Throwback Thursday - That Time Rankin/Bass teamed up with the Japanese to make movies for ABC

note: A few years ago I signed on to write up some articles for a magazine titled Gravely Unusual. Specifically, I chose to write about various genre related television projects, which readers of Crappy Movie Reviews will know is a favorite of mine. Sadly this only lasted a couple of issues and I’ve already posted the other one here. Today I thought I’d share my other submission.

 

Television Terrors: Growing up in the Warm Glow of the Boob Tube

The Rankin/Bass and Japanese movies that ended up on ABC

by John Shatzer

Here we are back for another installment of Television Terrors. This time around I thought I’d talk about an odd collaboration that occurred in the late ‘70s between Rankin/Bass and some Japanese studios. This is a series of three movies that ended up premiering on ABC here in the States while getting a theatrical release in Japan. Initially, I had thought this was the plan all along. However, after doing research for this article I realized that the original idea had been for The Last Dinosaur to get released to theaters in the US, but the filmmakers couldn’t drum up any interest. After that movie was such a success, the other productions were sold to television even before they were finished. Because of this I consider these productions all to be television movies and decided to cover them here.

Before I go any further, I should chat a bit about my history with these movies. If you haven’t caught on yet I’m a huge fan of all things related to horror on the small screen. I was aware of the “movies of the week” that were cranked out to fill the voids in the schedule, having seen many of them in reruns on my local horror hosted shows years after their premieres. At some point in the mid ‘80s I heard about these strange projects and immediately went looking for them but was unable to find copies to watch. I filed it away and moved on to the next thing. I honestly had totally forgotten about it until recently when I stumbled over an article that mentioned them. This time, armed with the internet as a resource, I found what I was looking for. Though I imagine given the title of this article you probably figured that out already. After waiting over 3 decades, it is time to dive in.

I figured that I’d start with 1978’s The Bermuda Depths. This is the second of the trio and was the one that interested me the most. Mostly because one of the stars, Carl Weathers of Rocky and Predator fame, does battle with a giant sea turtle. The Japanese side of the production came from the same company that did the Ultraman shows that I loved growing up as a kid. I was so hoping for some killer Kaiju action which I must inform you never happens. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Things kick off with a guy sleeping on the beach who we later find out is our main character, Magnus. A beautiful woman, played by a very young Connie Sellecca, comes strolling up and smiles before disappearing back into the sea. Magnus wakes up and then we are given some background as he meets up with Eric, Weather’s character, who is working on a research vessel. Eric and another man named Paulis are continuing the work of Magnus’ father. Magnus has returned to the island to sort out his history and to try to remember what happened to his father. We get hints that since being orphaned as a child he has had a rough go of it. Signing on to help Magnus gets involved with Eric and Paulis’ work. Also in the mix is Sellecca’s character, Jennifer, who we find out has a strange connection to Magnus and his father.

Now you might have noticed that I have yet to mention the giant sea turtle. I’m not burying the lead here as the turtle is barely in the movie and is mostly seen in the last few minutes of the flick. Much of the movie is focused on developing the relationship between Jennifer and Magnus and revealing the secrets within that relationship. Be aware that there are some spoilers coming so if you don’t like that sort of thing stop reading right away. You have been warned.

Jennifer was/is the imaginary friend that Magnus had as a child (another flashback we get to see) who is also a legendary sea creature that was once a woman but sold her soul to a turtle god to avoid drowning. Or at least I think that is what they were going for. If I’m going to be completely honest here the movie is quite confusing. I had to stop it to go back and see if I missed something more than once. That hardly ever happens to me since I tend to really pay attention when I’m watching a movie. Sadly, that is only one of the many problems that I noticed.

Finally the Turtle!

The Bermuda Depths feels like a movie that tried to do a lot of stuff but never settled on one thing long enough to be entertaining. We get the promise of a monster, which never really happens. The title mentions Bermuda, which being a ‘70s production made me think it might have something to do with the Bermuda Triangle. While that is mentioned and hinted at nothing really comes of it. We get a bit of a mad/obsessed scientist vibe which also doesn’t turn into anything. There is even a bit of Jaws with the characters on the boat doing battle with the turtle, but it ends too quickly to be worthwhile. The filmmakers are throwing a lot at the audience to entertain, but it doesn’t work.

The casting of Burl Ives as the scientist Paulis also doesn’t work for me. He is wrong for the part and really the movie in general. He mostly mumbles through lines and spends his time cracking and eating peanuts. The only thing that I did really like about The Bermuda Depths was the casting of Carl Weathers. He is good playing Eric and is the only character that seems to have some sort of story arc going from friendly to obsessed with the fame that might be gained by killing the turtle and proving its existence. Plus, he wears a pair of shorts that have to be seen to be believed. I was having flashbacks to gym class in the ‘70s and was traumatized. 

