Planet of Dinosaurs (1977)
"Trapped on a lost world of prehistoric monsters"
Plot
A group of astronauts escape the imminent destruction of their starship on board an escape pod and head for the nearest planet which appears to be capable of supporting human life. After crash landing on the surface, the survivors find that they have no way of signalling for a rescue and set off to find a safe place to set up camp. However, the planet is inhabited by an array of carnivorous dinosaurs which see the new arrivals as food.
Save for Ray Harryhausen still flying a flag for stop motion monster movies, I didn't think anyone else made this type of stop motion effects-driven films in the late 70s. But after recently discovering Planet of Dinosaurs and The Crater Lake Monster, I was wrong and look forward to uncovering more of this dying breed of film. Planet of Dinosaurs is a cheap and nasty drive-in movie by definition but hides within it a fantastic array of stop motion special effects that would have Ray Harryhausen giving them a round of applause.
Straight from the off, Planet of Dinosaurs looks to be a blatant Planet of the Apes clone as we head into familiar territory during the opening quarter of the film - the spaceship develops problems, crash lands on a strange planet and in a lake, the crew escape and then with no hope of immediate rescue, they set off looking for food and shelter. Only this is where the comparisons then end - instead of intelligent simians, these unlucky astronauts come face-to-face with a whole host of hungry dinosaurs. And this is where the fun begins. Far from being a serious science fiction flick which the opening scenes promised, Planet of Dinosaurs descends into a cheese fest of epic proportions. After being harassed by the dinosaurs for the first half of the film in which some of their number are picked off, the survivors decide to fight back and let the dinosaurs know who is in charge (as humans as a race have a tendency to do in science fiction films). From about the half an hour mark, the film is almost a non-stop collection of sequences involving various humans battling against the dinosaurs using spears, bow and arrows and stockades. If you came along thinking that you'd be cheated out of plenty of dino-action, then you're completely wrong. Usually these type of fiilms skimp on the action but Planet of Dinosaurs delivers everything you'd be hoping for.
Planet of Dinosaurs' strength lies in the quality of its monsters. The dinosaurs are old school stop motion. And there are a lot of them. I can't believe how frequently they appear on the camera. To say that this made outside of the studio system and given how low cost the rest of the film is, the special effects look fantastic. The T-Rex is the standout monster, looking suitably menacing, and could easily have been lifted from a Harryhausen film. There are a stegosaurus, a triceratops and a brontosaurus to name a few others which are all animated with precise skill and technique. A few familiar names crop up in the effects department including Jim Danforth who worked on films like Jack the Giant Killer and assisted Harryhausen in the original Clash of the Titans. With talented people on board to produce some quality special effects, it makes a nice change to actually see where the money has gone.
The script and the acting do the most harm to Planet of Dinosaurs. Whilst the story itself is basic and sees the 'futuristic' humans having to revert back to hunter-gather mode (which is perfectly completed by the abrupt final scene), the dialogue is appalling, though thankfully there's not as much dialogue as I was expecting given how much action there is. These lines are delivered just as badly by the cast. Made up of gruff, bearded-men and good-looking, busty women, the film could be mistaken for some low rent porno flick. But it adds a little goofy charm to proceedings, especially as one male character spends almost the entire length of the film without his shirt on.
It isn't just the quality of the dialogue and the delivery of them which is frustrating but the manner in which characters constantly put themselves in danger by making really stupid decisions. The females are the worst - if they're not forgetting to pack communications equipment when their escape pod sinks, then they're dropping the group's food supply over the edge of a cliff. With the captain being an ineffectual dweeb who wants to run from the dinosaurs, another crew man wanting to beat his chest and do his best caveman impression, and another character just generally annoying the hell out of everyone by moaning about everything, there is dissent among the crew. Unsurprisingly, we never get to really know any of the characters in any great depth other than their stereotypes and so our support lies squarely in the dinosaurs, on whose planet these annoying characters have been dumped. Planet of Dinosaurs also comes off like Tour of the Planet of Dinosaurs during the many scenes of the survivors walking around the desolate landscape looking for safety. There are far too many scenes of them climbing rocks, walking through swamps and scouring through bushes. There's little attempt to drive the narrative in any direction and by the end of the film, whilst you may have had a fun time, you'd wonder what the point in it all was.
Final Verdict
Planet of Dinosaurs is a curious film which didn't sound particularly great but ended up being a lot of cheesy fun. Though it's supposed to be set in the future, this is 70s camp at its purest. It's got its fair share of problems but the quality and sheer number of special effects throughout the film should guarantee stop motion fans a great time.
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Planet of Dinosaurs Director(s): James K. Shea Writer(s): Ralph Lucas (screenplay), Jim Aupperle (story) Actor(s): Mary Appleseth, Derna Wylde, Max Thayer, Chuck Pennington, Charlotte Speer, Louie Lawless, Pamela Bottaro, James Whitworth Duration: 84 mins |  |
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