''The Terror Within II'' is a 1991 American

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

and a sequel to the 1989 film '' The Terror Within''. It is written and directed by star

Andrew Stevens Andrew Stevens (born Herman Andrew Stephens; June 10, 1955) is an American executive, film producer, director and actor. Early life Stevens was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the only child of actress Stella Stevens and her former husband Noble ...

(reprising his role from the first film), and also stars

R. Lee Ermey Ronald Lee Ermey (March 24, 1944 – April 15, 2018) was an American actor and United States Marine Corps, U.S. Marine drill instructor. He achieved fame for his role as Gunnery sergeant, Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in the 1987 film ''Full Met ...

Chick Vennera Francis Vincent Vennera (March 27, 1947 – July 7, 2021) was an American actor, known for his role as Joe Mondragon for Robert Redford's ''The Milagro Beanfield War'' (1988), among other movies. Vennera voiced Pesto the pigeon for the animated ...

Barbara Alyn Woods Barbara Alyn Woods is an American actress. She is known for her roles in television series '' One Tree Hill'' and ''Honey, I Shrunk the Kids''. She is the mother of actresses Natalie Alyn Lind, Emily Alyn Lind, and Alyvia Alyn Lind. Career Woo ...

, Gordon Currie, and

Stella Stevens Stella Stevens (born Estelle Caro Eggleston; October 1, 1938 – February 17, 2023) was an American actress. She was the mother of actor Andrew Stevens. Stevens began her acting career in 1959 in the film ''Say One for Me'', winning the Golden ...

. It was executive produced by

Roger Corman Roger William Corman (April 5, 1926 – May 9, 2024) was an American film director, producer, and actor. Known under various monikers such as "The Pope of Pop Cinema", "The Spiritual Godfather of the New Hollywood", and "The King of Cult", he w ...

, and is one of the early films of future

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

-winning

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the recording of a film, television production, music video or other live-action piece. The cinematographer is the chief of the camera ...

Janusz Kamiński Janusz Zygmunt Kamiński (; born June 27, 1959) is a Polish cinematographer and director. He established a partnership with Steven Spielberg, working as a cinematographer of all of his films since 1993, winning one Academy Award for Best Cine ...

. In the film, most of humanity has already died due to a plague

pandemic A pandemic ( ) is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has a sudden increase in cases and spreads across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. Widespread endemic (epi ...

. The last surviving humans have fortified themselves in the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

, but hostile

mutant In biology, and especially in genetics, a mutant is an organism or a new genetic character arising or resulting from an instance of mutation, which is generally an alteration of the DNA sequence of the genome or chromosome of an organism. It i ...

s invade their stronghold.

Premise

A plague has wiped out most of humanity. The last human colony struggles to survive in a bunker under the

, while the surface has become a land of nightmarish mutants who seek to destroy the colony. A vaccine has been developed for a disease spread by the mutants, but gathering the components to make it requires returning to the surface. Scientist David Pennington (Stevens) is dispatched to the surface to obtain the needed materials. Pennington meets a pregnant woman on the surface. While trying to get her and the needed materials back to the colony, they are attacked. The mutants break inside humanity's final stronghold, the battle for survival pits the human colonists against their deadly invaders miles below the Earth's surface.

Cast

as David *

as Kyle *

as Von Demming *

as Kara *

Burton Gilliam Burton Gilliam (born August 9, 1938) is an American actor. He is best known for memorable roles in several popular 1970s movies such as ''Blazing Saddles'' and '' Paper Moon'', as well as comedic cameos in '' Back to the Future, Part III'' (1990 ...

as Dewitt * Clare Hoak as Ariel *

as Sharon * Gordon Currie as Aaron *

Renée Jones Renée Jones is a former American dramatic actress. Jones is best known for playing Lexie Carver on NBC's long-running soap opera ''Days of Our Lives'', a role she began in 1993. She has been nominated five times for the NAACP Image Awards, NAA ...

as Robin *

Pete Koch Peter Alan Koch (born January 23, 1962) is an American actor and former professional football player. He played college football for the Maryland Terrapins. Early life, family and education Peter Koch was born and raised in New Hyde Park, New ...

as the Mutant

Release

Home media

The film was released for the first time on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

by Code Red on October 10, 2017.

Reception

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

'' awarded the film two out of four stars, calling the film "dull" and criticized the film's characters and special effects. Film critic

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic, film historian, and author. He is known for his book of film capsule reviews, '' Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide'', published from 1969 to 2014. Maltin was the film criti ...

gave the film one and a half out of four stars, writing, "Debuting director (and star) Stephens, looking like

Rambo Rambo may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *John Rambo, the main character from the ''Rambo'' franchise * Mary Rambo, female character in '' Invisible Man'' Films * ''Rambo'' (franchise), starring Sylvester St ...

, fogs the cheap sets and shows a few good ideas, but his own absurd story sinks it all." Creature Feature gave the film two out of five stars, finding the actor-director Stevens performs well in the role. It stated that fans of the genre will find it worth the time.Stanley, J. (2000) Creature Feature: 3rd Edition

References

External links

* * 1991 films 1991 horror films 1990s science fiction horror films American science fiction horror films American sequel films American independent films American pregnancy films 1990s monster movies American monster movies 1990s pregnancy films Films scored by Terry Plumeri Films about viral outbreaks Films about mutants Films about invasions 1990s English-language films Films directed by Andrew Stevens 1990s American films 1991 science fiction films English-language science fiction horror films {{sf-horror-film-stub