A killer (Bruce Campbell), a pilot (Chase Masterson), a soldier, a bickering couple, two children, a rich jerk, an airport employee, a security guard, and a token black guy are trapped at a small airport during a blizzard. Masquerading among them are aliens in human form who are preparing to take over the Earth.
A pleasant, lightweight, uncredited variant of John W. Campbell’s story, “Who Goes There” (previously shot as The Thing from Another World and The Thing) the basic elements are the same. The snow keeps the group in a small building and they have to figure out who is human and who isn’t.
Bruce Campbell is a reasonably good tough guy. I’d have liked to see more of his trademark charm, but enough shows through to make the picture enjoyable. It may have one of the most famous Sci-Fi plots, but Terminal Invasion functions as a Bruce Campbell vehicle and little else.
Masterson is a bit dry, but she’s cute enough to act as eye-candy. The rest of the cast is better than expected for a made-for-TV flick.
The pace is fast and the action is acceptable. The special effects are low budget, but are used sparingly and fit the movie.
There’s a few moments when poor plotting requires the characters to act stupidly (why doesn’t Campbell’s Jack shoot the aliens when they are busy changing form?), but this is a fluff film so such flaws are only minor annoyances.
Terminal Invasion is nothing special. I’ve seen it all before, but I wasn’t bored.