Fantastic Dinosaurs of the Movies

Fantastic Dinosaurs of the Movies (1990) D: Sandy Oliveri. A collection of theatrical trailers and clips from cinema's greatest (and worst) dinosaur movies, including THE LOST WORLD, THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS, and GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS. Some of the material is laughably bad (as were the actual films) and the video is very cheaply made, but it serves its purpose for dinosaur film fans and movie buffs alike. RATING: 6 out of 10. Not rated.

I could not but enjoy this film, for it is nostalgic. I watched most of these films in theaters, drive-ins, or on my family's black & white tv from when I five through my early college years. GODZILLA was the first movie I saw at age five, when my sadistic older brothers tricked me into seeing it. I could not. sleep for days. Nonetheless, this began my love affairs with monster movies that remain with me into my retirement years. The first SHARKNADO is a favorite.

This feature is mostly trailers promoting the various films ranging from KING KONG through the Doug McClure features somewhat based on Edgar Rice Burroughs, Jules Verne, and Arthur Conan Doyle. Even when young, I recognized how cheesy some of these films are, but I like them. The Ray Harryhausen features are my favorite. Some of these movies have held up pretty well through the decades, like KING KONG and THEM.

I cannot call this film educational in any way, but it is highly entertaining. My only beef is that a number of these clips appeared to be mastered from second or third generation VHS tapes.

Enjoy!

"Fantastic Dinosaurs of the Movies" (1990 - 75 minutes), a documentary produced by Good Times and directed by Sandy Oliveri, presents an amazing compilation of classic films images of dinosaurs and monsters. It includes features of the masters Willis O'Brien, Ray Harryhausen, Jim Danforth and trailers of many of their films. Take a look at what you are going to watch: "Gertie, the Dinosaur" (1909), "The Lost World", "Journey to the Beginning of Time", "King Dinosaur", "The Giant Behemoth", "The Spider", "The Giant Gila Monster", "The Loch Ness Horror", "The Land That Time Forgot", "Jack, the Giant-Killer", "It Came From Beneath the Sea", "Them!", "Valley of the Dragons", "Godzilla, King of the Monsters", "Tarantula", "20 Million Miles to Earth", "Godzilla vs. Mothra", "Journey to the Center of the Earth", "The Crater Lake Monster", "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad", "Rodan", "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms", "Reptilicus", "The Land Unknown", "Jason and the Argonauts", "Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster", "At the Earth's Core", "The Valley of Gwangi", "Gorgo", "King Kong", "Son of Kong", "King Kong vs. Godzilla", "One Million Years B.C.", and" When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth ". Certainly this documentary is a collector item and a very good program for who likes this sort of film. Unfortunately, there are no extras in the DVD.

After wiping the dust off this film's VHS, it was the first monster related movie I saw after viewing the 2014 remake of Godzilla. The film shows a collection of some of my favorite movies as a kid such as Jack the Giant Killer, Sinbad movies, Reptilicus, King Kong and of course Godzilla movies. Now as an adult I couldn't help but feel nostalgia and excitement to get back and viewing the monster movie category that has now be revived. My problem with the movie is that it shows the best scenes in each movie and important spoilers are shown throughout. I happen to known more than half the movies that were introduced so I jotted down the movies I haven't seen and put them in my watchlist. The movie itself is a fun little movie to pop in it but in my case I'm using it as a lunching pad to get back into the monster movie genre.

My mom bought this video for my brother for Christmas one year. My brother and I are dinosaurs fans and had a blast watching this documentary, which consisted dozens of trailers from dinosaur, monster and creature B-movies including such classics as King Kong, The Valley of Gwangi, Them!, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, and Jack the Giant Killer.

Since my brother and I are also huge Godzilla fans, we were excited that the video included trailers from Godzilla, King of the Monsters; King Kong vs. Godzilla; and Godzilla vs. the Thing. There were also trailers from films we at that time had not seen before including Rodan and Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster. At the moment, we made it our mission to collect every monster film made in Japan by Toho Studios, the production company that made Godzilla.

This video is a great collector's item and serves as a good introduction and preview for classic dinosaur B-movies. It serves as a good source of entertainment as well.

Grade A