Simply Perfect

Pretty Good

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Many years ago, films like this were released during school summer holidays, a number of them starring Doug McClure. Here he plays, not unusually, a wise-cracking, cigar chomping devil-may-care physical leading man (trip financier David Innes) to Peter Cushing's bumbling Doctor Abner Perry, or 'Doc.' Perry could be a close relative of Cushing's Doctor Who, a part he played about ten years earlier in two Dalek-bothered films. It isn't my favourite Cushing formula - he is such a talented, sensitive performer, but this smacks of 'putting on a show for the kids'. Very enthusiastic, but perhaps could be dialled down a tad. Sweaty, sultry Dia is played by the incomparable Caroline Munro, a character who gives Innes a reason to come over all unnecessary.The film is colourful and psychedelic and boasts a great showcase for 'back projection' to provide its special effects: actors in restrictive monster costumes lumber about in garish studio-bound foliage, and this image, enlarged, is played in the background of the leading actors reacting. This isn't just reserved for the monsters - the spectacle of The Iron Mole, which transports our two heroes beneath the crust of the planet is achieved in a similar way.The monsters themselves are a good example of their kind: you don't know whether you want to run away from them or give them a hug. They rarely convince, but once you are used to the style of their depiction, they appear to get more impressive. An interesting line in telepathic communication helps bring many of them to life. Director Kevin Connor's camera looms in on their open eyes to indicate mind control, snapping shut to suddenly curtail it. The monsters all have a uniform look about them, with extra detail signifying different species and rank - the ones who seem to be in control of everything certainly look the most impressive, swathed in dry ice and gurgling inhuman, guttural sounds.Difficult not to enjoy, this was produced by Amicus (their final production) and based on the story by Edgar Rice Burroughs, it boasts an impressive, trippy soundtrack by Mike Vickers. The film performed well at the box office, proving an understandable fondness for this kind of monster adventure.

I will say this for At The Earth's Core and its creator Edgar Rice Burroughs. No one could ever accuse Mr. Burroughs of no imagination. No lost world of dinosaurs falling through the surface and surviving in the bowels of the planet. His monsters were quite real and quite terrifying and completely original as in this film.Nutty professor type scientist Peter Cushing and student Doug McClure have invented a new drilling machine which they are exhibiting and the test is to drill a tunnel through a small mountain in Wales. Problem is the machine makes a wrong downward turn and these two arrive in a different kind of society under a cherry red sky. Humans are at the bottom of the social strata, slaves to giant bird like creatures with a hypnotizing glare. Enforcing the will of the big birds are these other ape like creatures who keep the human captives in line. Of course it's not hard to figure out that the story is of McClure and Cushing leading a revolt against this society. Especially when the fate of the humans is either to be slaves or to be food. Along the way he wins native princess Caroline Munro who did a lot of these pulp fiction adventure stories. As did Doug McClure back in the day. I guess they were fated to be together in one.At The Earth's Core will appeal to pulp fiction film fans. And I did love that ending. Won;t say a word, you have to see it.

Refreshing to see Peter Cushing in something outside of the standard horror or mystery genre. He is absolutely charming as Dr. Abner Perry.Dr. Perry and his assistant, David Innes, has just finished building their huge Iron Mole drilling machine. Their adventure begins promptly as they quickly burrow down into the Earth's Core. They step out of the machine and find themselves in a beautiful fantasy jungle - but watch out for that giant dinosaur bird guys! They find themselves captured and enslaved with other humans (cavemen) by strange dominating creatures/monsters. Humorously, these humans or cavemen speak English! How great for our two travelers - now they have help to figure out what's going one and might help them to find a way out of there!This one is just simply fun - no other way to word it. It's a terrible movie but has a certain silly charm to it that is appealing.6.5/10

U.S. rubber stock must have tripled with the creatures here from the land of the lost. Giant reptiles (or birds) which roam the middle of the planet looking for cavemen snacks are some of the silliest creatures to pop up on movie screens in decades. With middle earth having English speaking cavemen in addition to other walking creatures obviously wearing pig masks, there's a lot for these creatures to snack on. With Peter Cushing and Douglas McClure invading the earth's core aided by Cushing's boaring device, they find themselves trapped in this nightmare world where Cushing's biggest horrid seems to be not able to have a decent cup of tea. The creatures allegedly have mind control ability over the pig people, but perhaps it's all those gigantic magic mushrooms located all over this strange universe.