Destination Inner Space (1966) User Reviews

Entertaining despite its weaknesses

[bensonmum2 · 5/10 · 23 September 2017]

A group of scientists working in an undersea station discover an alien spacecraft. They, quite naturally, investigate. They discover a cylinder shaped object and bring it to their station for further testing. Before you can say "guy in a rubber suit", the thing hatches an amphibious type creature who immediately goes on a rampage. The good guys must try to stay alive and destroy the alien craft before any more of these things show up.

Admittedly, there are a lot of problems with Destination Inner Space. It's goofy, features from ridiculous acting, and has obvious budgetary limitations. But despite all that, there is a good deal of fun to be had. Fans of monster romps should find something to enjoy. I found the monster suit surprisingly effective. It's a unique design quite a bit different form what I've seen before. I especially enjoyed the use of color. Makes it look a bit like the sunfish I used to catch as a child when I went fishing with my grandfather. A decent amount of action, some scientific mumbo-jumbo, and some cheap, but fun miniatures are other highlights. Overall, a decent amount of entertainment despite the weaknesses.

Two other things worth mentioning:

1. I got a real unintended laugh out of star Scott Brady. First, he's a complete fish out of water. He has no business being in this movie. Second, just watching him try to buckle his diving vest over his pooch is a hoot.

2. I'm not sure I've ever actually seen Mike Road in a movie, but I knew that voice as soon as I heard it - Race Bannon. Too cool!

Well, it had an interesting premise and the monster looked okay...

[Aaron1375 · 3/10 · 25 January 2023]

If you are a fan of fast paced monster films that are filled with kills and insane encounters then I would probably check elsewhere. If you want to see people put on wet suits and take them off and put them back on, well this is the film for you! I have never see a film where the act of putting on a suit to explore the ocean was more prolific in a movie than the monster in said film. One scene the poor guy was struggling to buckle up and you can tell it was painful! On the plus side, it had a very interesting premise which one wishes they could have explored more rather than seeing the characters change into wet suits and change back out of them...

The story, some big naval guy comes to a sea lab due to the scientists discovering a strange object. This dude immediately takes charge, but he and an engineer on the underwater station have a history and are bitter towards one another. The engineer is trying to woo a woman, who apparently likes and is attracted to a man who leaves people to die. Well, the strange object seems to be extraterrestrial in nature and when they go on board a strange object is found. The military man wishes to leave it, but his rival wants to take it and by golly, it is some sort of egg of a fish monster!

Lots of padding in a film that really had a premise that did not really need any. You could have done much more with the monster and the ship, but in lieu of that, we get diving prep and tragic backstories. At one point, we even get the same scene repeated! The actors and actresses are standard fare for this type of film not really adding anything, but not detracting either.

So, we get a monster that looks kind of like the Zora from Legend of Zelda and we get a ship of unknown origin. However, we get a lot more time watching people switch out clothes! I don't know, maybe watching this process was more exciting in the 60's or something? If they could have just added more monster and actual action this thing could have been good, but as it is, I am just not that interested in diving prep...

The creature from the black lagoon in space

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 14 July 2014]

Destination Inner Space is our own Earth's oceans and some folks from another planet are showing an interest in it as a place to live. A group of scientists headed by Gary Merrill who live in an under water sea lab discovers a phenomenon of incredible size and the Navy sends Commander Scott Brady to investigate.

The usual conflict between scientists and the military plays out with Brady and Merrill. In addition Brady has a conflict with another of the of the sea lab's crew Mike Road.

The phenomenon turns out to be a space ship that settles in one of the crevices under the ocean and it's containing pods that are in a deep freeze. Stupidly the crew takes one aboard and it hatches into a cousin of the creature from the black lagoon though light years smarter. After that the film becomes almost a rerun of the classic, The Thing.

Serving as decoration are scientists Sheree North and Wende Wagner. That's for the male audience to get them to the film if they're not science fiction fans.

Destination Inner Space though the science may not be creditable it's still good fodder in the fiction department.

Relax. Commander Wayne's Here.

