The Primevals

Needless to say that I had actually never heard about this 2023 movie titled "The Primevals" prior to sitting down to watch it. But I have to say that I actually found the movie's cover to be cheesy enough to catch my attention. And with it being a movie that I had never even heard about, of course I opted to sit down and watch it.

And with it being a Full Moon Features movie, I figured that chance would be that the movie wouldn't be a complete waste of time, as they regularly do put out something enjoyable and entertaining.

The storyline was actually fair, with some major nods towards the old classic adventures of the 1950s. I have to admit that I was actually enjoying "The Primevals". Writers David Allen and Randall William Cook put together something that proved to be entertaining and enjoyable, with elements of sci-fi and adventure mixed together.

I wasn't familiar with a single actor or actress on the cast list, which is something that I do actually enjoy when I sit down to watch a movie. It should be said, though, that the acting performances were fair.

The effects in the movie were fair, but keep in mind that the Yeti and the reptilian creatures are brought to life by stop-animation motion capture, so it looks somewhat out of place and awkward.

My rating of director David Allen's 2023 movie "The Primevals" lands on a six out of ten stars.

Usually when a project has been shelved for a long time it's for a reason - either it's not that good to begin with or there's just not enough time or money to finish it properly. Thankfully The Primevals was the latter.

When I read the film's history I was fascinated by it - a movie almost fifty years in the making just couldn't be otherwise. David Allen had a distant vision of how it was going to be way back in the late sixties but only came as close as shooting it in the mid-nineties but still wasn't able to finish it before his death in 1999. Only twenty years later the movie was picked up to finally be finished and to pay proper respects to its original idea and the people behind the 1990s production. So, was it all worth waiting that long for? Absolutely.

First and foremost, The Primevals is a movie without CGI which is obscenely rare in the 21st century - instead it utilizes stop-motion, animatronics and puppetry to bring its creatures to life - a long forgotten art form since the rise of computers in the late 1970s, and it makes this movie truly stand out above all the recent ones. Sure, the creatures don't look realistic enough this way but this story is not about realism, it's about the soul.

Nowadays people tend to have completely forgotten what cinema is all about - originality, new ideas that give you food for thoughts, something you haven't seen or heard before, and not just a pretty picture with words. Don't get me wrong, The Primevals is no Citizen Kane, nor is it 2001: A space odyssey or even Star Wars - its story is far from being original even remotely as we've seen many alike examples in the 1950s and 1960s during the second Renaissance of stop motion movies but it's something that this work of art represents that makes it worthy being released now, in 2024. I'm sure would it have been released as soon as David Allen pitched his idea to the producers, or even in the 1990s when he shot the movie it would have been instantly lost among its contemporaries but today it ought to be remembered as a relic that's still more relevant and way better than most of its contemporaries.

The stop motion itself is nearly perfect and I was amazed at how well it's handled in the movie. The same was with the music score - simply beautiful, grandiose and is suitable for something more epic than what was on the screen but not less impressive in any way. The only downpoint is probably the actors and their wooden performances that hadn't given us the full spectrum of emotions when on a journey discovering a brand new world - it felt more like they've been doing this every other Sunday. The narrative moves itself here and the actors blindly follow it - it's not that uncommon in adventure flicks but still, it would have been nice to have at least one charismatic character among the bunch presented in The Primevals but there was none.

Overall I feel like no matter when the movie's released and what production hell it's been through The Primevals is a well-crafted picture hands down and I would have given it the same rating despite the circumstances.

Finally we have a Harryhausen´s movie in the 21ts century, in 2024. This is incredeible! The tribute they pay to films like Willis O´ Brian stop motion´s FX in King Kong is fantastic!

Against the CGI, we have animatronics, practical FX, some CGI, but low and a story like Harryhausen´s movies told us. Actors are in a second position in this movie; the really stars are the puppets in stop motion (there is one scene where we can see hundreds of them moving). I never thought we could see again something like this in big screen. The technique of stop motion is incredibly well done. The motion of the puppets and the realism in the mixing with real life caracters is incredibly well done!

The plot and the acting is a little bit hole, I mean we see woodden faces and a poor acting but, what the hell? For a fan of Harryhausen´s movie and a person that is bored with CGI, we have here a great achievement.

This is a movie that Joe Dante, John Landis, Guillermo del Toro, Tarantino and Christopher Nolan would like to see; so if you are one of those crazy people that love the old Sci fi B series or Z series cinema, this is yours! Don´t miss it!

