It was perhaps inevitable that the Hammer studio, after the great international success of "One Million Years B.C.", would dip into the prehistoric well again five years later. Unfortunately, things this time around aren't that much fun. If you are expecting a lot of special effect dinosaurs or other creatures - especially since the title of the movie suggests that there will be this spectacle - you will be very disappointed. Aside from a few live animals, the only creature on display is a prehistoric bear, which is accomplished by a human actor in a really bad bear costume. As cheap as the movie gets at times, that isn't the real problem. The big problem with the movie is that it's alternately boring and confusing. With no English dialogue (or even voice over narration), it's hard at times to figure out what's going on, and it's directed in a manner that more often than not feels sluggish. The only real merit to be found in the movie are some fairly impressive locations here and there.

This is certainly the least popular of Hammer's prehistoric series, the unloved child from a litter of four. The irony is that Creatures The World Forgot makes more effort than any of the others to be vaguely accurate. After all the criticism levelled at the preceding films for their phony history, their laughable depictions of tribal life, along comes a film which tries to present a truer representation of the past… and what happens? It is showered with derision, ignored at the box office and mercilessly ridiculed for failing to provide any dinosaurs! Studios take note - audiences want the fantastic, the sensational… not the mundane. With Don Chaffey back as director (he also did One Million Years B.C.), and the emphasis shifted onto the daily struggles of a Stone Age tribe, one hopes the film might offer a fascinating look at a subject largely underused in cinema. The titular 'Creatures' are not really creatures at all, merely people: primitive, struggling human beings trying to survive against the elements and each other. Sadly, the film is poorly handled – its characters lack development and presence; the music, a jumble of rattles and thudded drum beats, becomes relentless and annoying; and the narrative is tedious for much of the time.As already noted, the plot is basically just concerned with the day-to- day existence and struggles of primitive man. The Dark Tribe, led by Mak (Brian O'Shaughnessy), traverse the wilderness in search of a new home and eventually come across a fair-haired tribe. As a peace offering, the fair-heads present Mak with one of their women, Noo (Sue Wilson), to take as his wife. Later, Noo gives birth to twin boys – one dark-haired, the other fair. On the same day, another woman in the tribe gives birth to a mute girl. The tribe contemplate sacrificing the disabled child but change their mind when a lightning strike seems to warn against it. Many years later, the twins – blonde Toomak (Ian Bonner) and dark Rool (Robert John) – have grown up, but thoroughly despise each other. In a battle with marauders, Toomak saves the mute girl (Marcia Fox) who shares his birthday, and takes one of the enemy's women, Nala (Julie Ege), as his wife. His father is mortally wounded in the skirmish and elects Toomak to replace him as leader, but Rool opposes this decision and spends the rest of his life attempting to overthrow his brother.The only department where Creatures The World Forgot has the edge over the other films is the cinematography. As captured by Vincent Cox, the Namibian and South African backdrops are breathtakingly beautiful, every inch the undisturbed playground of prehistoric man. Even the film's harshest critic would admit it has a very accomplished look about it, especially in the long shots which incorporate these spectacular backgrounds. The problem is that much of the action in front of these lovely backdrops isn't up to scratch. Very little in the film actually works – it's all very plodding, desperately short of excitement. Sure, the costumes have somehow become even skimpier than in earlier entries, yet still the film fails to generate the requisite sex appeal. Even the lovely Julie Ege, formerly a Miss Norway and Miss Universe contestant, looks drab here beneath a mop of scraggly black hair. Her co-stars, both male and female, are similarly painful on the eye. All in all, Creatures The World Forgot marks a dispiriting end to Hammer's prehistoric cycle. Its status as the least loved of the series is, I think, fairly justified.

There is a reason why the world forgot these creatures: they are dull. This is a Hammer Production which means that whoever made this movie should be struck with a hammer, several times if possible - and where it most hurts. Most people put more thought into taking a dump than these idiots have put into making this movie.Seriously now… The movie begins with some cavemen hunting an antelope-thing. Now, antelopes must have evolved a lot from those pre-historic times because they actually attack and kill people here. After that, it's time to meet the rest of the tribe: more bearded men, some fashion-models, and even a couple of very old, grey-haired grannies and grandpas. These old geezers obviously never heard about cave people not surpassing the age of 30; they refused to bow to the will of both logic and pre-historical records, so they remain alive. One of the cavemen isn't bearded; he is clean-shaven. Not quite as clean-shaven as Tarzan, The Lord of the Humanoid Clean-Shaven Ones Roaming the Jungle Since Childhood And Without a Razor, but thereabouts.What follows is the obligatory earthquake/molten-lava destruction sequence which causes a lot of our not-so-hairy friends to meet their doom. It is interesting to note that before the earthquake the fashion-models showed their breasts more. After it, they must have gotten shy or something, because they covered their chests for a while (maybe they were covered by ash so I mistakenly thought they were covered). More action follows in the form of two fashion-models wrestling in the sand; the next-best thing to female mud-wrestling, I suppose. After a good deal of the desert has been crossed, our black-haired tribe meets - how else could it be - a blond tribe. Yawn.More spellbinding stuff follows. There is that redhead fashion-model who is bothered by seeing a cave-teen kill a hedge-hog-thing. There is also the scene of a woman dying at birth: those cave-fashion-models are so frail. Eventually we get to meet an even darker -haired and -skinned tribe, i.e. an evil tribe. One of them becomes a WWF champion after he actually beats(!) a huge bear-thing in a wrestling bout. 1,2,3... and it's done: the bear is the loser. We also witness a jealous caveman miraculously recover from two major injuries: first he gets stabbed with a big spear into the thigh, yet he walks away from that as if it were but a scratch. Then he gets thrown off a cliff - onto a big rock - by the blond goodie-two-shoes caveman, yet he walks away from it as if he were thrown onto a giant sofa. It's unclear in the end whether he dies from falling off an even higher cliff or from that voodoo doll being crushed. Oh yes, voodoo was used in pre-historic times by white tribes that live in the desert and whose females were fashion-models. It's always important to learn from movies.The message of the movie is as insightful as it is educational: cave people liked to fight for local power and they loved their fashion-models, too. As if any self-respecting caveman would fight to be leader of such a sorry bunch.

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!