[a_l_i_e_n · 15 February 2006]

Watching "Destination Innerspace" again after so many years, one instantly notices how low this film's budget must have been. Also upon re-inspection, a few new qualities emerge. Namely, the unintentional laughs. Previous reviews have already noted the outrageously tiny-looking miniatures, and how some of the music cues (borrowed from the B-classic "Angry Red Planet") are not exactly subtle. Oh, and the sight of Gary Merrill trying to subdue a big, walking large-mouthed bass is certainly hard not to find amusing now. Such sad but funny indicators of low budget film-making aside though, what does still seem to work about this little movie is the premise: a monster preying on humans trapped in a confined space, which is basically how "Alien" works. Only here, we have an underwater facility "subbing" for the space tug Nostromo and being stuck on the ocean floor is not a bad setting if you're making a claustrophobic thriller.

One sequence to admire is the alien ship's arrival on the scene. Watching as it soars directly over the sea lab, with the addition of sound effects giving voice to it's engines the space craft actually becomes kind of impressive. It's rather neat the way it "buzzes" the installation with it's nervous crew watching from inside. Clearly, they had the right idea here, and with a little more money this could have been a first rate sci-fi thriller.

One can also definitely defend the sequence where the crew attempt to lure the alien creature into a booby trap of spear guns. It's rather suspenseful as the hero, Commander Wayne, using himself as bait, bangs on a metal door and waits forcing the viewer to sit and wait there with him for the monster's inevitable appearance.

Speaking of Commander Wayne, this guy emerges as quite an enjoyable hero, and playing him like John Wayne underwater, Scott Brady is so well cast in the role that he really elevates the occasionally soggy proceedings to a level it never would have achieved without his capable presence. His smart alec, tough guy lines are funny, too like when he tells a cynical female marine biologist, "You listen to me, beautiful. I grew up with a couple of sisters, and let me tell you something: a brother doesn't always tell a sister "everything". Shove that under your microscope and study it awhile."

In fact, Commander Wayne has a snappy answer for just about everyone on board:

Dopey scientist: "do you realize the importance of this, Commander?"

Wayne: "I realize the danger we're in."

Dopey scientist again: "We've been cut-off from topside. Something must have happened to their communication equipment."

Wayne: "More likely something happened to them.

It's not a great script, nor is it brilliantly directed, and there are sure lapses in the pace here and there. All quite true. Still, this ancient sci-fi flick does achieve a modest measure of suspense. With the addition of an appealing star, some very funny lines and some unintentionally funny fx's, well, you could do worse than introduce your child to this enjoyable little monster movie.

"The Thing" for the Underwater Crowd

[mrb1980 · 2/10 · 19 April 2009]

Watching this film always reminds me of the much superior "The Thing (from Another World)", the wonderful 1951 Howard Hawks movie about an alien terrorizing an Arctic base. Here, the setting is an underwater research lab, staffed by naive scientists and accompanied by the steel-jawed Commander Wayne (Scott Brady).

The gill-man alien does a great job of menacing the crew throughout the whole movie. Naturally, Commander Wayne knows it's a kill-or-be-killed situation, while the befuddled scientists sort of stand around. The alien tries to duplicate itself (a la "The Thing") but the Commander of course saves the day at the end.

The shopworn script borrows heavily from "The Thing", the gill-man is less than convincing (you can see where the air tank is hidden), and the special effects--if you want to call them that--are just horrible. The miniatures are among the most unconvincing in movie history.

Besides Brady, well-known stars Gary Merrill and Sheree North are among the cast, along with several unknowns. The stars must have needed the money, I guess. Watching this film is better than a trip to the dentist, but that's about it.

Okayish in places - for the sake of nostalgia

[email-should-be-private · 3/10 · 14 March 2021]

The most I can say in favor of this film is: it could have been worse.

Gary Merrill turns in a good performance, and Wende Wagner is both photogenic and obviously comfortable in scuba gear; but it's all downhill from there.

The plot is thin, the special effects are awful, the dialog is consistently stiff and corny (especially for the women), and the other performances vary from bad to awful (except for the parrot perched on the shoulder of the Chinese cook, which does manage to squawk convincingly).

Worst of all: the "music", which tries desperately to evoke mystery, but is instead almost laughably bad by the standards of any era. Had it instead been even half competently composed, this film might conceivably have rated a C- instead of a sometimes excruciating D-.

The science in Hollywood SF films generally tends to be - well, inaccurate, to be as kind as possible - and here will offend the sensibilities of anyone scientifically literate.