One of the hazards of this hobby and tracking down movies is that when you find them you realize why they were difficult to locate in the first place. Many times, they were buried because they are just bad. While I’m pleased to have finally scratched this one off of my bucket list, I’m hoping that this isn’t a harbinger of things to come. Fingers crossed that the other two movies are more fun.  

Next up I thought I’d go back to the first project Rankin/Bass tried to get off the ground and look at The Last Dinosaur. This movie stars Richard Boone as Masten Thrust Jr., the owner of a large oil company that has been successfully exploring the polar caps in search of reserves of crude oil to drill. Thrust is also known as a big game hunter who has shot and killed many animals, including some endangered ones. We are given the idea that he is rich enough to get away with such things. The story picks up with him landing in Japan and heading off to company headquarters to check in with some scientists and have a press conference. Here is where the story kicks into gear.  

Chuck Wade works for Thrust’s oil company and is the only survivor of a mission that stumbled onto a hidden valley that is warmed by a nearby underwater volcano. This land is trapped in the past and is filled with dinosaurs, one of which ate the other members of his crew. Thrust is putting together an expedition to retrace their steps with the intent of studying the creature. Though when they arrive there are all sorts of dinosaurs to deal with as well as some cavemen! The T-Rex that ate the original crew causes some grief by constantly trying to snack on them, as well as stealing their ship because it was shiny. At least that is how they explain why it disappeared.

The plot then jumps to four months later as our survivors are struggling with the locals, both the reptile and mammal variety. They have also picked up one of the cavewomen who has taken a shine to them. They call her Hazel and try to teach her things. Stuff happens, including a dinosaur throwdown between the T-Rex and a Triceratops, as well some fighting with the cavemen over food. Eventually they do stumble over their ship and get it ready for a return home, but of course Thrust refuses. He has become obsessed with killing the T-Rex which leads to a weird but sort of enjoyable ending. I can’t say more without spoiling The Last Dinosaur. 

This is a much better movie than The Bermuda Depths with the most obvious reason being that we get to see the creature as well as other fun stuff. The dinosaurs are clearly actors in rubber suits flailing about at one another but being a Toho co-production that is exactly what I wanted. This movie promises monsters and doesn’t disappoint. In addition to the T-Rex there is a giant turtle, Pterodactyls, and the Triceratops. There is also miniature work used to bring the ship and its home base to the screen. If you dig Kaiju movies, then you will be pleased with what we get in The Last Dinosaur.

Richard Boone is chewing the scenery and having a blast. He yells a lot of his dialogue and the supposed love scenes between him and co-star Joan Van Ark are painfully awkward. Somehow this adds a certain cheeseball charm that works for the movie. The theme song is very ‘70s and again just fits. We even get some familiar giant lizard sounds coming from the T-Rex. Toho was involved so it shouldn’t be a surprise that this happened.

Sure it is silly... but I liked it.

While I was watching The Last Dinosaur, I also noticed something else that amused me. It probably wasn’t done on purpose but still, who knows? Our female lead is played by the previously mentioned, Joan Van Ark. Her name is Francesca Banks, and she is an award-winning photographer. She has cut her teeth taking photos in warzones including what I think was supposed to be Vietnam. She’s a blonde female photographer who is brought along as the press representative to document the expedition. Fans of Kong: Skull Island might notice some similarities here.

You might also notice that the movie is called The Last Dinosaur. Here is where I think that the writing is subtle and deeper than one would expect from a monster movie like this. The “dinosaur” referred to isn’t the giant reptile, but I believe is actually the character of Thrust. From his rough treatment of women (even for the ‘70s is a bit much), to the character’s resistance to returning to civilization, I believe the point is that he is the dinosaur. This is further reinforced with the casting of Boone, who is best known for playing cowboys and tough guys, and who was nearing the end of his long career when he made this movie. Then again maybe I’m just reading too much into it. Regardless, the movie engaged me in a way I wasn’t expecting and that added to my enjoyment.

Now it isn’t all good and I do have one complaint. The movie is way too long. I watched the uncut version of the movie that clocks in at 106 minutes long. There is a lot of padding at the beginning of the movie including an extended press conference that goes nowhere and is unnecessary. I did notice that the TV cut is only 95 minutes long so that might be the one to watch. Despite dragging at times there is still enough fun to be had that I think this one is worth a watch. If nothing else the giant rubber monsters stomping around should put a smile on your face.

Well, I’m glad that The Last Dinosaur was decent. I’ve spent a long time tracking these movies down and it would have been disappointing if they all were as bad as The Bermuda Depths. Fingers crossed that the last of three is also a good time. Might as well toss The Ivory Ape into the DVD player and see what I’ve gotten myself into.

