The Beast from the Beginning of Time

Two archaeologists - "Dr. Crawford" (Ralph Seeley) and his pal "Maury" (Dick Welsbacher) are out in the tundra when they discover the remains of a neanderthal man. Clad only in a loin cloth, he is removed for further investigation. Thing is, as he thaws out he begins to wake up - and with one hell of an hangover. He is not an happy chap, and is soon on the rampage - a particularly dangerous state of affairs for "Elyse" (Suzanne Farrar) for whom he is out to prove that morning horn is not just a modern day thing! This might have been more fun had it been left as a lightweight sci-fi/horror adventure film. Sadly, though, it is dreadfully over scripted with loads of technical and scientific babble from the boffins whose presence is completely superfluous to the silly and occasionally exciting nature of the storyline. Essentially, this is just like a mummy movie - only it's a cave-man who wants the gal this time. The acting is pretty terrible (especially Farrar) and the visual effects do little to add any sense of peril to this cheap and cheerful nonsense. Darwinian in isn't. Good it isn't, either.

Talky but engaging oddity with a caveman going on a killing spree. Good make up for the deformed beast. The chiaroscuro lighting, the dark backgrounds and hard lighting on the subjects gives them a special highlight within the shot and becomes borderline expressionistic at times. The framing and composition becomes particularly expressive during key moments and adds to the strange atmosphere the film creates, especially during the last 20 minutes. The directing is mostly the typical static master shots with a few inserts but sometimes the director focuses on objects and even zooms in and out of them at certain moments for accentuation (not with the same end and narrative focus as, let's say, Jess Franco but still very good direction), unorthodox techniques that were rather underused in movies at the time it was made. This type of outsider art is why low budget regional movies are always far more interesting than the mass produced corporate productions from big studios, even to this day.

The ironic thing about this is that this movie about a strange being from a bygone era becoming unearthed and destroyed by the modern man suffered the same fate as its monster, being uncovered and taken from 1965 to 1981, only to be eviscerated by critics and audiences, who judged it negatively as soon as it was discovered. With the addition of gore and the fact that it seems like a throwback to the type of movie being produced just a few years earlier, perhaps it was a cute homage to 50's creature features. Either way, an unexpected but welcomed addition to the monster movie genre.

Oh Damn. I have to write SIX HUNDRED WORDS for this garbage? Do yourself a favor, don't waste your time with this. Bad everything. Acting. Special Effects (see, I spelled that out to use more words). Bad filming. Bad Print (On tubi). At first, the title caught my interest. Until I checked here on IMDB, I thought this was a joke, like the Skeleton of whatever it was. But it wasn't. Maybe the only movie ever filmed in the state of Kansas, it was obviously filmed in a State of Confusion. You won't reach a state of Nirvana if you watch it. But you will be in a state of boredom! Just a horrible non-effort to make a film. AVOID!

Archaeologists are puzzled by a perfectly-preserved human body unearthed from a multi-million-year-old geological stratum. Following subsequent analysis, the remains are determined to be of an early ancestor to modern man. This startling discovery rouses the interest of a few high muckamucks in the science world, and they prattle-on endlessly with the usual pseudo-scientific explanatory deductions. Things take an even more bizarre turn when an electrical storm unexpectedly(?) reanimates the prehistoric fellow, who proceeds to wreak very familiar B-movie havoc. He's not really much of a beast, quite frankly...long-haired and clad in a formless makeshift skirt, he looks more like an unsightly vagrant transvestite who just got thrown from a mechanical bull.

THE BEAST FROM THE BEGINNING OF TIME is something of a regional curio, largely funded(well, okay, maybe not LARGELY) by a Wichita, KS area independent TV station, and written/directed by the host of a weekly horror movie show popular in the region during that time(he has the starring role, as well). The film languished in obscurity for decades, being seen only by the handful who caught it during a scant few local TV airings.

The film is now readily viewable on a number of streaming sites, free of charge. This is fortunate, as it's honestly not worth paying money to see. Genre fans should be grateful for any monster movie that gets shielded from the death-kiss of "lost cinema", and this case is no exception...all things considered, I'm happy to have seen it. I'm also sorry to report that it has a barnyard quality very much on par with some of the era's other low-grade regional cheapies...TEENAGERS BATTLE THE THING(1959), NIGHT FRIGHT(1967) and THE LEGEND OF BLOOD MOUNTAIN(1965) spring to mind. Flatly written and depressingly unimaginative, it runs its course at a loitering pace with a mere modicum of action in the final stretch. To its credit, however, performances from the key players are, surprisingly, rather passable for such a picayune project, and there are dashes of gore which, though tame by today's standards, were fairly excessive for '65. Too, the finale is shot with an unexpectedly artful, even borderline experimental flourish in high-contrast black and white.

All said, this might intrigue a select few for its rarity and somewhat unusual production history. Any rediscovered addition to the horror canon is a welcome one, but the best thing I have to say about TBFTBOT is that I've seen worse.

3.5/10...disappointing.

THE BEAST FROM THE BEGINNING OF TIME is an extremely cheap American B-movie sci-fi/horror in which archaeologists unwisely discover a caveman who revives from his ancient slumber and then goes on a killing spree. There's a definite tinge of THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD in this story, but sadly the extremely cheap budget means that this is filled with aimless chit-chat, stilted performances, and an almost entire dearth of action; even the kills are largely kept off-screen. It has the black and white look of an independent production and the monster itself is just a regular skinny guy in a loincloth with some caveman makeup on his face. No thanks!