Creatures the World Forgot

source: Creatures the World Forgot

It's not the greatest but it's an entertaining b movie that will not disappoint. But I feel like you have to appreciate the genera to appreciate the film

This film begins in prehistoric times with a small hunting party killing a gazelle and bringing it back to their tribe located in nearby caves. Not long after their return, however, a volcano erupts which subsequently kills a number of the people to include the leader of the tribe. So having lost their chieftain a new leader emerges and together everybody follows him out into the wilderness. It's during this time that they come upon another tribe and after spending some time with them they proceed on their way with a few members of the new tribe joining them. As it so happens one of the new members is a blonde female who was given to the chieftain to wed and as time passes she gives birth to twin sons-one of them dark haired and the other blonde. Unfortunately, the difficult childbirth proves too much for her and she dies immediately afterward. Strangely enough, at this same time another female of the tribe also gives birth to a young female child who turns out to be dumb. Figuring that this new baby is therefore defective the decision is made by the chieftain to have her killed. Fortunately for her, the shaman of the tribe intervenes and adopts her instead. From that point on the two sons become extreme rivals vying for their father's attention and looking to become the next chieftain while the blonde female trains as an apprentice of the shaman. From that point on it's these three people who will figure prominently in the tribe's success or failure. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a difficult film for me to follow for several reasons. For starters, except for certain grunts and gestures, there is no language used in this film and that created some difficulty figuring out what was going on at times. Likewise, this decision also hampered the character development as well. That being said, while this might have been a decent movie otherwise, the damage resulting from this poorly conceived decision was just too noticeable and for that reason I have rated this film accordingly. Below average.

Their home destroyed by a volcanic eruption, a tribe of dark-haired cave-people cross the land looking for somewhere safe to put down roots. Along the way, they meet a tribe of friendly blonde cave-people, who are happy to share their women. Not one to say 'No' to a hot blonde, Mak (Brian O'Shaughnessy), chief of the dark-haired people, sires two boys: blonde Toomak and dark-haired Rool. On the same day, another baby is born: a dumb girl who is almost sacrificed, but who is saved by the tribe's shamen (Rosalie Crutchley). Toomak and Rool grow up as rivals vying for their father's attention. When Mak is killed by a yak (or some such beast), it is the blonde son who is chosen as his successor, leaving the bitter Rool to try and seize leadership... Rather than feature cavemen versus dinosaurs, as in One Million Years B.C. and When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth, this final prehistoric offering from Hammer takes a more realistic route -- if Julie Ege as a sexy cavewoman can be called realistic. Unfortunately, without the spectacle of an Allosaurus terrorising humans, or a bikini babe being carried off by a Pterodactyl, and with the dialogue between the cave-people consisting of lots of grunting, the film quickly becomes a bore. To try and compensate for the plodding nature of his screenplay, director Don Chaffey loads his film with bums (from both sexes) and *, with Ege eventually making her entrance as Toomak's mate Nala, but even scantily clad cave-people cannot prevent Creatures the World Forgot from being a slog almost as arduous as that undertaken by Mak and his people. Not very exciting highlights include young Toomak catching a porcupine and a pig, a fight with a cave bear (played by a man in an unconvincing bear costume), a battle with some cannibals, and Ege being attacked by a big snake while Toomak and Rool fight to the death (although Rool is eventually stabbed by the dumb girl, his body falling off a cliff, looking all too much like an immobile shop dummy). Oh well, at least the scenery is nice. Disney fans N.B.: Mak presents the newborn Toomak to his tribe in a scene remarkably similar to that of Rafiki holding up Simba in The Lion King. Moreover, Nala is the name of both Toomak's woman and Simba's love interest. Coincidence? Who knows?