The Ivory Ape starts with some farmers in Africa trying to protect their crops from a gorilla that is cleaning them out of bananas. There is a bit of an argument since the animal is protected and they are going to get in trouble with the game warden if they injure it. Though that doesn’t stop them from eventually shooting and capturing it. But it isn’t just any gorilla. It’s a rare white one that zoos and collectors all over the world will be willing to pay big bucks for. A ruthless poacher, Aubrey Range, takes the ape and loads it on a ship bound for Cuba. Why Cuba? Well, he illegally smuggled it out of the country so that is the only place he can sell it without getting arrested. A storm blows up and the ship is forced to dock in the Bahamas where the rest of our characters get involved.

Baxter and Lil are crusaders that have the papers to seize the ape and return it home where it belongs. Baxter also has a friend, a former big game hunter named Kazarian, who lives on the island. Kazarian gets roped into the hunt when the ape breaks free after killing someone and escapes onto the island. Behaving unusually aggressive, the gorilla creates a panic which leads to a posse of armed men tracking it down. One of those men is Kazarian and another is the poacher who is trying to destroy any evidence of his smuggling. Though the Inspector in charge gives Baxter and Lil a chance to capture it alive, things go about as well as you would expect, which isn’t great. In the end, which I won’t spoil here, we find out why the gorilla was acting aggressively and our characters either learn a lesson or are able to be righteously indignant.

Well crap… There are some things that I enjoyed about The Ivory Ape, but it is a flawed movie.  Much like The Bermuda Depths, I feel like this movie promised me a creature feature, but what I got instead was a drama with a conservation message. Normally I wouldn’t be too hard on a movie that did a switcheroo like that if they managed to do a decent job at it. Sadly, that isn’t the case here. The movie is padded with so much unnecessary baggage that I never could get into or care about the story.

For example, we get an entire subplot of Kazarian, Palance’s character, coming out of retirement to hunt again. Why did he quit? Thanks to a monologue we find out that his son was taken by a crocodile and he had to do the unthinkable to stop his suffering. He shoots the kid and not the croc (!), though it is hinted that it was already too late to save him. While this is interesting, it does nothing to move the story along and is never referenced in any way later in the movie. Combined with Palance barely playing a part in the movie, this is all wasted space. You could have cut his character out entirely and trimmed about twenty minutes off the runtime which would have helped the pacing a lot. Of course, they didn’t do that since Palance is top billed and used to sell the movie.

On the positive side of things Palance is very good in the movie. Unlike The Last Dinosaur where the Hollywood vet Boone chews scenery, Palance is subdued and very believable as the tortured Kazarian. The ending where he figures out what is happening through the scope of his rifle and tries to, but fails to stop what happens, there is a pain on his face that tells you more than any bit of dialogue could ever do. The rest of the cast is equally good including Steven Keats, who was also in The Last Dinosaur, and Cindy Pickett. A good cast can make up for some silly material and this is a very good cast.

Speaking of silly, I can’t ignore the 800-pound gorilla in the room. See what I did there? The titular creature is nothing more than a man in a gorilla suit. It doesn’t look any better than the poverty row studio films of the ‘30s and ‘40s. I get that on their budget, and with the technology of the time, this was as good as they could do. But the choice of using stock footage side by side early on, just points out how fake it is. And I’m not going to lie that because this was a Toho co-production, I had expected a giant gorilla to appear and that the fact it is just a regular sized guy in a suit bummed me out. Again, if they had done the other stuff better my unmet expectations wouldn’t prevent me from enjoying The Ivory Ape.

The Ape

In the end, I can’t say that I would recommend The Ivory Ape. It isn’t awful and I’ve seen much worse, but it doesn’t do anything to make itself memorable. This is, at best, an oddity that “made for TV” nerds like me probably will need to track down. This is by far the hardest of the three to find. The weakest of these productions is clearly, The Bermuda Depths, which has zero going for it. The plot meanders along, never amounting to much, and is filled with characters that are uninspiring. Plus, we barely get any monster in it with the turtle showing itself at the very end for just a couple of minutes. Trust me it isn’t worth your time.

The best of the bunch is The Last Dinosaur. Now this is what I expected when I saw Toho was involved. Lots of guys in rubber monster suits, cheesy cavemen makeup, model ships zipping around the screen. This movie has it all! It isn’t perfect, but if you dig Kaiju flicks then I think you will have fun with it. It doesn’t surprise me that this was the easiest of the three for me to track down. I can see the appeal, which likely kept it in circulation.

