When a group of explorers go in search of a yeti, they find themselves taken captive by an ancient race of alien creatures.When a group of explorers go in search of a yeti, they find themselves taken captive by an ancient race of alien creatures.When a group of explorers go in search of a yeti, they find themselves taken captive by an ancient race of alien creatures.
- Awards
- 1 win
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe live action scenes and a majority of the stop motion effects were all filmed in 1994, but David Allen, the director, had passed away due to cancer in 1999. The studio that was making this movie, Full Moon Studios, was also having financial issues so they had to keep postponing the production of the movie, until they ran out of money and had to shelf it. In 2019, after an online fundraising campaign, the original effects artist, Chris Endicott, returned to complete the remaining stop motion sequences.
- Alternate versionsTwo edits were created, one for general release, and "The David Allen Version," which was compiled for home video. Running 7 minutes longer, it features several unfinished scenes in which storyboarded creatures are animated into the filmed footage. Notable scenes include an extended sequence in which the group tries to evade a dinosaur-like creature, a more extensive flashback scene in the UFO, and numerous additional moments with the creatures at the film's climax.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Full Moon Universe: June 20th, 2023 (2023)
Featured review
In 1978, the film magazine Cinefantastique ran a cover story on an upcoming SF movie, The Primevals, then in preproduction. The Primevals, an ambitious effort on a modest budget, was intended as a showcase for stop-motion animation.
I was in college at the time, and as an animation fan I was pretty excited about seeing this movie. As it turned out, I had to wait just a little longer than expected. Forty-six years, to be exact. It never occurred to me that I'd be nearly eligible for Social Security before The Primevals finally came out.
You see, the initial effort to make the movie fizzled. It was revived in 1994, when the live action and some of the effects were shot. Then the studio behind the project went bankrupt, and the movie, still in post-production, was shelved. It remained in limbo for decades until producer Charles Band and effects expert Chris Endicott worked out a plan to finish it. By that time, the film's guiding light, animator-writer-director David Allen, was long gone, having died of cancer in 1999.
With a new crew of animators, newly repaired or entirely refashioned models, and digital composites instead of back projection, The Primevals finally completed its remaining effects shots (or all the essential ones, anyway; the plot was slightly streamlined as a cost-cutting measure).
As of June, 2024, the movie has been released to streaming services. I watched it last night. As I expected, it often betrays its humble origins, with uneven performances and an overall "1980s TV" quality, which is especially noticeable in the overbright and rather flat lighting. Nevertheless, given the budget and the technology, it's an impressive piece of work - and obviously a labor of love for the creators. Allen and his colleagues made a real effort to elevate the stop-motion genre, eschewing dinosaurs and mythological creatures in favor of a more complex scenario involving alien contact and directed evolution. They also worked hard to integrate the stop-motion elements into the story in a natural way, rather than using them as standalone set pieces, as was too often the case.
The irony is that after all this time, The Primevals can no longer serve its intended purpose as proof of the viability of hand-crafted animation effects in a digital world. That ship has sailed. Instead, the movie will likely go down as the last live-action feature film to use stop-motion creatures in a big way. It's probably not the legacy Dave Allen wanted, but it does assure him of a small place in movie history. And it's a great gift for stop-motion fans like me.
Kudos to Endicott, Band, and their associates for making The Primevals a reality - finally!
I was in college at the time, and as an animation fan I was pretty excited about seeing this movie. As it turned out, I had to wait just a little longer than expected. Forty-six years, to be exact. It never occurred to me that I'd be nearly eligible for Social Security before The Primevals finally came out.
You see, the initial effort to make the movie fizzled. It was revived in 1994, when the live action and some of the effects were shot. Then the studio behind the project went bankrupt, and the movie, still in post-production, was shelved. It remained in limbo for decades until producer Charles Band and effects expert Chris Endicott worked out a plan to finish it. By that time, the film's guiding light, animator-writer-director David Allen, was long gone, having died of cancer in 1999.
With a new crew of animators, newly repaired or entirely refashioned models, and digital composites instead of back projection, The Primevals finally completed its remaining effects shots (or all the essential ones, anyway; the plot was slightly streamlined as a cost-cutting measure).
As of June, 2024, the movie has been released to streaming services. I watched it last night. As I expected, it often betrays its humble origins, with uneven performances and an overall "1980s TV" quality, which is especially noticeable in the overbright and rather flat lighting. Nevertheless, given the budget and the technology, it's an impressive piece of work - and obviously a labor of love for the creators. Allen and his colleagues made a real effort to elevate the stop-motion genre, eschewing dinosaurs and mythological creatures in favor of a more complex scenario involving alien contact and directed evolution. They also worked hard to integrate the stop-motion elements into the story in a natural way, rather than using them as standalone set pieces, as was too often the case.
The irony is that after all this time, The Primevals can no longer serve its intended purpose as proof of the viability of hand-crafted animation effects in a digital world. That ship has sailed. Instead, the movie will likely go down as the last live-action feature film to use stop-motion creatures in a big way. It's probably not the legacy Dave Allen wanted, but it does assure him of a small place in movie history. And it's a great gift for stop-motion fans like me.
Kudos to Endicott, Band, and their associates for making The Primevals a reality - finally!
- michaelprescott-00547
- Jun 2, 2024
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
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- Also known as
- David Allen's the Primevals
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 31 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.78 : 1
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