Creatures the World Forgot

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.

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 boobs, 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 a great little film, Shot in Africa 32 years ago it brings back great memories for its star and my personal friend Tony Bonner........ who cares if they don't speak! Do they really have to?????????? Looking like that!!!!!

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.