So that is it for another installment of Television Terrors. It was a blast for me to finally track these movies down and to share them with you here in the pages of this fine magazine. As always, I want to thank Edwin for the opportunity to participate in such a cool project. If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to get in touch by emailing me at gutmunchers@gmail.com. I love talking to other fans about this stuff. I’ll see you all next time when I return with even more spooky stuff from the old boob tube.

© Copyright 2023 John Shatzer

Lost Continent (1951)

I had never seen this one before and after watching it I can see why. The movie kicks off with a rocket experiment being conducted. They lose control of it, and it crashes somewhere in the Pacific with an experimental nuclear engine that they must recover. So, a group of scientists and some air force personal hop on an airplane and head out. They encounter some strange phenomenon, which they later blame on radiation, that causes the plane to crash. The rest of the movie is them walking and climbing up a mountain to grab the engine all while avoiding the dinosaurs that live on the peak. Then they walk back down.

I jumped into this one hoping that this could be another fun stop motion dinosaur flick like The Land Unknown which I will eventually review here at the site. But instead of that what we get is a movie that had potential but clearly not enough of a script. Things start off a bit slow after the opening scenes of the crash. We are introduced to our three air force guys, one of which is interrupted on a date. I thought she was going to be a love interest, but we never see her again. Instead, what we do get are lots of scenes of them walking, climbing, walking, and climbing again. There is a stretch of the movie where that is all we see for over twenty minutes! When I say Lost Continent is slow, I mean painfully so.

This is hugely disappointing since they had assembled a decent cast. The always great Caesar Romero is our lead and is supported by other familiar faces such as Hugh Beaumont, John Hoyt, and Whit Bissel. While these names might be familiar but if you have watched genre flicks at all you will recognize them. Especially Whit Bissel who had supporting roles in gems like Target Earth and I was a Teenage Werewolf. Both of which I have covered for the site. Sadly, this movie isn’t nearly as good as either of those.

Dino fight!

The special effects work is appropriately cheesy and fun. They borrow the rocket footage from another movie, but the dinosaurs are all original. We get one short lizard standing in for prehistoric monster gag but most of the dino action is done with stop motion effects. While they aren’t Harryhausen level good I thought they were fun. But then I’m partial to stuff like this and enjoyed seeing them fight it out on screen. Sadly, we don’t get a single composite shot with the actors being menaced by the monsters. Not even some rear projection gags. I don’t ask much from my monster movies, but this is a deal breaker.

Sadly, Lost Continent is just a bad movie. A decent cast and some fun stop motion can’t overcome the terrible pacing and a lack of story. This could have easily been a fun little flick had they put more effort into making sure they had a script before shooting it. I’m going to recommend passing on this one.

 

 

© Copyright 2021 John Shatzer

King Dinosaur (1955)

This is another early Bert Gordon movie. In fact, I think this was his first directorial effort. Thanks to a helpful narrator over some stock footage, we find out that a new planet has entered our solar system and taken up orbit near Earth. It is close enough that we can reach it by rocket powered spaceships, which causes a race to see which nation will be first to land on it. Of course, we, the USA, win that race and land some scientists on the planet. There are two men and two lady scientists. Once they prove the planet, named Nova, is hospitable to humans they take off their plastic space helmets and the fun can really begin.

This strange alien planet is populated with strange and wonderous creatures like… um bears, deer, vultures, and a monkey. All brought to the screen with the use of more stock footage! Well except the monkey who is part of the actual honest to God cast. This nature walk, and really for a long stretch it is them walking in the woods reacting to the stock footage, is finally interrupted when they find strange and wonderous giant creatures like alligators, iguanas, and what was either a cricket with its wings ripped off or a termite. Can’t say for sure. Explorers are menaced, shirts are torn, and the “dinosaurs” are nuked out of existence. Two days on the planet and we nuked an entire island full of the locals. Damn…

My first observation is that this movie must have had a miniscule budget. Here we have explorers flying off to another planet and they didn’t spend any time or money to show them on their ship! Seriously we see them climbing down a ladder and that is it. Hell, they clearly only had two space suits as half the crew stayed “on board” to see if it was safe. After that they change into street clothes and go hiking aka. the nature walk. This is such a low budget movie that when the are forced to camp they don’t even have camping gear, just the clothes on their back and a rifle. I know that I’m sounding very nitpicky, but I want you to understand how low budget this movie is. They basically tried to do sci-fi without any money for even a cheesy rubber suit.

Since I’m on the topic of creatures we must talk about the giant monsters. This is a Bert Gordon flick after all. You can see the early attempts at the giant bugs being brought to the screen with some old school rear projection. Gordon would revisit this in his second movie Beginning of the End with much better results. Most of the monster action are miniature sets with regular sized creatures, in this case a small alligator or maybe a caiman fighting a lizard. By fighting I mean someone was clearly throwing them on each other. There are a couple of times where the gator is doing a death role and twisting the lizard around that made me uncomfortable. I guess it was acceptable in the fifties to do this sort of thing, but it still bothered me. We get a few shots of them interacting with the cast and this is again done with some rear projection tricks.