This is certainly the least popular of Hammer's prehistoric series, the unloved child from a litter of four. The irony is that Creatures The World Forgot makes more effort than any of the others to be vaguely accurate. After all the criticism levelled at the preceding films for their phony history, their laughable depictions of tribal life, along comes a film which tries to present a truer representation of the past… and what happens? It is showered with derision, ignored at the box office and mercilessly ridiculed for failing to provide any dinosaurs! Studios take note - audiences want the fantastic, the sensational… not the mundane. With Don Chaffey back as director (he also did One Million Years B.C.), and the emphasis shifted onto the daily struggles of a Stone Age tribe, one hopes the film might offer a fascinating look at a subject largely underused in cinema. The titular 'Creatures' are not really creatures at all, merely people: primitive, struggling human beings trying to survive against the elements and each other. Sadly, the film is poorly handled – its characters lack development and presence; the music, a jumble of rattles and thudded drum beats, becomes relentless and annoying; and the narrative is tedious for much of the time. As already noted, the plot is basically just concerned with the day-to- day existence and struggles of primitive man. The Dark Tribe, led by Mak (Brian O'Shaughnessy), traverse the wilderness in search of a new home and eventually come across a fair-haired tribe. As a peace offering, the fair-heads present Mak with one of their women, Noo (Sue Wilson), to take as his wife. Later, Noo gives birth to twin boys – one dark-haired, the other fair. On the same day, another woman in the tribe gives birth to a mute girl. The tribe contemplate sacrificing the disabled child but change their mind when a lightning strike seems to warn against it. Many years later, the twins – blonde Toomak (Ian Bonner) and dark Rool (Robert John) – have grown up, but thoroughly despise each other. In a battle with marauders, Toomak saves the mute girl (Marcia Fox) who shares his birthday, and takes one of the enemy's women, Nala (Julie Ege), as his wife. His father is mortally wounded in the skirmish and elects Toomak to replace him as leader, but Rool opposes this decision and spends the rest of his life attempting to overthrow his brother. The only department where Creatures The World Forgot has the edge over the other films is the cinematography. As captured by Vincent Cox, the Namibian and South African backdrops are breathtakingly beautiful, every inch the undisturbed playground of prehistoric man. Even the film's harshest critic would admit it has a very accomplished look about it, especially in the long shots which incorporate these spectacular backgrounds. The problem is that much of the action in front of these lovely backdrops isn't up to scratch. Very little in the film actually works – it's all very plodding, desperately short of excitement. Sure, the costumes have somehow become even skimpier than in earlier entries, yet still the film fails to generate the requisite sex appeal. Even the lovely Julie Ege, formerly a Miss Norway and Miss Universe contestant, looks drab here beneath a mop of scraggly black hair. Her co-stars, both male and female, are similarly painful on the eye. All in all, Creatures The World Forgot marks a dispiriting end to Hammer's prehistoric cycle. Its status as the least loved of the series is, I think, fairly justified.

Two radically contrasting twin brothers fight over who's going to be the leader of their tribe of prehistoric cave people. Director Don Chaffey, working from a tight script by Michael Carreras, offers a compelling and convincing depiction of a brutal and dangerous world in which peril lurks around every corner, maintains a grimly serious tone throughout, and makes fine use of the desolate desert locations. Moreover, the cast manage to give their characters distinctive personalities despite only speaking through grunts and groans, with especially praiseworthy contributions from Tony Bonner and Robin John as the sparring siblings, Julie Ege as the feisty Nola, Rosalie Crutchley as a formidable old witch doctor type, and Marcia Fox as a persecuted mute. Kudos are also in order for Vincent G. Cox's often striking cinematography and Mario Nascimbene's throbbing tribal score. Better still, by firmly grounding the premise in a surprisingly plausible (albeit savage) primitive environment the filmmakers manage to give the central conflict between the two brothers a substantial amount of dramatic punch and weight. An effective and interesting film.

It was perhaps inevitable that the Hammer studio, after the great international success of "One Million Years B.C.", would dip into the prehistoric well again five years later. Unfortunately, things this time around aren't that much fun. If you are expecting a lot of special effect dinosaurs or other creatures - especially since the title of the movie suggests that there will be this spectacle - you will be very disappointed. Aside from a few live animals, the only creature on display is a prehistoric bear, which is accomplished by a human actor in a really bad bear costume. As cheap as the movie gets at times, that isn't the real problem. The big problem with the movie is that it's alternately boring and confusing. With no English dialogue (or even voice over narration), it's hard at times to figure out what's going on, and it's directed in a manner that more often than not feels sluggish. The only real merit to be found in the movie are some fairly impressive locations here and there.

