Creatures The World Forgot — Creatures The World Forgot (Blu Ray)
From the early 1970’s Creatures The World Forgot stands as one of the more daring, though at times decidedly arty/ trying Hammer productions. The film was the third and final prehistoric adventure from the company, and it’s fair to say it's extremely divisive with both fans of the studio and general lovers of caveman-based adventuring. The picture features no formal dialogue and has an often difficult-to-follow storyline, though it’s at times damn brutal and dustily intense, with moments of forlorn atmosphere, and a few dodgy/low-grade effects. Here from Powerhouse is a Blu-Ray reissue of this lesser-seen/ lesser-known Hammer production- featuring a new commentary track, a good selection of Hammer featurettes, a selection of Children’s Film Foundation productions by the same director, and a few other things.
Creatures The World Forgot appeared in the year 1971 and was filmed in the ragged wildness of South Africa. It was directed by Hastings East Sussex-born Don Chaffey- who had thirty-three feature lengths to his name, as well as quite a few US TV series credits. His feature lengths go from family crime drama The Case Of The Missing Scene( 1951), British Noir set in Soho The Flesh Is Weak (1957), tense psycho drama featuring Richard Attenborough The Man Upstairs (1958), black comedy They All Died Laughing (1964), British sex Thriller With These Hands…(1971), family adventure meets animation fantasy Pete’s Dragon(1977), and robot dog family sci-fi comedy C.H.O.M.P.S.(1979).
The film opens with nicely moody pre-credit shots, taking in dramatic red sunsets of ragged landscapes, and cave paintings- all soundtracked by a low-key and decidedly forlorn flute lead scoring. After the decidedly garish/ unfitting green credits, we see a group of grunting cavemen tracking a group of long-horned deer - they manage to ground one, but another skews one of their number killing him. They quickly dig a hole in the dust, pulling off his bone necklace- while stabbing at and bloodily tearing at the downed deer. They take the animal carcass back to their dwelling- which is a series of caves, where it’s skinned, and the cave people rip away at it. We figure out that the killed man was the tribe's chief- with a fight ensuing between two men to become the new chief, with one being speared before being decapitated just off camera. Unfortunately, a nearby volcano explodes- and we get one of the moments of unintentional humour, as the cast sways back and forth with polystyrene rocks thrown at them.
After the devastation of their home, the tribe move on, fairly soon come across a peaceful if more advanced tribe. In time the new chief has picked a mate- and she gives birth to two brothers, one with brown hair and the other with blond hair. The film from this point follows the path of the seemingly constantly battling brothers. And as we move on, we have an encounter with a cave bear, more tribes including a rather creepy clay pothead-wearing tribe, and a curling snake attack.
As the film features no formal dialogue, it's initially rather difficult to discern who is who, and the film is generally rather difficult to follow. As it moves on, and the sons are born, it becomes a little clearer- though still, the pacing of the whole thing is very uneven- and at points it feels like the film has been on an age, really tyring both one's concentration and patience. Yet the whole thing largely feels very authentic and gritty in its portrayal, where life slips away quickly and more often than not with little care or tears.
The film is peppered with both moments of brutal and bloody fighting, and one or two animal attacks/killings. With a forlorn and hopeless vein running through the whole thing. I guess you’d call Creatures The World Forgot very much as a curio- on the positive side, it feels grittily real, with moments of intensity & violence. But on the negative side, it has a difficult-to-follow plot, some real pacing issues, and the whole non-dialogue thing does become trying. All in all, it’s certainly a very unusual Hammer production, with both effective & less effective elements.
Moving onto this region B Blu-Ray release, and we get presented with high-definition remastered print - this is well-defined and clean, really enhancing the gritty 'n' ragged feel of the film. Moving onto the extras side of things- and we get a very good selection of things. First, off we have a commentary track from filmmaker Sean Hogan and author/ critic Kim Newman, and this as expected is well-researched and brimming with chat/ observations. They begin by discussing how the film is largely seen by Hammer fans as one of the studio's lesser films, and widely known as ‘the one without dinosaurs. They talk about unmade cavemen films from the studio, and how the film developed from a few of these. They comment on the stock footage that appears in the film, and its origins. They talk about the makers wanting to get a more authentic look than the studio's other cavemen films, and how it influenced the later Italian cannibal cycle. We get chat about how the film also influenced more gritty cavemen films that appeared in the 1980s and the picture's largely unfamiliar cast. Later on, they discuss the supernatural/ witch elements in the film. How the male leads finally turn up fifty minutes into the film, and their bios. We get talk about the more mask-bound natives/ their real-life influences, and more.
Otherwise, on the new extras side, we have Signs of Change (25.03) which finds genre expert/author Jonathan Rigby discussing the film's development/ production. He goes from talking about how the origins of the picture came from three separate posters created for distributors. Onto how Columbia signed on to fund the film, and that this was the last of the ventures they did with Hammer. He discusses how the script developed, and how members of Hammer went out to Africa to do a 12’000-mile trip to find locations. He talks about shooting dates and locations. He discusses the cast, and more notable actors. He talks about the film's French title which translates to “Sex And Violence In Prehistoric Times”, the box office, and its press from the time- another very worthy featurette from Mr Rigby!.
Next, we have Primitive Rites (26.06) which finds soundtrack expert/ author David Huckvale discussing the score by Mario Nascimbene. We have Hammer’s Women: Julie Ege (8.51) where academic Rachel Knightley talks about the Norwegian model come actress.
Lastly, we have three Children’s Film Foundation productions directed by Don Chaffey from the year 1953- Skid Kids (49 mins). A Good Pull-Up (18 mins) Watch Out! (18 mins). And these all have new commentary tracks from film historian Vic Pratt. With the finished release comes with an eighty-page book with a new essay by Julian Upton, profiles of Julie Ege, Don Chaffey and writer-producer Michael Carreras, an archival interview with Hammer’s financial wizard Roy Skeggs, extracts from the film’s press book, an overview of contemporary critical responses, Jeff Billington on Chaffey’s films for the CFF, and film credits.
Creatures The World Forgot truly does stand as one of the more daring, at times almost arthouse-like features to be released by Hammer. So you have to be open /ready for this when you watch the film, as it's extremely un-typical of the studio's output. Once again Powerhouse has done a truly stellar job with this reissue, with a wonderful print, and a good ‘n’ hearty selection of extras. To buy direct from Powerhouse drop by here.