Both The Terror Within and The Terror Within II are available on Amazon Prime (as of this writing). Both star Andrew Stevens. Both involve mutant monsters chasing isolated people around enclosed places. And both involve those monsters having a strong desire to mate with human women. (Maybe only male mutants survived? I don't think that's ever explained.
I love a good monster movie. And even some bad ones. These fall somewhere in the middle. The first is definitely the superior movie, even though the second expands the post apocalyptic world a good deal and is a worthy sequel. These are late 80s and early 90s features with no CGI for the creature F/X.
The "Gargoyle" mutant in the first film is a pretty obvious suit, but the design is fairly original and it does come across as menacing. The beasts in the sequel range from this look to much more human looking monstrosities with less of a "mask" look and one of them walks around the whole time looking as if it is covered in blood.
"The Terror Within" has a much more claustrophobic feel, mostly because only the very beginning takes place outside. Once the creature finds a way into the compound the chase is on in dark corridors, hidden corners and ducts. There's always ducts big enough to hold monsters in sci-fi horror from the 80s.
"The Terror Within II" has many more outdoor scenes, a human settlement, a side story with female sacrifices, more characters to act as monster happy meals and yet somehow, eventually manages to repeat almost all of the first movie. The only reason this REALLY bothered me is that David (Andrew Stevens ) makes all of the mistakes he should have learned from the first time around and the results are very predictable.
The first film had a killer cast with George Kennedy, Andres Stevens and Terri Treas all turning in expectedly good performances. The real stand out for me, however, was Butch (Stevens). I tend to watch dogs in films pretty closely and this one really did look to David (his handler in the movie) for his cues. This is not usual with low budget fare. It takes a lot of time and work to train a dog NOT to look to his (or her ) trainer off camera for cues. We got lucky in "Savaged" that my dog, Valkrie, was so in love in Debbie Rochon. She rarely took her eyes off her, although it is noticeable in one early scene when Debbie is walking Lotus (Valkrie) away from the camera, which I'm standing behind.
I suspect, with Butch's last name being "Stevens", that this interaction is because they used his actual dog.
Most of the acting in the second film is also adequate. Considering this was Andres Stevens directorial debut and he starred and co-wrote the movie, it is really is a solid little piece of horror home cinema. There are some low budget moments that stand out, perhaps most of the all the horrible "machine gun" action. The sound F/X and shaking of actor Chick Vennera clearly indicate that he is supposed to be firing a machine gun, but no blanks were used, no smoke leaves the barrel and this was before the days of adding muzzle flashes in post. The result is completely unconvincing and looks like kids playing cops and robbers.
I definitely suggest "The Terror Within" for anyone who is a monster in a maze fan and if you enjoy the first so much that you wish it was longer, watch the sequel. You'll mostly get more of the same and you'll see the final act coming from a mile or so away, but you'll get more monsters and guts.
I love a good monster movie. And even some bad ones. These fall somewhere in the middle. The first is definitely the superior movie, even though the second expands the post apocalyptic world a good deal and is a worthy sequel. These are late 80s and early 90s features with no CGI for the creature F/X.
The "Gargoyle" mutant in the first film is a pretty obvious suit, but the design is fairly original and it does come across as menacing. The beasts in the sequel range from this look to much more human looking monstrosities with less of a "mask" look and one of them walks around the whole time looking as if it is covered in blood.
"The Terror Within" has a much more claustrophobic feel, mostly because only the very beginning takes place outside. Once the creature finds a way into the compound the chase is on in dark corridors, hidden corners and ducts. There's always ducts big enough to hold monsters in sci-fi horror from the 80s.
"The Terror Within II" has many more outdoor scenes, a human settlement, a side story with female sacrifices, more characters to act as monster happy meals and yet somehow, eventually manages to repeat almost all of the first movie. The only reason this REALLY bothered me is that David (Andrew Stevens ) makes all of the mistakes he should have learned from the first time around and the results are very predictable.
The first film had a killer cast with George Kennedy, Andres Stevens and Terri Treas all turning in expectedly good performances. The real stand out for me, however, was Butch (Stevens). I tend to watch dogs in films pretty closely and this one really did look to David (his handler in the movie) for his cues. This is not usual with low budget fare. It takes a lot of time and work to train a dog NOT to look to his (or her ) trainer off camera for cues. We got lucky in "Savaged" that my dog, Valkrie, was so in love in Debbie Rochon. She rarely took her eyes off her, although it is noticeable in one early scene when Debbie is walking Lotus (Valkrie) away from the camera, which I'm standing behind.
I suspect, with Butch's last name being "Stevens", that this interaction is because they used his actual dog.
Most of the acting in the second film is also adequate. Considering this was Andres Stevens directorial debut and he starred and co-wrote the movie, it is really is a solid little piece of horror home cinema. There are some low budget moments that stand out, perhaps most of the all the horrible "machine gun" action. The sound F/X and shaking of actor Chick Vennera clearly indicate that he is supposed to be firing a machine gun, but no blanks were used, no smoke leaves the barrel and this was before the days of adding muzzle flashes in post. The result is completely unconvincing and looks like kids playing cops and robbers.
I definitely suggest "The Terror Within" for anyone who is a monster in a maze fan and if you enjoy the first so much that you wish it was longer, watch the sequel. You'll mostly get more of the same and you'll see the final act coming from a mile or so away, but you'll get more monsters and guts.
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