Magnificent Monster Movie

ultramatt2000-1

A sequel to ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. (1966) about a young girl running away from the hostile prehistoric world, from rivaling cave-tribes to almost being dino-dinner. Great special effects by Jim Danforth and the late David Allen (who later worked on his unmade epic THE PRIMEVALS). What makes this film is that it got the 3 B's: Babes (Victoria Vereti and cave-girls in the animal-skin bikinis), Blood (a cavemen fighting amongst themselves and prehistoric monsters) and Beast (dinosaurs of course). To me, I think the dinosaurs really steal the picture. The Ramapharynchus, the Chasmosaurus, the Plesiosaurus, the fictitious mother and baby dinosaur (which look like close relatives to THE BEAST FROM 20'000 FATHOMS) and the giant crabs! There are also schlocky monsters in this film. Apart from the vultures, there is a mechanical plant that almost eats up a blonde and footage from the 1960 remake of THE LOST WORLD. Now you are thinking, "What the heck would the cheesy lizard footage be doing in a movie where most of the film's monsters are stop motion animated?" That's simple. This is because the film-makers who worked on the 1966 film ONE MILLION B.C. decided to pay homage to what they are remaking. According to Ray Harryhausen, he was not only in charge of the animated monsters, but he was responsible for the magnified lizard and the tarantula sequence in the movie. The film-makers told him to do that in order to homage the original. Same thing goes to the vultures appearing in this movie as well. This film was said to get an Oscar for Best Visual Effects, but it got nominated and it looks like that Disney's BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS (1971) won the Oscar.

Rats. About that dinosaur in this film film, the mother and baby dinosaur were modeled after the acanthofolis. There was going to be a sequel called DINOSAUR GIRL, but due to money problems they went up with the monster-free CREATURES THE WORLD FORGOT. If CREATURS THE WORLD FORGOT had more money, then Jim Danforth would animated some prehistoric mammals. I highly recommend you to watch WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH if you are a fan of stop-motion animation, or dinosaurs.

CREATURES THE WORLD FORGOT is worth avoiding. I wish the film would be released on DVD with special features such as a trailer, a commentary track by Jim Danforth and a gallery of behind the scenes pictures. Bottom line: I loved this movie, and so will you. Rated G, but it contains violence and nudity in this film.

score 9/10

ultramatt2000-1 30 December 2007

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1790209/