A lot of what I enjoy about Bert Gordon’s movies are present in King Dinosaur. Giant monsters menacing the cast in goofy ways is the biggest one. But unlike The Cyclops or some of his other movies this is weighed down with a nonexistent script and tiny budget. It pains me to say this, but I would suggest skipping this and watching one of his other flicks. King Dinosaur is just plain boring.

 

© Copyright 2021 John Shatzer

Carnosaur by Harry Adam Knight.

Okay I have some housekeeping items before we jump in on this one. First Knight is a pseudonym for author John Brosnan. I mention this because while all the print copies of this book that I’ve found are under the name Knight I think there are some digital versions floating around under the Brosnan name. The Second item is that while this novel was adapted for the screen by Roger Corman’s New Horizon company the movie has little in common with the book. Finally, you might notice some similarities between the dinosaurs and more importantly their creation between this book and Jurassic Park. This book came out several years before that one so this isn’t a rip off of that more famous book. In fact, one might even say… nah I’m not going there. Okay now onto the review.

The story is set in rural England with our main character being a reporter at a local paper. His name is David, and he is tired of working for a small outfit that bends the knee to those in power. Basically, any juicy story is killed by the local elites. This is especially so when it comes to Lord Penward. When one of Penward’s big cats gets out and kills some neighbors he uses his money and influence to hush it all up. But David, along with his beautiful ex-girlfriend Jenny, get wind of something big. Though instead of working together they act more as rivals both trying to get the scoop. This includes David sleeping with Penward’s neglected wife to get closer to the estate. After a lot of drama and emotional baggage, none of which I was the least bit interested in, the action starts. If the title hasn’t given it away Lord Penward was hatching dinosaurs using DNA and chicken eggs! And he just doesn’t have one like the title of the book insinuates but many. They all get loose and start eating people, which is when things get nasty.

I really did like this book. The story meanders a bit at the beginning, though we do get a couple early attacks to spice things up. There is a bit too much intrigue and the affair between David and Lady Penward takes up far more of the early story then it should. The same goes for the subplot between David and his ex-girlfriend. Things are only interesting when the dinosaurs break free and go on a rampage. Though I will say that my complaints are mitigated by writing that is accessible, and a story that is plotted out well making it is easy to follow. That helps the early stuff at least flow quickly. The book is also short barely topping two hundred pages.

I should also warn readers that this book is written very much in the style of men’s adventure magazines. What I mean by that is the women are either the damsel in distress or the nymphomaniac unhappy wife. David beds both and at time treats both badly. I don’t think in any way that it takes away from the story but if you are sensitive towards that sort of thing then I figured I should let you know.

Carnosaur is a fun book and an easy read. I blew thru it in a couple of hours and while not a book that engrossed me it was fun. Though be warned that if you are looking for literature this isn’t it. What we have here is the print equivalent of a seventies drive-in monster movie, which I dig. If you are in the mood for that sort of thing then I highly recommend Carnosaur.

 

© Copyright 2021 John Shatzer

Cowgirls vs. Pterodactyls (2021)

This title caught my eye when I saw some friends talking about it online. I knew right away that I had to see this. I mean dinosaurs in the old west… SIGN ME UP! I expected a cheesy low budget independent movie, which is exactly what I got. Though I didn’t expect to enjoy it so much. More on that later.

The action starts when a guy walks into a saloon with a bag full of something valuable. We know this because the man who is going to buy it from him is anxious to get his hands on it and says as much. Of course, being the old west there is a double cross and gunfight. Everyone in the room gets killed except for the saloon gals aka. “working girls” who make off with the loot. Then we are introduced to our main characters.

Bunny is an alcoholic gunfighter who has seen better days. She is the hero to the local schoolteacher Rebecca. We also meet Debbie the Madame who runs the bar where the bag was dropped. Finally, there is Doris, a hardened desperado who breaks out of jail when the Pterodactyls attack. They all go after the dinosaurs when one of them carries off Rebecca’s husband. Their plan is to return the eggs which were the treasure in the bag and get him back. Because negotiating with giant sky lizards always works.

This movie is a blast. Doing a western on a low budget isn’t easy, but they do their best. If you look closely, I’m sure you will find historical anachronisms. But how picky should we be about a movie that has cowgirls fighting dinosaurs? The locations are decent, and the costumes worked for me. I suppose if they were trying to do a serious movie, I might find a lot more fault. But they aren’t so I don’t. The cast is solid and is clearly having fun. I was especially surprised by how great the minor characters were portrayed. It’s not just the leads who do a good job. That was impressive.