Well done Charles Band, David Allen and company from FULL MOON Features!

7 stars out of 10.

We still enjoy stop motion, both the old ones from the childhood of cinema and the new ones.

Personally, I like stop motion much more than computer special effects because it is more unreal and beautiful.

The most valuable part of the movie "the primevals" is the stop motion, followed by the story, and a bit of Leon Russom.

What bothers me is the cold, emotionless and clumsy performances of the actors (except Leon Russom).

Apparently, among the actors of the primevals, the only one who took the movie seriously was Leon Russom.

At the end of the movie, I wished that all the actors in the movie would be killed (it would be better if I killed them myself) so that the movie would have a pleasant ending.

And for a lovely and childish movie, in today's world of serious movies that hit the human brain like a hammer, I say: Thank you David Allen.

After the discovery in the high Himalayas of what appears to be a Yeti specimen, he's been sent back to the United States for research. Leading the investigation is noted anthropologist Claire Colller (Juliet Mills of Billy Wilder's Avanti!) who decides to organize an expedition to the Himalayas. Collier teams up with Mat Connor (Richard Joseph Paul), a former student of her class and famous writer, Rondo Montana (Leon Russom) , an ex-big game hunter, and Kathleen Reidel (Walker Brandt) , another one of Collier's former students and the guide (Tai Thai) for their journey. Through dangerous paths, they suddenly arrive in a lost world in which they will discover an amazing and hidden crater inhabited by prehistoric creatures, primitive hominids and alien reptiles. They then are captured by aliens and are judged and condemned to death penalty. A Civilization Lost in Time... Invaded One Million Years Ago !. Journey to a hidden valley of incredible splendor and unbelievable terror... where the future and the past battle for the present !.

This fantasy picture gets action, adventures, derring-do, amusing images and breathtaking landscapes . Colorful atmosphere in this entertaining story in which with tension and adventure are maintained throughout. Splendid cinematography by cameraman Adolfo Bartoli showing marvellous outdoors and abound matte painting, including enjoyable special effects by specialist Dave Allen, and a nice production design too. Two decades after the death of the expert FX artist David Allen, this peculiar project was born; an imaginative story of adventure and science fiction in the purest style of the 60s and 70s. Allen, a Stop Motion specialist, responsible for the effects of films such as ¨Howling¨, ¨Young Sherlock Holmes¨ and ¨Willow¨attempted since the 1960s to make this film, to which he dedicated hours and hours of work until his premature death in 1999. After his death, the storyboards, puppets and other elements of the project passed to his work colleague Chris Endicott, who completed it, and finally almost 25 years later, ¨The Primevals¨ was released.

It contains traditional special effects by means of stop-motion, in the wake of Ray Harryhausen; in fact, there's a spectacular fight between Yeti and alien creatures. In addition, a rousing and spectacular musical score by Richard Band, 'Full Moon' and 'Empire' regular composer. The impressive and majestic soundtrack is one of the film's greatest assets. The motion picture was professionally directed by late Dave Allen and produced by Full Moon Features. The latter was a B-production company, owner Albert Band; he was one of Hollywood's most prolific directors who started his career in the early 50s and continuing the legacy, his son, the equally prolific producer/director Charles Band. Albert Band began financing a number of motion pictures through the sixties, seventies, and eighties decades and helped his son, Charles, to bring together his own production company, 'Empire Pictures', in the early eighties. Upon the collapse of Empire Pictures in the early nineties, Band continued to work with his son and help bring a number of low-budget and medium budget films to the Hollywood screen or direct to video releases. Albert Band directed some Westerns, such as : ¨She came to the Valley¨, ¨Massacre at Grand Canyon¨, ¨The Young Guns¨ and ¨The Tramplers ¨ at his best . Furthermore, he made terror and Sci-fi , such as : ¨Aliens Gone Wild , Prehisteria , Prehisteria 2 , Robot War , Ghoulies II , Satán's Dog¨ and all kind of genres. While his son Charles Band has written/produced/directed a lot of films, such as: ¨The Creeps, Hideous, Dollman vs demonic toys, Puppet master, Crash and burn, Trancers , Trancers II: the return of Jack Deth, Dungeonmaster, Metalstorm: the destruction of Jared Syn, Parasite, The alchemist¨. Rating The Primevals (2023) : 6/10, acceptable and passable fantasy/adventure movie.