It'll never be on my "favorites" list, but Battle Beneath the Earth is not a half bad way to waste away an hour and a half or so. The movie is beyond silly, but that's what makes it fun and entertaining. The plot involves a Chinese General named Chan Lu (Martin Benson) who has a plan to destroy the United States from below. Using his boring machine, he and his renegade army have dug several large tunnels below the North American continent that they plan to use to launch a nuclear attack. Armed with his own borer, Cmdr. Jonathan Shaw (Kerwin Mathews) leads an American expeditionary force to investigate and stop General Lu in his tracks.Everything about this movie is utterly ridiculous. The plot, acting, and special effects are all ridiculous. The movie seems to have been made on a budget less than what a grande Starbucks might cost. I swear I saw our heroes go past the same stack of crates about a half a dozen times in their escape from the tunnels. And whose idea was it to use so many non-Asians in all the primary Chinese roles? These people look about as Asian as I do (which is not at all). Finally, the whole thing is shot in a style reminiscent of the 60s Batman television show with overly bright primary colors, poor and fake looking props, and weak staging in the action sequences. Still, it's all these factors that make the movie a blast. It might not work for everyone, but I enjoyed Battle Beneath the Earth. A 6/10 seems about right.

This is one of those "so-bad-it's-good" B-movies. The production is not nearly as bad and low-budget like "Plan 9 From Outer Space", but in idiocy and sheer nonsense it isn't far-behind, either.The Chinese invade the U.S. through tunnels! Sillier yet, these "Chinese" are played by white guys - who couldn't be more white - with bad eye make-up. One of these whites plays a Chinese general who at times speaks with an Indian accent! One of the main characters says that "they (the Chinese) are like ants". Well, if that's the case, then why couldn't they find any Chinese actors? The movie offers cretinously funny scenes at quite a consistent rate. There is occasional tedium, though - prevalently in the second half. One of my favourite scenes: at the beginning, in the room of a lunatic asylum.

I remember watching this film a few times as a kid growing up in the cold war fadeout of the late 70's and early 80's. This is a cheesy B movie sci-fi flick with a very unique idea. A renegade Chinese general decides to tunnel all the way across the Pacific Ocean with laser boring cars so that he can attack us from underneath with nuclear weapons.This idea is executed about as well as you can expect from a campy B movie sci-fi. But, the idea and fast paced plot are adequate enough to keep the most ADD movie watcher interested. Now, I haven't seen this movie in a few years and was actually looking to rent or buy a DVD copy of it. But, unfortunately it's not available in this format yet.If you want to see it, you'll have to watch it on VHS.It's a bit hokey, but enjoyable.I'd like to see it remade and updated with a proper budget and better script and plot.

One of the scenes holds a special place in my memories as the most unintentionally hilarious piece of cinematography I have ever witnessed.Picture this: The hero is wandering along a discovered tunnel with the leading lady, a geologist. In their travels they come across an obstacle; the passageway is dissected by a lava river level with the passageway. This is excusable, too many films show heroes far far closer to lava than the human body would stand, especially underground. However the female GEOLOGIST is about to step onto the lava, when the hero has to hold her back to stop her saying IIRC "Stop Honey, its hot."Battle Beneath the Earth is a comic strip, fortunately the bad sets and casting have left it iconic and clean cut enough that it can pass for one in the manner of the 60's Batman series or Thunderbirds. If you choose to accept this you will enjoy the film, if for all the wrong reasons. If you cannot stay the hell away. This film rates one out of ten, but its a very watchable form of awful. In my opinion better than the cult Ed Wood films as it does have a followable plot, however ridiculous it may be.