Tag Archives: Amicus

The Land That Time Forgot (1974)

June 15, 2023 Ken Miller 3 Comments

Okay, now THIS is what you call a movie poster!

Battlin' water beasts — Battlin’ water beasts

Directed by Kevin Connor, produced by John Dark, Max Rosenberg and Milton Subotsky, starring Doug McClure, John McEnery, Susan Penhaligon, Keith Barron, Anthony Ainley, Godfrey James, Declan Mulholland and Bobby Parr. Made by Amicus Productions.

Watch out for the Tylosaurus! This is one of my favourite creatures in the movie

In World War I the survivors of a torpedoed ship manage to take control of the German U-boat that sank their vessel. After finding themselves stranded on the prehistoric continent of Caprona, the two opposing groups form an uneasy alliance to survive in this dinosaur-filled land.

Checking out the lost world... — Checking out the lost world…

A brief battle between a Ceratosaurus and a Triceratops…

...and the Triceratops (guarding its eggs) wins! — …and the Triceratops (guarding its eggs) wins!

Okay, let’s get the dinosaurs and other prehistoric reptiles out of the way first: yes, they’re obviously not as good as stop-motion Harryhausen-style beasties, but Roger Dicken’s rod puppet creations are preferable to real-lizards-with-frills or men-in-dino-suits. They at least resemble dinosaurs and are pretty nice to look at.

I was lucky enough to see a couple of these dinosaur puppets when Roger Dicken attended a film festival I co-hosted at London’s legendary Scala Cinema in the early 90s. These lovingly-detailed movie monster models looked really impressive up-close!

The scenes of the puppet critters are augmented with shots of full-scale models, including a plesiosaur (its head and neck) and a pterosaur that glides away with a friendly caveman!

The life-size Tylosaurus model head in action — A life-size Tylosaurus model head in action

I think the movie’s script, written by Michael Moorcock & James Cawthorn, based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ novel, is intriguing: the various creatures (including primitive types of human and even bacteria) living in Caprona are continually evolving as they move northwards in this lost world. In the novel (and its sequels) Burroughs included prehistoric mammals like Mammoths (showing them being preyed upon by carnivorous dinos, etc) to illustrate how creatures from different time periods all dwell on the same subcontinent. The movie, maybe due to budgetary reasons, doesn’t include any mammalian beasties, but it does feature tribes of early humans at different stages of sophistication, to visually highlight the concept of evolution advancing as individuals migrate towards Caprona’s northern regions.

Loads of fights with cavemen, shootouts with dinos, some neat Derek Meddings model submarine work, a volcanic eruption, decent acting and a pretty downbeat finale keep this flick interesting.

An aquatic reptile roars as the volcanic eruption starts to heat-up the river water

And, of course, the film stars Doug frickin’ McClure, who would go on to fight more monsters in the movies AT THE EARTH’S CORE (1976), THE PEOPLE THAT TIME FORGOT (1977) and WARLORDS OF ATLANTIS (1978), which were all directed by Kevin Connor, and then Doug took on more monsters in HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP (1980). What a dude!

Shoot that Plesiosaurus in the face, Doug!

You can't win a race with a swooping pterosaur, Doug! — Doug, you can’t win a race with a swooping pterosaur!

Let’s check out some posters for the movie…

US poster. It's interesting that the American poster includes a laser beam-firing manta ray, a giant octopus and a cool-looking sub with windows! — US poster. It’s interesting that the American poster includes a laser beam-firing manta ray, a giant octopus, a diving bell and a cool-looking sub with windows (none of which feature in the movie)!

Thai poster: look at Doug’s dark, lustrous hair!

Finally, here’s the cover of the film tie-in rerelease of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ novel, featuring the likenesses of Doug McClure and Susan Penhaligon.
Doug is shown punching a caveman in the face!

I own this novel still! — I still own this version of the novel!

The Terrornauts (1967)

April 8, 2022 Ken Miller 2 Comments

Could any film actually live up to the exploitative promise of this lurid poster artwork?

Three staff members of Project Star Talk (Simon Oates, Stanley Meadows & Zena Marshall) are working at a radio telescope site when they are taken to an asteroid fortress by a space ship. Also carried along for the ride is an accountant (Charles Hawtrey) and a tea lady (Patricia Hayes). The group meet a robot and must pass some tests before using the fortress’ missiles to save the Earth from an armada of alien vessels.

