Creatures the World Forgot (1971)

Truly Dreadful Film

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

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.

Of all the caveman movies I have seen, this one is the best because it choose to present early man as realistic as it could. Rather than have dinosaurs, this movie features animals and creatures that were actually around when early man was. Don't get me wrong; I enjoy dinosaurs very much and had I seen this movie as a kid, I might have thought it was a horrible one. However, now that I am able to recognize good acting and filmmaking, I really loved this movie. It presents the story of early man as a bleak time, a struggle for survival where death was around every corner. No doubt, that was how it was for early man. There are a few beautiful women here, but you won't see as much of their figures as you did in say, "1 Million Years B.C.". None the less, if you are a fan of history or anthropology, "The Creatures That Time Forgot" is a great way to spend your time.

CREATURES is a blast! It eschews the stop-motion dinosaurs of ONE MILLION YEARS BC and WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH and concentrates on the struggles of primitive men in a bleak, prehistoric world. Despite the smirking ad campaign and much-ballyhooed adult rating, CREATURES spends far less time than its predecessors showcasing the anatomical blessings of its female cast members and places more emphasis on the brutality of early man's daily life. The girls are certainly an eyeful, but they are nowhere near as groomed or glamorous as Raquel Welch or Victoria Vetri. The film stands out in many ways. There is no opening narration and no dialogue to speak of. Instead of using the gibberish language of the earlier films, the "Creatures" say very little, grunting and gesturing to communicate with one another. The solid performances make this surprisingly effective. The movie also inverts the formula established by its predecessors, moving the requisite cataclysmic volcanic eruption to the beginning and letting the human drama dominate the climax. This unusual structure lends extra weight to the finale.I went in wondering how grunting cavemen(even the curvy kind like Julie Ege!) could hold my attention for 90 minutes without dinosaurs to fight. To my joy, the film is actually quite entertaining. The birth, life and struggle of two brothers vying for leadership of the tribe has an almost Biblical quality, and director Chaffey gives us plenty of fighting and conflict with nature to keep the film moving. Though much of the story consists of the tribe traveling from one fight to another, I found myself caught up in their journey and never once got bored. I don't know any of Don Chaffey's other work, but ONE MILLION YEARS BC and CREATURES THE WORLD FORGOT have convinced me that the man knows how to tell a story.Bottom line? It's a caveman movie. If that ain't your bag, you probably won't like it. But if you can watch the other two Hammer prehistoric movies without fast-forwarding to the dinosaur scenes, you'll probably find CREATURES THE WORLD FORGOT a very pleasant surprise!

This film has got so much in it. Prehistoric society, adventure, romance, true brotherhood, violence, sex, religion; all depicted abundantly..without a single word uttered!!! And how come it sucks so bad? This film will make you rethink the origin of humanity. If this were the product of anthropology, you would rather defy Darwinian theory and Hegelian synthesis all together. You cannot bear to watch this even with your brain shut down. And now you are thinking, "I've got to see this." I warned you. I take no responsibility whatsoever should you regret spending over an hour staring at this piece of art. Well, I did warn you. This should be forgotten and buried for ever.