying smattering of grisly gore and brutal violence, makes nice use of both the desolate desert and claustrophobic subterranean base main locations, draws the characters with some depth, and even tosses in a nasty monster rape scene along with smidgen of tasty bare female skin for extra trashy good measure. The sound acting by the competent cast further keeps this film on track: R. Lee Ermey as the hard-nosed Von Demming, Stella Stevens as no-nonsense doctor Kara, Chick Vennera as the rugged Kyle, Burton Gilliam as easygoing good ol' boy Dewitt, Clare Hoak as the feisty Ariel, Barbara Alyn Woods as sassy, but selfish redhead Sharon, Larry Gilman as the whiny Jamie, and Renee Jones as the spunky Robin. Both Terry Plumeri's moody score and Janusz Kaminski's slick cinematography are up to speed. A fun flick.

Granted that I haven't watched the first "The Terror Within" movie, or at least don't have any recollection of watching it, should I have watched it during my teenage years. But regardless, I was intrigued by the synopsis of the movie, and decided to take a chance on it despite it being from 1991.I should have gone with my gut instinct and stayed clear of this one. I managed to endure 35 minutes of this movie, before I gave up out of complete and utter boredom and a lack of interest in anything that happened on the screen.This was low budget in every sense of the meaning low budget. The creature design was just abysmal, and most of the time you didn't see anything more than a poorly constructed oversized hand made out of questionable material. And the guns that people fired had no fire spray at the muzzle, and didn't even leave holes in walls when being shot through thin sheets of plastic. It was just atrocious to bear witness to.The cast in "The Terror Within II" was relatively unknown to me, aside from R. Lee Ermey. Now that really puzzled me. How did they actually get him to participate in a movie such as this?From what I managed to witness during my 35 minutes of watching this ordeal of a movie, I suppose the storyline was about mankind struggling to survive in a harsh and barren world overrun with mutants. Now, it was that same synopsis that had me lured in, because it sounded very much like something akin to the Fallout games. It might have been so in theory, but turned out to be a much less effective thing on the screen.I have no intention of returning to finish watching this movie, and I also have no intention of going to sit down to watch the first movie. It just doesn't seem to be worth the time nor the effort.

THE TERROR WITHIN survivor David (Andrew Stevens) travels the post- epidemic wasteland with his dog Butch (Butch Stevens, no, really!) trying to get to an underground facility filled with more scientists in Denver. This proves treacherous thanks to the genetically abnormal Lucius creatures roaming the hills. THE TERROR WITHIN was a decent little late 80s Concorde flick and producer Roger Corman wisely let star Stevens make his writing-directing debut here. How good is Stevens? He brings back his freakin' dog while part one's female survivor is toast and written off in a line of dialog ("She died in the desert"). Even though this is essentially a remake of the first film, Stevens shows he is adept at handling the action and nudity (something that would come in handy in his T&A thriller work a few years later). He even gets his mom Stella in there alongside fine supporting work from R. Lee Ermey, Chick Vennera and Burton Gilliam. The effects are appropriately gooey and there is a really bizarre monster rape scene (initiated by Cyndi James Gossett, spouse of Louis at the time). Stevens brought Butch back in NIGHT EYES II the following year.

Wow! The second one is just as stinky as the first entry. I really hope we don't see a third part. I caught this one on late night cable. I didn't really want to watch, but I didn't feel like watching infomercials about back hair removal. Although it may have been more appealing in the long run. Man it's sad that film had to be wasted twice on the Terror Within and Terror Within 2. Our government wants to root out evil, HEY, how about going after these film makers next!! Wake up and smell the coffee. These films SUCK BAD!! The acting, if you can call it that, is really horrible. Matter of fact it's scarier than the stupid mutant. I know people who make movies say that those who can't do, become critics...I know first hand. I made my own rotten horror film in the 1980's. It sucked as well. But not as bad as this!! Be smart. Pass this crap up! I would give it a big fat ZERO!! But 1 was the lowest. So a 1 it is!