The Terror Within (1989)

A low budget feature from producer Roger Corman, a remake/rip-off of Alien (79) and a bit of It's Alive (74) with some twists: it takes place on a post-holocaust Earth, in an underground bunker in the middle of a desert. The bunker is topped by a small wooden shack, the entryway. Inside are living a handful of survivors, the remains of a military base, after some kind of event called "the accident" - a chemical or biological virus - had wiped out 99% of the population. George Kennedy plays the old guy in charge, with Andrew Stevens as his lieutenant. Topside, there is danger from monsters which the survivors term "Gargoyles." On a patrol to check something out, two of the group run across a young woman who was being chased by something; they bring her back to their hidden base and find out that she is pregnant. Even though they realize soon enough that the fetus is abnormal, growing way too fast, the old guy wants to study it. The operation to remove it from the woman does not go well - as we might expect.

The plot closely follows that of Alien, being a search-and-destroy plan within the confines of the bunker. As in Alien, the team members think that they are after a little critter, but by the time the first victim runs into it, it's the size of a large adult. This is tame by Corman standards, even with the scenario of monsters violating women to spread their seed - Corman and others had already done more visceral versions in films like Humanoids From the Deep (1980).  There's barely any nudity and nothing is shown as far as copulation, just suggested. There are clumsy moments by the characters: Kennedy fires this special laser weapon at the creature but rather than continuing, he simply advances, yelling "Die!" - not a good strategy. Also featured is a dog, Stevens' pet. By the end, the monsters begin to look like just what they are - men in suits; too much is shown. BoG's Score: 4.5 out of 10