Within the Rock, Toothy Moon Monster

This it it...Xander Berkeley's magnum opus! What? You didn't know Mr. Berkeley had a magnum opus? Well, he does. 1996's "Within the Rock," directed by Gary J. Tunnicliffe, is a tale of a fierce monster eating a group of miners on an alien moon.  There will be blood, big drills, a hunk mining crew, and a couple of babes. Oh yes...and Xander Berkeley!

Bad news, an alien moon is heading straight for Earth.  The collision will disintegrate our planet...maybe not such bad news to some. A brilliant plan is hatched by babe space scientist, Dana (Caroline Barclay). In real life, these types of scientists aren't as pretty...go figure. The plan...land on the moon, drill tunnels into its core, plant explosives...and blow the invading moon off its trajectory.  Far fetched? Not when a sultry space scientist is on the job.  She is flown to the moon to meet a gruff mining crew.  They are more concerned with overtime and wages than they are with saving Earth...who can blame them?  Also on the team is babe demolitions expert, Nuke 'em (Barbara Patrick).  The drilling commences.

Uh oh...the drilling leads to a cavern where a fierce and toothy monster is imprisoned...now it is free. The rubber suited (no CGI here) is hungry and ticked off.  The thing begins picking off the mining crew.  If the crew is not able to finish their job, the Earth will be destroyed (not that this is a bad thing). Dana and crew chief Ryan (Berkeley) clash. He wants to get in her pants and she'd rather analyze data. Does she know this is Xander Berkeley? Dana will be pretty useless as there really isn't much data to analyze. There are hunks, if she chooses, to have pre-marital sex with. Back to the story, the monster slaughters our miners one by one, and both Nuke 'em and Dana (women are indeed smarter than men) come up with some interesting plans.

Will the competing plans lead to a cat-fight between the cold fish but sultry Dana and the explosive (literally) and sultry Nuke 'em?  Where did this toothy monster come from?  Will Xander Berkeley get any pre-marital sex before the fiend eats the two dolls?  This is a standard sci-fi thriller, but rubber suited toothy monsters and space-babes are always worth the price of admission.  For a Creature Feature type viewing experience, see "Within the Rock."