I love the special effects work!

My absolute favorite thing about this movie is the special effects work. The Pterodactyls are brought to the screen with a combination of stop motion and puppetry. They went old school on us. That means that this just doesn’t feel like a cheesy movie, but an old cheesy movie. Now this hits the sweet spot for me. I loved when the dinosaurs would grab people and then you would get the stop motion figure squirming around. Oh, and then there are the inserts with the puppets snapping at the cast. There isn’t anything quite as fun and it was nice to see someone do it again.

If you haven’t figured it out yet this movie is playing it for laughs. There is some great stuff here from how Debbie pays for the horses, Terry the baby Pterodactyl, and some funny one liners it all works for me. Toss in a nice reference to Thing from Another World with a pickaxe being tossed at a critter and some narration from the legendary Martine Bestwick for a movie that is worth spending some of your time on.

 

© Copyright 2021 John Shatzer

Terrordactyl (2016)

This movie has Space Dinosaurs… let that sink in for a minute. Loyal readers of Crappy Movie Reviews (it could happen!) should know by now that I love a good monster movie. What you may not realize is that I also love a bad one. The cheesier the better I say. Without giving too much away I can tell you right up front that Terrordactyl scratched that itch for me.

Things kick off with a long-haul trucker pulling his rig into a rest stop. Something falls from the sky and smashes his truck in a giant CGI explosion. Crawling from the wreckage is a Pterodactyl, aka. a flying dinosaur! Things go about how you would expect and then we are introduced to our main characters. Lars and Jonas are doing some lawncare and then head to a bar. There they get the bright idea to go looking for meteors from a waitress because they can be worth piles of money. Lucky for them there is a lot of them suddenly in the sky and crashing to the ground.

Of course, we the viewer know that isn’t good. Before you can say “Meteor Shit!” there are Pterodactyls everywhere chowing down on the locals and making a nuisance of themselves. It is up to Lars and Jonas to save the day with some help from their friends from the bar. This leads to a big fight, the revelation that the meteors are eggs returning to Earth, and the miraculous reappearance of a character that we thought was dead. Though really if you have ever watched a flick like this you had to know he would return.  

This is a silly, dumb, and entertaining bit of cheese. Not everything needs to be art, sometimes I just want to have fun. Terrordactyl is just that! The story opens with some action, spends just a few minutes establishing the characters, and then jumps back into the good stuff with the rest of the movie being a running fight. There is nothing new here as it follows the typical monster movie formula, but for the budget it is executed very well. I was never bored or distracted as the movie held my attention until the final credits rolled.

Dig the creatures!

The cast is solid and does a decent job. But for me the real stars of the movies are the creatures. We get a lot of them and the filmmakers take the time to give a few of them unique looks and even personalities. This includes old “barbeque face” that chases the cast around for a good chunk of the story. Since the creatures are all brought to the screen with digital effects this extra detail is welcome. Plus, this movie is being played for some laughs and again is very cheesy, so the CGI doesn’t bother me too much. Especially since it allows for a giant queen pterodactyl to be defeated by a “booze bomb” in the big finale. I did mention that this is a silly flick, didn’t I?

Some other highlights are a skull being “horked up” by one of the dinos, a spectacular and patriotic kill, a montage scene where the characters are creating improvised weapons, and lots of explosions. How can you not love a movie that just goes for it like Terrordactyl does? While not a “good” movie in the traditional sense this is such a blast that I have to recommend everyone check it out. I found the movie streaming online so it is easily available and cheap to rent. Give it a chance.

© Copyright 2020 John Shatzer

Carnosaur 2 (1995)

You know I haven’t had enough Roger Corman here at the site, so I figured that I’d review a movie that he produced while running New Horizon Pictures in the nineties. This is a sequel to the earlier movie that manages to “homage” both Jurassic Park as well as Aliens. I call this a two for one.

This movie wastes no time getting to the good stuff. We have a couple minutes establishing the facility as a government run uranium mine. Some kids get up to mischief and find a bunch of dynamite, this is important later, and then all hell breaks loose as some dinosaurs start munching on the staff. How did they get there? Well don’t worry because that will eventually be explained.

Then we are introduced to our main cast of experts sent in to repair and secure the facility that isn’t responding to radio calls. They arrive in time to find everyone dead with the exception of one teenage boy who our hero ends up bonding with. There is a company man who makes things complicated by telling them certain areas are off limits and trying to cover up what is happening. Eventually of course they run into the dinosaurs and do battle with them. Oh and because of the damage done during the fights they find out that the entire facility is going to explode. This is both good and bad as they need to get out of the place before it goes boom, but if they can trap the dinosaurs in when it does problem solved! Luckily, the kid knows where the dynamite is. I told you that would be important later.

