Destination Inner Space (1966)

Too many fans seem to be blown away

good film but with many flaws

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

With a longtime feud going on between commander Scott Brady and crew member Mike Road, it's going to be a tough journey for scientific experiments going on at the bottom of the beautiful briny sea and research doctors Gary Merrill and Sheree North. An alleged space craft that looks like the size of one of the hubcaps in "Plan Nine From Outer Space" flies over their sea station here, and while at first assuming that it belongs to the Russians, the crew soon finds out otherwise when they take what looks like a large couch pillow back into their sea station that somehow amongst earthly oxygen starts to get bigger. Soon, it explodes open, and a giant creature appears to terrorize them, making Road regret bringing it back on board. His feud with Brady has to explode to a head as well, as Road blames Brady for the death of crew members on a submarine they were both on years before, but the truth is much deeper than that as Road must come to terms with. It takes teamwork to deal with a monster like this, and as Merrill demands, Brady and Road must put aside their differences in order to fight this creature that seems indestructible.For once, the monster isn't silly looking, even though it's obviously made out of rubber. In fact, it's actually pretty scary looking, and the color photography helps bring out the details used in creating it. Only the special effects of the alleged Russian spacecraft with the ability to travel through deep ocean waters cheapens the look of this late in the game sci-fi monster movie that utilizes a few well established human conflict to create some tension and add a story that is both believable and touching. There is a scene towards the beginning with Brady and North that is definitely showing sexual harassment at work, and Wende Wagner, as the expedition photographer, must put up with some of that as well. But these women show that they are able to stand up for themselves against even the most vile of harassment circumstances, so they command respect here rather than demand it, and the men actually come out of this expedition learning something, not only about how to deal with monsters from outer space, but how to deal with women in a close space and how to get past conflict with co-workers where truth is not always what it appears to be.

I totally enjoyed this 60's slice of deep sea b-movie monster pie. The story was pretty good and engaging, and very weird the way the monster comes to be and both the miniatures and the monster are great! One of the best underwater humanoid sea creatures since Creature from the Black Lagoon. I don't know the history of the creature or who made it, but a lot of time and effort went into constructing that beauty! As a kid I remember it scared the hell out of me because of its size and speed. Not only that, there are a few suspenseful scenes in Destination Innerspace that work really well and I think still hold up today. Sure, the monster is not so scary now, but I'm still very impressed by the look of it which really made this obscure little gem worth finding again.

This isn't a B-flick. It's worse, it's a C-flick. Sea-flick? See?Now that my really bad joke is out of the way, I can say this movie is one really bad joke on the audience. To say that the science is flawed is an understatement. (The specimens in the biology lab will die without air?!? They're a sealab; their purpose is to study water-breathing life!) The bombast-filled score is nothing more than stale leftovers from the 1950s, straining at almost every moment to add suspense where none exists. The sets are among the least convincing I've ever seen and the special effects are laughable. The "giant" spaceship and the sealab look like the 12-inch miniatures they probably were. The rubber-suited monster is not scary at all even when poor bluescreen matting makes it look several times larger that life. Worst of all, it commits the cardinal sin that distinguishes truly bad movies from the classics like "Plan 9 from Outer Space," it's no fun. It makes Irwin Allen's "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" series look like "Star Wars." Even the eminently forgettable "DeepStar Six" and "Leviathan" were an order of magnitude better than this. It's almost enough to make me rent "Sphere" and finally see the second half. Almost, but nothing's quite that bad.

While the movie offers many standard Sci-Fi,B-Movie moments, several good aspects are evident. The action sequences, especially underwater scenes were filmed well,and diving enthusiasts may notice Wende Wagner's performance as vital to their success. Wende had appeared in a "Flipper" episode around same time frame, and her scuba performances are excellent. While I haven't seen this movie in many years(can't find it anywhere);the diving scenes still are memorable.