"Trog awakens to vent its murderous rath on YOU!" "Whatever the risk this kill crazy fiend from HELL must be destroyed!" Oh! Poor Joan Crawford. She sure picked a winner for her final big screen role. The beloved story of "Trog" begins with three young men exploring a cave they have found, and within that cave is a stream or river of sorts, which leads to another part of the cave. After two of these young men strip to their skivvies and wade in up to their chests, one never returns, as he's encountered SOMETHING in the cave that attacks and kills him (some unintentional homoerotic dialogue throughout the beginning makes it that much more enjoyable). While the other young man is heavily sedated after rescue, and the third one, well, he really isn't sure what happened because he didn't want to get wet. But somehow the third guy gets hooked up with noted anthropologist, Dr. Brockton (Crawford) and manages to take her down into this previously unexplored cave via a different route than he and his colleagues had chosen before, presumably so her designer caving outfit won't get wet. Crawford plays it straight throughout the whole movie which makes it even more ridiculous. Suprisingly, they find another cave and a hole through which Crawford is able to photograph a troglodyte which is ready to hurl a paper mache boulder. Of course, this picture is treated as a joke and scoffed at by haughty people that know better, but eventually this creature is flushed out of the cave where he goes berserk and throws more paper mache boulders, and Joan gets her "hypo-gun" and shoots the thing and brings it back to her laboratory. There, she wins its confidence by feeding it rubber lizards and eventually, she's exploring the link between prehistoric man and modern man by showing this thing how to wind up dolls and roll a ball. Unfortunately, rolling a ball is also a favorite game of a neighbor's German Shepherd who intervenes at that point and pays with its life.
This is also where the movie plays on a bit of morality; whether it's right or wrong to bring back a prehistoric man. This is probably Joan's failed attempt at another Oscar.
Unfortunately, Local big-mouth Sam Murdock (Michael Gough) is not happy that this thing is around and has killed, and chooses to sabotage Miss Crawford's efforts by letting it loose. Rampage, unintentional hilarity, and classic monster-antics ensue all leading up to Trog kidnapping a young girl, and Joan having to "hypo-gun" the Hell out of her beloved Trog.
Overall this is an amazing movie if you like campy B horror movies. It’s hard to decide which is my favorite part: the ridiculous scenes where Crawford tries to teach Trog to play with toy robots and dolls, Trog's agitated reaction to hearing rock'n'roll, or Trog battling with a German Shepherd. Each of these sequences is absurd. The silliest part is probably an excruciatingly long and cheesy animated dinosaur battle which makes Gumby look like "Jurassic Park!" Trog is one of those movies that the script, cast of characters, and monster antics are so silly and crazy that it has been firmly placed in the "so bad it's good" category for me.
Classic Trog Moments
- Trog's main method of killing: throwing paper mache boulders at people.
- Joan supplies Trog with a diet of rubber lizards.
- How watching dinosaurs teaches Trog to talk.
- Joan Crawford: "Music has charms which sooth the savage beast"
- Joan Crawford: "Tina! Bring me my axe"
- Joan Crawford: "Malcom! Get me my hypo-gun - quickly!"
- Joan Crawford's nipples can clearly be seen in numerous shots.
- That "Trog" came out on DVD.
No comments:
Post a Comment