Hammer's third foray into prehistoric adventure (following ONE MILLION YEARS BC and WHEN DINOSAURS RULE THE EARTH) is a dismal, low-rent affair, lacking in any artistic flair and any imagination. This time, the budget excluded any Harryhausen-produced dinosaurs (come to think of it, even the papier mache perils of THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT might have come in handy), instead concentrating on the exploitation features of nudity and barbarism. Much of the fun to be had watching this film is the novelty value (although the film isn't original) of watching a bunch of hairy men and women running around, grunting and fighting indiscriminately. Not a single word is spoken during the course of the film, so events are depicted entirely through visual means of communication. This soon becomes tiring and boring to watch, as it takes about half an hour of set-up for the plot to really begin. It's a muddled affair, concerning a pair of twin brothers who are caught up in destiny and other mumbo-jumbo courtesy of an annoyingly camp shaman who hangs around for the entire length of the film (all other characters from the beginning of the film have either died or moved on by this point), waving a bloody whip and making me wish I was there to beat the living daylights out of him. Not much of the film makes sense, and the plot is minimalistic to say the least. Mostly, it's concerned with people running around and hitting each other with sticks. Like an early version of TV game show GLADIATORS, if you will. The acting is sub-par all round, with not even a name star making a guest appearance. The best they can do with is Julie Ege (THE MUTATIONS), left to supply the glamour interest, although she doesn't have a big role and pervy viewers will be disappointed that she doesn't shed her fur bikini either (although lots of other girls do, their faces conveniently obscured by hair - I wonder why?). All of the men in the film look exactly the same, with long brown hair and bushy brown beards, with the exception of the aforementioned shaman and the hero, a guy with blond hair (dyed) for a change. He is played by a young-looking Richard Branson. The special effects are used sparingly, something which we ought to count ourselves lucky for, as what brief back projection work there is, is simply appallingly bad. There is some gore (controversial for the time, tame for today's standards), mostly consisting of blood-covered people, although a standout scene involves a man's nose being bitten off by another man. To make up for the effects, there is some nice scenery work (it was filmed on location in South Africa, so expect miles of desert and sand), although it has to be said, that by the end we're sick of it. The perils in this film are hilariously bad. One bear is blatantly a man in a suit, and makes no attempt to be anything else. A tribe of squat, scary, Neanderthal men look more like they need a bath than being terrifying, while the climax involves a group of grey-painted guys with giant stone masks encircling their heads. Scary? No way. Absurd? Definitely. The fright value is somewhat diminished when one of the polystyrene masks slips forward and you see the flash of blond hair underneath. So did I like this film? Not really. It's so bad it's just, well...bad. However I will award it an extra mark because at least Hammer were trying something different instead of their usual Gothic horrors. Also, it might be worth watching for novelty value alone, but I wouldn't bank on it.

This movie could have been enjoyable if the title were changed to "A Very Fake Bear" and voice-over were added by Some Comedian/enne. It made me ask very deep questions, such as, "What did they use for hairspray back then?" and "When did we stop aging at arbitrary rates and begin experiencing time together?" Just another reminder why I don't watch movies made in the 70s. In all seriousness, though, that bear is the best part.

"Creatures the World Forgot" is the third and final entry in the Hammer caveman films. It differs from "One Million Years BC" and "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth" in that it is an attempt at realism. There are no dinosaurs in this movie. The setting is firmly grounded in North Africa. Some of the opening shots show rock paintings which appear to be from the Tassili area, circa 4,500 BC. An attempt to portray a functioning caveman culture is presented. Gone are the bikinis and beach girls of the other two movies...well, almost. For the most part, the costumes seem fairly realistic. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of pretty women to look at, and their costumes seem to fall away frequently. Gone also is the made up language of 'akeeta' and 'necro.' In this movie, its all about grunts and gestures, which work quite well. Instead of dinosaurs, indigenous North African animals are present. We see oryx, wildebeest, warthog, brown hyena, crested porcupine, ostrich egg canteens, a couple of snakes and a scorpion. At first it might seem strange that no big cats or other top predators are included in the assortment. I think it's because the antelopes have killed off all the lions and leopards. Hey, this is one tough bunch of antelopes! They lurk deep in the brush and charge out at frightening speed to stab and gore and kill. They are truly vicious creatures. And is it just me, or was an oryx actually killed and skinned for the movie? The plot is unnecessarily convoluted. Two tribes (dark hair and blond hair) meet and exchange brides. The woman from the blond tribe gives birth to twin boys (one blond, one dark). These two brothers hate each other and are constant rivals throughout the movie. At the same time, lightning strikes a tree and a woman gives birth to a girl. The tribe wants to kill this bit of bad luck, but the shaman woman takes her for her own. There is an interesting sub plot as this young girl grows up with a crush on the blond-guy, gets rejected, and finally accepts her destiny as the next shaman of the tribe. It is one of the coolest stories in this movie. After too many plot convolutions, the brothers end up fighting to the death over the blond-guy's leopard skin bikini mate in a scene involving a large snake and cliffs. The young shaman girl decides the outcome... This movie has a more compelling story compared to "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth," with less emphasis on bikini beach culture and more emphasis on caveman survival culture. As of this date, it is not available on DVD, which is a shame. I like this movie a lot and would buy it on DVD faster than you can say - "killer antelope!"