This hastily made sequel to The Terror Within (1989) treads ground that will be familiar to those of you who have seen the first movie. Biological warfare has ran amok, the globe has been decimated by man made plague and germs. The remnants of a shattered humanity seek to survive in a broken world and to avoid falling prey to mutants which the disease has created.

The first Terror Within had a nice apocalyptic movie meets aliens kind of feeling, but this film fails to recapture that tension. In many ways it is a rehash of the first movie, plotting is very similar, characters all feel very similar, it even looks like many of the same sets and locations were used. In no way is it just an out and out remake, but you'll certainly notice all kinds of similarities and overlaps.

This movie seems to move a little faster than its predecessor, there seems to be a bit more going on that should capture our interest, but it just seems to lack the originals charm. So many things are similar, but that apocalyptic charm is missing. Perhaps it is just that the two films are so alike in many ways that this one already feels like familiar ground.

Special effects are nothing special but they are up to the job and manage to do what they are supposed to. There isn't anything here that will sicken or repulse the ardent gorehound, but the make up does have an enjoyable low budget kitsch quality. The mutants look suitably mutated and pass muster. Props seem done a little on the cheap with things such as machine guns firing without a muzzle discharge but it's really not too badly handled. It looks good enough, and works to create that apocalyptic b-movie kind of feeling.

One nice little treat is that mostly good looking women seem to have survived the biological apocalypse, so there is some nice eye candy and skin to look at. One could almost look forward to a disease armageddon if it left the lookers alive and dispatched the escapees from movies like Flesh Eating Mothers and Feed.

All in all though, it is really too similar to the first movie, only lacking in that feeling which the original created. It isn't a bad watch, is fairly enjoyable, and does belong in the collection of anyone who enjoys post apocalyptic tales of mutants and struggle for survival in a hostile wasteland. What's more, this second film is given away free as an extra on many of the releases of Terror Within 1. If you get it that way, for free, you really can't complain.