Trog (DVD, 2006)

I remember seeing "Trog" as a youngster & decided to add it to my DVD library. Unlike many films from that era, "Trog" proved to not be an enormous disappointment upon watching now.

This is an interesting story about finding a missing link to man's past. 3 spelunkers discover a new cave outside a quiet English town & begin to explore. Two headstrong lads follow an underground stream into another passage. One is assaulted & killed by an unknown creature. His partner escapes, but is driven mad by what he sees. He is taken to the nearest medical care, a local research facility run by Joan Crawford. Crawford, after interviewing the terrified man, convinces his other surviving partner to show her here the incident happened before the Police invade. She manages to get a photo of the killer, a prehistoric troglodyte man (thus the name Trog!). Trog breaks out of the cave when the Police investigate, easily dispatching several Policemen & a couple of stupid cameramen, before Crawford coolly takes him down with a few tranquilizer darts. She then begins to experiment on him to try to tame him & learn from this living fossil.

The fly in the ointment is the only other name actor in the film, Michael Gough (Alfred from the 80s-90s Batman film series). Gough is a rabble-rousing local businessman who is incensed that his sleepy little town has been turned into a circus by 1st the mysterious killing & then by the arrival of Trog. He continuously tries to agitate people to get rid of Trog. When that doesn't work, he takes matters into his own hands by riling Trog up, then releasing him. As usual, Gough gets his just desserts as Trog beats him to his car & kills him. Trog then goes on a killing spree before he is finally put down by soldiers.

The story line is solid, if not a little over long. There is one sequence when Trog is made to relive his past in his mind which is a little over the top as it shows a host of claymation dinosaurs ala Ray Harryhausen. Trog himself is nothing more than a half naked man with extra hair added at various body sections & with a chimpanzee head. The head is nicely done though & was able to make quite a few expressions. Very cutting edge for it's day. The film is quite dated, but still reasonably entertaining. The supporting cast is good.

If you're a fan of horror/Sci-Fi films from the 50s & 60s, I highly recommend "Trog!" If your stuck in the CGI of today's film, don't bother as you will be highly disappointed!