WITHIN THE ROCK 1996
A film review by Timothy Voon
Copyright 1998 Timothy Voon
2 :-( :-( for the beast trapped within the rock
Directed by Gary J. Tunnicliffe Cast Xander Berkeley, Caroline Barclay, Bradford Tatum, Brian Krause, Barbara Patrick Written by Gary J. Tunnicliffe
Buried WITHIN THE ROCK, lies man's darkest nightmare. A creature with an acquired taste for rotting flesh and teeth sharp enough to crush a man's skull. It was trapped 2 million years earlier and labelled ‘The Reaper of Souls', by an ancient civilisation. They couldn't destroy it, so the creature was captured and sent hurtling through space in a cage, with vain hopes that the beast would perish in the void. Instead, it lives. It hibernates, waiting to bestow death on those who embrace it. Mankind will be its next prey.
This almost sounds like the beginning of a story used to scare children at night or on Halloween. Usually, I'm easily frightened and the mention of Easter bunnies with fangs or Santas with pick-axes will give me nightmares; but this horrible alien that goes on feeding frenzies, actually made me laugh. Not so much because it munched on human heads with great graphic detail, but because it's rubber suit reminded of a humorous tele-add about ‘sun tan lotion' and lobsters on the beach. It just goes to show how important costume design is in a movie.
A moon called ‘Galileo's Child', is hurtling through space towards the Earth. Unless the course of the moon is deviated, the projectile will destroy our home planet. A small group of miners and scientists have been assigned the duty of planting explosives beneath the moon's surface, in order to alter its course. They are falling behind schedule and finding an alien on board doesn't make the job easier.
This movie makes a vain attempt to recreate the feel of ALIEN, but sadly lacks the funding or directing skill to make it much more than it is. The fact that it has a relative nobody cast and mediocre quality script, doesn't help get it of the ground either. So here comes another B Grade Pic that hits the C Grade shelves at the video store.
Timothy Voon
e-mail: stirling@netlink.com.au
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