Okay this might be the most blatant and amusing rip off movies to come out in the eighties or nineties. First off, the creatures are cloned dinosaurs that were recovered from the facility in the first movie. Cloned dinosaurs that hatch out of eggs… sound familiar? Very Jurassic Park, but that isn’t even the most fun. While featuring dinosaurs Carnosaur 2 clearly has taken inspiration from Aliens. We get the teenage survivor bonding with one of the rescuers, the team being dropped in to investigate, and the company man causing trouble.

I’m sure that we can all think of examples from other movies that use these very same plot devices but there are scenes lifted right out of the movie as well. You have a bit where the pilot to the helicopter, their way to leave the facility, taking off only to be killed by a dinosaur that hid behind her thus causing a crash. We even get a bit where a couple of characters are stuck and being closed in on from all directions by the dinosaurs that decide to blow themselves up rather than be taken. Hell, you even have an actor playing a character named Monk that is doing his best Bill Paxton impression! Clearly Carnosaur 2 isn’t the most original of movies.

Okay... does this not seem familiar to you?

Now with all that said I will say that the movie is a lot of fun in a turn your brain off sort of way. The action kicks off quickly and never slows down much. Sure, things are a bit cheesy at times but there is a fun vibe that kept me interested. The movie isn’t terribly long clocking in at a brisk eighty-three minutes which helps a lot with the pacing. The cast is solid and includes genre favorite Miguel Nunez as well as John Savage, Don Stroud, and Cliff De Young. You might not recognize all these names, but I promise you’ll remember them from other movies and television shows.

The creatures were created by John Beuchler with some of the props and even a few scenes being reused from the earlier film. I was very impressed with the creature design and the fact that they used puppets to bring the creatures to life. Some of the miniature work can be rough, but for a low budget nineties flick it is good enough. The kills are a bit tame with the best gags being an arm getting torn off and some guts being munched. It seems that they used most of the budget on the creature design and I’m okay with that.

Carnosaur 2 isn’t a good movie, but it is a fun one. I will always have a place in my collection for a goofy monster movie and that is what this flick is. If you are looking to kick back and watch something stupid, then I highly recommend it.

Ó Copyright 2020 John Shatzer

Tammy and the T-Rex (1994)

This hobby of collecting and watching movies can be a strange one. Every once in a while, now more infrequently than say ten or fifteen years ago, you hear of a hidden gem. A movie that never got a proper DVD release or perhaps has had some lost footage restored after it was rediscovered in someone’s basement. An excellent example of this is the original My Bloody Valentine that had its lost gore added back in years after release.

Not too long ago rumors of this movie started circulating. Not only did it seem like an oddball WTF concept starring Terri “Weekend at Bernie’s” Kiser as a mad scientist but it also had early featured roles for Denise Richards and Paul Walker. The names alone should have caused this to have hit shelves a long time ago, but it didn’t happen. Add in that there was additional gore available to be reinserted into the movie and that it was done by fan favorite John Carl Buechler makes it mind boggling that someone hadn’t taken the time to give Tammy and the T-Rex a proper release. That has been rectified now thanks to the fine folks at Vinegar Syndrome we fans finally get our hands on it. What were we missing? Let’s take a look and see.

Tammy is a pretty cheerleader who was set up with a bully named Billy at some point in the past. He is a possessive and violent leader of a gang who doesn’t take kindly to good guy football hero Michael asking Tammy out. We get a fight that ends with a bit of dick grabbing (really… not kidding) that itself escalates to the gang beating on and then leaving Michael in an animal park to get attacked by a lion. He ends up in a coma… then isn’t… then is knocked out by Dr. Wachenstein’s assistant so they can transfer his brain into a robotic T-Rex. He wakes up, breaks out and goes on a revenge spree for a few minutes. Billy and his gang get what is coming to them and then we have an extended chase sequence as Wachenstein tries to recover his creation. Stuff happens and then we get to the end.

Robotic Dinosaur Romance

Tammy and the T-Rex is one of those movies that has a lot of moving parts that alone seem pretty good, but when added together just don’t work. They assembled an excellent young cast but waste them by not giving them anything to do. Richards is reduced to playing an airhead that does nothing other than profess her love for Michael and screech at Billy to leave her alone. The movie also wastes Terri Kiser by not giving him much screen time and when they do there isn’t much to his character.  Match this up with a story that is trying to be funny but fails to stick the landing on any of the jokes and you end up with a mediocre effort that while not terrible feels very uninspired.

Who is up for some brain surgery?