Having said this, I suspect anyone who saw this movie as a kid might well enjoy a walk down memory lane (which seems to account for the higher ratings here), and it is indeed interesting to see Mike Road. Mr. Road did a great job with the "Race Bannon" voice characterization for "Jonny Quest", but here is painfully wooden and two-dimensional.

"Those deep trenches, they make a pretty good place to hide"

[hwg1957-102-265704 · 5/10 · 9 November 2019]

Terror From The Depths Of The Sea! Well that is what the film poster says but the only emotion 'Destination Inner Space' produces is mainly boredom. For a 1966 film it is more like a 1950's film with a mirth provoking rubber monster and (even by 1960's standards) outdated chauvinist attitudes. No one actually says, "A woman scientist!" or "You're much too beautiful to be a scientist" but it's in the air. The film mainly takes place on an undersea research station or rather a bright yellow plastic model at the bottom of someone's swimming pool.

The cast is led by Scott Brady as Cmdr. Wayne and he is very, very dull. Fortunately there is Gary Merrill as Dr. LaSatier to bring a bit of class to the acting. Unfortunately the marvellous Sheree North as Dr. Rene Peron is completely wasted in her role. The ubiquitous James Hong plays Ho Lee, and yes he is the cook. What else? A mostly unbelievable movie particular at the end when Rene reveals she is in love with Cmdr. Wayne. Now that was ridiculous.

Above average nonsense with a scary rubber suited monster helping it out.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 3 August 2018]

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.

Destination Inner Space

[CinemaSerf · 5/10 · 27 November 2023]

When some deep sea researchers feel their base being buzzed by a strange object, they assume it's a whale or some other natural occurrence Thing is, soon they realise that is a metallic object - like an aluminium sting-ray - and it contains extraterrestrial life that isn't that friendly. Now they are besieged and hundreds of feet under the surface with limited oxygen and a menacing foe. Can they escape? Well that's down to team leader "Wayne" (Scott Brady) who has, typically, to run a dysfunctional team of military and scientific brains who have baggage, of course, and seem to prefer fighting each other rather than their common foe. There's a lot of waffly dialogue and the orchestrations are left to create much of the menace as we are introduced to an extremely nimble creature that as the film rumbled along I began to think could be dragooned into doing us all a bit of a service should it succeed on it's mission. It's good to see that that costume is getting put to good use, though - I'm sure I've seen it before, and those plastic chains.

Underwater B-movie mayhem!

[vampi1960 · 7/10 · 10 September 2006]

I know many people will think I'm crazy giving this 7 out of 10 but i really enjoyed this movie so much i had to buy the DVD on ebay.its one of those movies i saw as a kid back in jersey on creature features. the monster looks like the creature from the black lagoons poor cousin. awesome b-movie cast the great Scott Brady playing a good guy for once, Gary Merrill(mysterious island)Sheree north(Kramer's mom on Seinfeld) James hong(big trouble in little china)mike road(voice of race banning on johnny quest)and john Howard(the unknown terror)the plot is somewhat like 1989s deepstar six kind of.there's a flying saucer underwater,and a big green scaly monster with flipper feet.the music is from the b-movie gem the angry red planet(60)its an enjoyable little b-movie. 7 out of 10.

Here comes Commander Wayne to save the day!

[Hey_Sweden · 5/10 · 22 July 2023]

The setting is an undersea lab where a hotshot submarine commander (Scott Brady) arrives to oversee the operation. He learns that the crew has been mystified by some sort of underwater U. F. O. Soon, Brady & company have gotten on board the craft, and discover some sort of container which they unwisely take back to their lab. The container's got an amphibious creature inside, and mayhem ensues.

"Destination Inner Space" is not that bad as these things go. It's got a game, sincere cast of familiar faces (also including Sheree North, Gary Merrill, Wende Wagner, John Howard, Biff Elliot, and James Hong), and a capable director in Francis D. Lyon ("Cult of the Cobra", "The Great Locomotive Chase"). You just wish the production had been allotted more of a BUDGET. The whole thing just reeks of cheapness, right down to the goofy, lovable monster played by Ron Burke. The screenplay hits a lot of the expected beats, including time for a debate between the military and the scientific way of thinking. The thunderous music by Paul Dunlap is a retread of the score that he composed for "The Angry Red Planet".

