Rating: 3/5
Hooptober 8.0 | 13/34 | From 1981 2/4
An oil rig in the middle of the ocean is digging but isn’t hitting oil. At 20,000 feet, they should have hit oil by now.
Phillip wakes up screaming, and Mark checks on him.
— I had a dream — That's what Martin Luther King said, but this isn't it — Something bad is gonna happen — Yeah, we're going to be busting our backs for the glory of Zortron Oil — I dreamt we're all gonna die — An hour at a time, as always
Mark has a snarky comeback for everything!
Two men are down after an accident. Scott, the company geologist, has authority and says to keep going. Jake says oil shouldn’t be around here. Scott says otherwise.
A helicopter flies in two replacements: Harry and Colette. Robyn takes to Harry. Colette is the new crane operator. Because she’s a woman, Jake refuses to believe she is as versatile as she claims.
While drilling, the crew pulls up some unusual rocks. A lamprey-like creature with a Xenomorph face breaks through and bites Phillip. They kill the creature but Phillip dies within seconds.
Then Sam picks up one rock, and it cuts his finger. He loses his grip, climbs the crane, and jumps, killing himself.
The barbed rocks break open. Something living crawls out of it. Despite that, Scott preserves the eggs and observes them.
Being a PG, made-for-TV movie, we will not get sex and violence. So, the film uses most of its runtime to develop characters and relationships. They’re shallow and melodramatic, but at least they’re trying to define some personality for the characters.
The special effects are solid, probably because they had no issue ripping off the Alien designs. Here, that isn’t a bad thing.
This will rock no one’s world, but because it is a functional human drama, the disappointing horror elements don’t kill the movie.
Thoughts / Spoilers:
- I like the alternate title, The Lucifer Rig. Less so, Alien Rig. The Intruder Within sounds like my intrusive thoughts.
- Amazing IMDb trivia: “The design for the creature is sometimes misattributed to H.R. Giger; in fact, Giger had no involvement in its creation.”
- Robin takes off her clothes and bends over so everyone gets a good look at her thermals. Classic made-for-TV horniness.
- Michael Hogan! He gives a signature freakout. “This ain’t an oil rig — it’s a floating graveyard!”
- Jake’s daughter is in India with a guru, searching for enlightenment.
- They even do a chest-bursting scene — except the Xenomorph puppet is laughing as it bounces up and down on a guy.
- The geologist returns to Noah’s flood, pulling out an evolution chart. Then decides, “It’s an underwater alien.”
- Okay, the alien makes them horny. Neat!
- Oh, rapey, less neat.
- I like Mark and Robyn’s friendship! He shows her brotherly affection and care, making them comfortable around each other.
- The fully grown monster looks closer to Nemesis from Resident Evil than a Xenomorph.
- The 80s had a knack for creating wet creatures.