Another of the selling points was the gore and special effects. First you should be aware that the T-Rex is basically one of those animatronic creations that occasionally tours the country bringing dinosaurs “back to life” for the kiddos to enjoy. You can even hear the hydraulics running in some scenes. They pair this up with a crew member wearing rubber gloves who manipulates things like a pay phone. Yes, the dinosaur makes a phone call to Tammy. This is a very silly effect that pairs up well with the cartoonish violence. We get heads ripped off, another person smashed flat, brain surgery complete with manipulation of the person’s “appendages”, and that sort of mayhem. None of it is particularly gruesome or realistic and is all played for laughs. I’ve never seen Tammy and the T-Rex before but can’t imagine what “explicit” gore was removed and how that would change the movie or it’s rating all that much.

In the end I just don’t get it. This isn’t a terrible movie, but it isn’t very good either. Gore or no gore this is a harmless and dumb attempt at comedy starring a couple young and soon to be famous faces. Best viewed as an oddity rather than a cult classic there isn’t much meat on the bone with Tammy and the T-Rex. I can see why this one was ignored for so long. If people weren’t so desperate for that next big thing, I don’t think we would have this much hype surrounding its release. This is a rental at best as I can’t see anyone needing to watch this multiple times.

© Copyright 2020 John Shatzer

The Crater Lake Monster (1977)

Things kick off with “Doc” smoking a pipe and enjoying a good book when a car comes speeding up his driveway. It is one of his students from the College that has made an incredible discovery. Doc is driven back to a mine where he sees ancient cave drawings of Indians alongside a dinosaur. At that same exact time an asteroid hits the local lake and they have to flee as the mine caves in. Not to be deterred the same students go diving on the lake to recover the asteroid, but it is too hot to handle. That is important because it is heating up the bottom of the lake, which is normally freezing cold.

Months later the fish and game around the lake disappear. Why you might ask? Remember when the asteroid hit the lake? Well it heated up the mud and made a lost and forgotten dinosaur egg hatch. Now they have a Plesiosaur stomping around eating the locals because it is out of fish! It is up to a couple of goofball rednecks, Doc, and the sheriff to protect the citizens from The Crater Lake Monster. And by protect, I mean run away after bullets don’t work. Though they do eventually have a killer dinosaur vs. snowplow battle for the ages. 

Time for me to get back to my roots and talk some drive-in movies. Now I never got to see most of these under the stars but instead caught them as they made the rounds of the local late-night horror host shows. The Crater Lake Monster is one of those and I’ve always enjoyed it. This movie gets regularly savaged by critics and fans alike but I just don’t understand the reaction. Please allow me to try and convince you why this is a decent movie.

I’m going to start off with the plot. I understand that it might seem a bit forced and unimaginative because much of the movie consists of character A being introduced and immediately going out onto the lake to be eaten. Followed by character B doing the same thing. But having grown up on a steady diet of monster movies as a kid this was a common theme to the genre, so The Crater Lake Monster can’t be blamed for this. We do have some main characters including the very memorable redneck owners of the boat rental, Arnie and Mitch. The pair have some great lines and serve not only as the comic relief but help move the plot along thru their hijinks. While we get a lot of introduce and kill off there are also some that survive long enough to root for. And by the end I think that most viewers will be cheering for them.

One more thing to mention about the plot is that they jump right into the action and never let up. This isn’t one of those terrible movies filled with stock footage or padding, but instead they had a story to tell and action to show. That makes this one a fast and fun time where you will never be watching the clock. I’ve sat thru far too many low budget flicks that meander along and will cure anyone’s insomnia, but this one avoids that pitfall.

I love the creature effects work!

The coolest thing about the movie are the special effects work used to bring the monster to life. We get some stop motion, rear projection, and a giant rubber head used to make this happen. These are old school effects like they used on the original King Kong. For a lower budget monster movie in the seventies this is some pretty decent work and they do a good job blending the three together. I get that it might seem dated, even when the movie was new, but there is some quality creature work here that should be appreciated.

In addition to the above I’ve always been amused by some of the sillier things in The Crater Lake Monster. For example, the distributor, Crown International, had some financial issues and were unable to finish the movie. That means the blue filter to create the day for night shots weren’t done. Pay attention and you have characters acting like it is dark out while in broad daylight. There is even one scene where an actress talks about how beautiful the stars are tonight while shielding her eyes from the sun. I call this drive-in gold and it makes me love the movie all that much more.

The Crater Lake Monster is a fun bit of cheese that I highly recommend all fans of either monster movies or the drive-in check out. I have a copy on one of those Mill Creek sets and I’m sure it isn’t that hard to find. It is worth the effort, trust me.

© Copyright 2019 John Shatzer