While some people can only get through a movie such as this if it's being roasted by MST3K types, this viewer admits to having a soft spot for such cheese. As I said, it's nothing if not sincere. This is a key component that helps me enjoy B flicks like "Destination Inner Space".

Five out of 10.

Entertaining straight-up Grade B creature feature fun

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 15 September 2011]

A group of researchers in an underwater laboratory are terrorized by a vicious and predatory alien lizard beast (Ron Burke in an obvious, but still nifty scaly costume). Director Francis D. Lyon, working from an admittedly hokey, but still tight and serviceable script by Arthur C. Pierce, relates the enjoyable story at a snappy pace, builds a reasonable amount of tension, stages the creature attack scenes with flair, and treats the pretty silly premise with admirable seriousness. Moreover, the sturdy cast make the most out of the endearingly cornball material: Scott Brady as the stalwart, no-nonsense Commander Wayne, Sheree North as the brassy and fetching Dr. Rene Peron, Gary Merrill as the pragmatic Dr. LaSatier, Wende Wagner as the cute and spunky Sandra Welles, Mike Road as macho diver Hugh Maddox, and veteran character actor James Hong as comic relief Asian cook Ho Lee (complete with pet parrot!). The lovably chintzy Tonka Toy miniatures and rubbery clawed'n'fanged amphibious humanoid reptile monster both give this picture a certain sweetly naive dimestore charm. Brick Marquard's cinematography boasts a few neat helicopter shots and some nice deep sea photography. Paul Dunlap's spirited score does the stirring trick. Granted, this ain't exactly a work of art, but it does deliver what it promises and hence gives you your money's worth -- and that's what it's all about when you really think about it. An immensely fun flick.

I LIKE IT VERY MUCH

[sam66 · 7/10 · 2 February 2002]

I cry more often now that Mystery Science Theatre 3000 quit making new episodes, and rarely harder than this evening after viewing "Destination Inner Space." This film features a yellow (sometimes orange, depending on aquarium clarity) crucifix-shaped Sealab ("Aquasphere") reached via a yellow-painted soup can on a string and filled with abrasive oxygen-depleting humans being stalked by the Wisconsin state record bluegill. I would applaud the many silent hours of scuba diving, but Scott Brady looks exquisitely uncomfortable in his extremely snug wetsuit; also the lovely silence is often disturbed by loud outbreaks of soundtrack. I like actress Sheree North and was sorry that her character was pressured into falling for the pickup line "Shove that under your microscope and study it." This movie hurts quite a bit, yet amuses in that painful MST3K style, so I recommend it highly to cheese admirers who can drown it out with their own commentary. Grab a puppet and wipe those tears away!

It's a cheezy movie,but look at the era. I liked the submarine

[Submariner · 6 July 2003]

I rate this movie to be like..."The creature from the black lagoon" meets a bad episode of "Sea Hunt", meets "Mars needs women". But....you have to remember the 60's didn't have computer graphics special effects. And you must remember this was a low budget movie. It is ok to watch for a laugh if you watch it in the spirit of the times in which it was made. I like this movie particularly because I have acquired and own the twelve foot long, red, torpedo shaped, twin open cockpits, wet submarine that was used in this movie. It's neat to own a piece of the original equipment from this movie.

Pretty good flick, great monster

[jason-40416 · 6/10 · 25 November 2016]

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.

Destination Inner Space (1966) – Francis D Lyon

[TCurtis9192 · 9/10 · 27 August 2017]

9/10 - Brilliant B-Movie; engaging, charismatic and influential.

This is a fun film with genuine thrills to offer. We have a range of stock characters, acted out professionally by a cast battling with the pitfalls of low-production values, working through a simple yet imaginatively dealt with plot, and a monster that gets a lot of screen-time- and deservedly so.

The music, composed by veteran composer Paul Dunlap, serves up an aquatic creepiness as well as an effective aid to the shock moments in the film. It is an original and memorable score that has since been echoed in later films.

