Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1968)

not horrible nor great

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

The second time at bat Hollywood director, Peter Bogdanovich took a story written by Henry Ney and created a movie entitled " Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women. " Upon viewing it, try not to laugh too hard at the many fallacies and inaccuracies in the movie. The star of the movie is one time sex goddess Mamie Van Doren who turned many a males' heads in 1968. The story is of a dreamy eyed astronaut who joins a rescue ship to the Planet Venus. Upon landing they immediately destroy a flying reptile whom the primitive women worship as their god. Thereafter the men are plagued by incessant rain, volcanoes, lava and floods. The team never meet the prehistoric woman, clad only in Bell-bottom skin tight pants and sea-shell bras. However, they do hear their siren call and continue to seek their comrades with a poor man's idea of a robot as a space aid. The movie is low grade and originally made by the Russians and were it not for the hot previews which promised it was for adults only, few would have attended it. As it is, the film is recommended to anyone too board to sleep and wants to stay awake. **

Director Peter Bogdanovich had to start somewhere; following second unit work on Roger Corman's "The Wild Angels," Corman allowed the hardworking novice an opportunity to do a feature film utilizing the exact same Russian stock footage used by Curtis Harrington for his 1965 "Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet," a 1962 entry titled "Planeta bur" (Planet of Storms). It's no stretch to assume that the first-time director just didn't have his heart in his work, as all of his newly shot footage features a dozen bikini-clad models not required to speak, everything narrated by Bogdanovich himself. There is no integration between the alien mermaids and the Russian characters, so the whole thing just sits there, aimlessly meandering from one crisis to another. Granted, I had just viewed Curtis Harrington's work on his "Voyage," so all the Soviet footage was already familiar to me, but at least Harrington had Basil Rathbone and Faith Domergue actually communicating with the Russian astronauts, their scenes already dubbed into English. The blame here simply lies with Roger Corman, who felt the need for another retread rather than something truly original. "Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women" carries a 1967 copyright, and at least Corman was satisfied enough to grant Bogdanovich the freedom to do a feature starring Boris Karloff, who supposedly owed Roger two days work on a previous contract; we can all be grateful that the result was the superlative "Targets," shot in Dec 1967, an achievement that even "The Last Picture Show" couldn't top (some may feel free to disagree). Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater aired "Prehistoric Planet" only 3 times, "Prehistoric Women" 4 times (maybe it was the bikinis), all from July 1969 to July 1972.

I will not further detract from the content of film, as other reviewers here have done so more than adequately. There is nothing in this film to indicate that Bogdoanovich would someday produce anything worth watching. A word about the story: we're supposed to believe that prehistoric women were telepathic; clever trick avoid the actresses having to memorize or recite any lines.I will devote my further remarks to the recording and the DVD medium.My DVD says it is the output of Estree Hill Entertainment, copyright 2010 Penwick Group Ltd., serial no. 763799. B&W, English only, no subtitles, no special features, no trailers.My first criticism is the sound track: very poor. One channel only; mono I don't mind, but through both speakers, please. Moreover, there is incessant noise in the background: rushing waves, crashing breakers on the shore, roaring rocket engines, beeping- whizzing-whirring machinery, howling wind--it is nervy and often obscures the dialog. Subtitles would have helped.Second criticism: the source film was badly scratched and blistered, none of which was 'digitally remastered' (not that I would have expected anyone to go to the trouble). I have seen better- preserved films from the 1930s.Third, many of the spliced-in shots of the Venusian mermaids were over- or under-exposed. Amateurish is the word.Don't pay more than a buck for this at a rummage sale. Maybe it looks better after three joints.

*Spoiler/plot- 1968 Voyages to the Planet of Prehistoric Women, A group of astronauts attempt a rescue mission on Venus. The stranded landing party is attacked by various perils as prehistoric monsters large and small. Their misadventures are watched from afar by a group of telepathic Venusian alien women. They worship the Venusian pterodactyl 'god' named, 'Tera'. Essentially a bad copy of the 1965 original Venus exploration film. *Special stars- Blonde bombshell Mamie Van Doren and her blond female bikinied Venusian sisters in heavy eye make-up is something to experience but take very lightly. Peter Bogdanovich directs schlock again. *Theme- Planet's can have civilizations, just keep looking. Maybe they are blond and gorgeous. *Based on- 1965, Voyages to the Prehistoric Planet & Russian film, 'Planet of Storms '62 *Trivia/location/goofs- With a Peter Bogdanovich vague narrative installed, you can make another B-movie just add bikinis. The beach and shore ocean scenes with the alien females do not match the other stock footage due to wrong color correction and heavy film scatches. *Emotion- A big bikinied bore...Roger Corman produces and Peter Bogdanovich directs another film of the same exact remake, again with a new cast!