Carry On movie regular Charles Hawtrey plays accountant Joshua Yellowlees

THE TERRORNAUTS is a British science fiction film made by Amicus Productions, based on Murray Leinster’s 1960 novel The Wailing Asteroid. The screenplay was written by sci-fi author John Brunner and the film was directed by Montgomery (BATTLE BENEATH THE EARTH) Tully.

There’s no escaping the fact that THE TERRORNAUTS was definitely done on the cheap… and I do mean very cheap!

Ah, look at those super-realistic planets!

The film resembles a brightly-coloured, low budget Doctor Who episode. But if you look beyond the threadbare production values, you’ll find that THE TERRORNAUTS does have an interesting premise: a long-gone alien race has left its tech behind so that mankind can defend itself from an interstellar foe.

I do also like the alien critter, revealed as a hologram. If you can imagine an unrealistic man-in-suit creature costume designed by a surrealist… that is what the alien looks like!

The alien's 'face' — The surreal alien’s ‘face’

The alien's eye, which is on its torso — The alien’s eye, which is on its torso

The lurid poster (claiming we’ll be seeing ‘The virgin sacrifice to the gods of a ghastly galaxy!’) highlights a moment in the movie where the heroine is accidentally teleported to a planet and is nearly sacrificed by a bunch of green-skinned savages.
This in-your-face poster artwork promises, of course, far more than the film could ever hope to deliver.

Yikes! This is the poster's depiction of the sacrifice scene... — Yikes! This is the poster’s depiction of the sacrifice scene…

...and this is what the attempted sacrifice actually looks like in the film! — …and this is what the sacrifice scene actually looks like in the film!

Don't worry: Sandy gets saved — Don’t worry: Sandy gets saved

Here’s the pre-production concept artwork for the hologram alien, by designer Bill Constable, showing that the strange being was always intended to have an eye positioned at an odd place on its body.

This concept for the alien creature makes it resemble a surreal tree stump

And here’s another couple of shots of the alien as seen in the film, with its eye located on its waist…

Not the most realistic alien costume ever produced!

Who are you lookin' at? — Who are you lookin’ at?

Some lobby cards…

Finally, here’s the UK DVD cover…

At The Earth’s Core (1976)

April 5, 2022 Ken Miller 1 Comment

After the success of its Edgar Rice Burroughs adaptation THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT (1974), Amicus decided to give us another Burroughs fantasy adventure with AT THE EARTH’S CORE (1976).

Starring Doug McClure once again, AT THE EARTH’S CORE also added Peter Cushing and the ever-glamorous Caroline Munro (as a beautiful slave girl princess) to the cast list.

The men-in-suit beasts are pretty shoddy (compared to Roger Dicken’s rod-puppet dinosaurs in THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT) and the score is lacklustre, but the nonstop incident and Caroline Munro make it watchable. Peter Cushing seems to be enjoying himself as the dotty professor (“You can’t mesmerise me, I’m British!”), who gets to shoot a fire-breathing toad-monster with arrows (it explodes!)

My favourite monsters in the movie are the two critters that fight over the dead slave, which look like bipedal versions of the prehistoric mammal Brontotherium (they were referred to as ‘Bos’ in the publicity at the time of the film’s release, as I remember.)

I also like the creature that attacks McClure and a tribesman that seems to be half animal (it has tentacles) and half plant (its mouth looks like a glowing Venus Flytrap).

A 'Bos' chews a victim! — A ‘Bos’ monster chews a victim!

Other monsters in this movie include a beaked, parrot-faced dinosaur-like beast, a big quadrupedal creature that Doug McClure fights in a cave arena, and telepathic pterosaurs called Mahars.

The film also features Sagoths, which are humanoid servants of the Mahars, and the Iron Mole: the drill-nosed burrowing machine that carries McClure and Cushing deep through the Earth’s crust.

A flame-breathed beast — A flame-breathing beast

Mahars: the rulers of this subterranean world

Let’s be honest: AT THE EARTH’S CORE is never going to be considered a fantasy classic, but it’s a no-nonsense adventure romp, stretching its small budget as far as it can, filling the screen with its series of colourful sets, purple skies and ludicrous beasties.

Here are a whole bunch of posters for the film…