An amphibious monster terrorises the crew of a submerged marine research base. It was clearly inspired by Millicent Patrick's design for the Creature in "The Creature From The Black Lagoon" (Jack Arnold, 1954), but with more ferocious features and a determination for cold blooded murder as opposed to love and self-defence. With regards the monster suit the attention to detail is astounding and almost unbelievable considering some of the models and sets and Ron Burke plays the creature well.

The cast of this film do very well considering the dysfunctional props and aforementioned low production values all round. Scott Brady and Gary Merrill deliver every line with the gusto expected from an old horror and Sheree North plays an able and confident member of the crew. The supporting performances from Mike Road, Wende Wagner and John Howard (to name a few) are ably done and James Hong has an early role as the chef – watch Deep Blue Sea (Renny Harlin, 1999) and compare LL Cool J and his parrot to him.

This film is compared – often unfavourably- with Howard Hawks' The Thing From Another World (1951) but I would argue that Destination Inner Space is a far more entertaining feature despite its flaws. Lyon's film is ridden with hilarious onset problems that are made entertaining by the cast's refusal to acknowledge any of them, such as Scott Brady's first attempt at getting into his diving gear. These little problems, in my opinion, make the film endearing.

It was fashionable in the late 80's to work on underwater films. The figurehead of these films was James Cameron's "The Abyss" (1989); others include "Leviathan" (George P Cosmatos, 1989), "Deepstar Six" (Sean S Cunningham, 1989), Lords of the Deep (Mary Ann Fisher, 1989) and The Rift (Juan Piquer Simon, 1990), as well as later films such as Creatures From The Abyss (Al Passeri, 1994), Proteus (Bob Keen, 1995) and Deep Blue See (Renny Harlin, 1999). Destination Inner Space is, to my knowledge, the earliest horror film to take place in the desolate surroundings of the deep sea, particularly with a scientific/military theme and I would argue that there are elements of this film in the later films.

I thoroughly enjoyed what I thought would be a cringe-worthy low budget 60's cheese-fest and came to the conclusion that it is a very entertaining film that harks back to the black and white horrors of the 1950's. It's a shame that this film had such a small budget in a way as it could have been a big success.

Well worth a watch and I think in need of a clean-up and subsequent blu-ray release.

The Monster Makes It!

[drmality-1 · 6/10 · 14 November 2022]

I saw this film when I was very young and it left quite an impression. The weird "pinging" soundtrack (also found on "The Angry Red Planet" and "Invisible Invaders") always stuck in my head. But I never forgot the monster! One of the coolest "undersea" creatures ever created. I put him right behind The Creature From the Black Lagoon as an aquatic "man in a suit" creature. The underwater scenes with him in particular look great.

The movie itself is average but far from the disaster some others here make it out to be. It looks very much like a "made for TV" movie and seems in many ways like an episode of "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea". There's no shame in that.

As for the cast, they are all sturdy pros, with Scott Brady playing a typical hard-nosed military man. It gives us a chance to see Mike Road, the voice of "Race Bannon" on "Jonny Quest", in the flesh as a diver concealing a tragic secret. I always liked Gary Merrill and Sheree North is real easy on the eyes as a token love interest. One part that is really embarassing is veteran Asian actor James Hong's appearance as a totally cliched Chinese cook. That character should have been left on the cutting room floor.

A painless 90 minutes of entertainment with an outstanding monster and good underwater photography.

But It's Got Race Bannon

[modpro · 2 February 2002]

Lots of cheesy fun but what's really cool is that Mike Road did the voices for the animated series' characters Race Bannon (JONNY QUEST), Reed Richards (FANTASTIC FOUR) and Zandor (HERCULOIDS). So for fantasy fans everywhere, we can put a face with that heroic "manly man" voice we grew up with in the 60s.

Surprisingly good

[drystyx · 7/10 · 26 December 2022]

This sci-fi flick about a monster from outer space that is found in the ocean, is low on budget, you can tell.

But that's only important to the geeks. No offense.

What this has going for it is "story" and 'characters".

A lot of characters aren't thoroughly explored on screen, but they all retain their dignity. And that goes far in maintaining a film's dignity.

Probably six characters get a thorough look in this film, and each are credibly motivated. A few subplots blend in well with the main plot.

This is surprisingly good for its sort of film. It isn't a "fantastic" film, but it is good, and very watchable. Gary Merrill is the biggest name here, although Scott Brady may be a bigger name to some people. Or Sheree North. All have good roles and each help to make this a nice movie. One gets the feeling of a film professionally done, without a lot of conflict.

7/10, and I'm a tough grader.

Favorable, with few reservations

[kerryandchuck · 9/10 · 30 November 2000]

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.

"That amphibian was our ultimate opportunity, and we failed."

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 4 December 2022]

You want a good laugh? Check out Scott Brady's picture on his IMDb bio page and compare it to his physique in this film. His quite noticeable paunch is highlighted when he straps on his diving gear and it's hanging right out there as he tries to wrestle it on. I thought that was pretty funny.

Well, this might have been a decade late in the offing, but having it made in color serves as a bonus, especially when the alien monster breaks from its cylindrical container. You might ask how he could have fit in there, but why bother. Even though it was a guy in a rubber suit (Ron Burke), the monster looked a lot more realistic than a lot of the ones appearing on the 'Star Trek' TV series during the same time period. It was colorful to say the least, but after a while I had to question how many of them there might have been. After escaping the Sea Lab, the darn thing was all over the place, creating mayhem topside by destroying the communications center, then back underwater looking for more victims to tangle with. It all happened so quickly I had to wonder how just one could get around so swiftly.

The underwater miniatures seemed rather hokey to this viewer, looking like pieces from a kid's toy collection. I didn't know what to make of the alien spaceship, since that was essentially what it looked like in Sixties sci-fi terms; adding that little tail fin was a nice touch. The dynamic between Commander Wayne (Scott Brady) and Hugh Maddox (Mike Road) was resolved in a tense confrontation, which when settled, allowed for Maddox to turn his past cowardice into a hero's honor when he makes the ultimate sacrifice to destroy the alien craft and he along with it. All's well that ends well, even if the Sea Lab's director Dr LaSatier (Gary Merrill) had to sacrifice science for the greater good. In this case, a wise choice.

All wet

[TVholic · 3 February 2002]

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.

Alpha Male Behavior At It's Best

[societialreform · 10/10 · 3 February 2024]

The reviews of this film focus on the 'story' and special effects, but they should be focused on what is the highlight of this masterpiece. Alpha Males pitted against each other, The struggle between the two lead men is masterful. Each want to lead. Each holds the other in contempt for reasons they both know, but which do not come out until near the end of the show. This is an EXCELLENT depiction of the Alpha Male struggle during a crisis. The actors playing the two men never went on to give such powerful performances, and at no point did they over act or even seem to be performing their roles. They OWNED them. WATCH IT.

Laughably Bad!

[tom_jeffords · 2 February 2002]

Warning! Contains Spoilers! Destination Inner Space is almost so bad it's good. Almost. The special effects are simply laughable. It is set in an underwater lab the exterior shots of which clearly show it to be a miniture. The crew of this underwater lab encounter a alien spaceship (also an obvious miniture)and the hijinks ensue. Although it has a fairly decent cast the acting is incredibly wooden. What continually cracked me up was that the two female crewman (a marine biologist and a photographer)who were supposed to be in an deepsea lab ran around in brightly-colored turtlenecks, miniskirts, beehive hairdos, dangling earrings and long gold necklaces! The B-52s go nautical! And although it is supposedly set in the deep sea the lighting in the underwater scenes make me doubt that it was filmed in anything deeper than a swimming pool.

The Other Side Of The Coin To Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea

[StuOz · 20 May 2019]

Underwater thrills with a sea creature mixed with personal human dramas.

The sea creature is the true star of this flick and he can be seen in colour for once, unlike the older Creature From The Black Lagoon monster which was in B&W.

I like this Destination Inner Space a lot but the underwater miniature effects are terrible and the human conflicts are well performed but take up just too much screen time. In some ways this film could be described as the the other side of the coin to the Voyage to to the Bottom of the Sea TV series of the day (which Gary Merrill even appeared in once).

In VTTBOTS producer Irwin Allen demanded no small talk or human drama of this sort in the monster episodes. Also, VTTBOTS won Emmy Awards for the outstanding submarine miniature effects which leave the Destination Inner Space miniatures for dead!

But this is beginning to sound like a bashing of DIS, no it is not, I love the movie, but I just wish to point out that I like VTTBOTS more.