What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Watching Larry Clark's Teenage Caveman, I felt as if I was being Punk'd, especially when one character tells another she looks like "she's in a bad B-movie." Clark has made a career out of being subversive and downright wild behind the camera, capturing adolescent debauchery and lawless behavior amongst youth with a frightening authenticity, mainly because Clark's own adolescent was dominated by intimate photography and heavy drug use.By the time Teenage Caveman was made, Clark had developed a name for himself with his shocking film Kids, his solid sophomore effort Another Day in Paradise, and his brutally honest Bully, released a year prior. I'd say he was on a role, with one strong film after another at the time. With Clark's already established filmography, I can only assume and guess why he wanted to dive into the often doomed realm of modern odes to campy science- fiction pictures of yesteryear. The story exists in a post-apocalyptic world where a great deal of humanity has been erased thanks to a viral epidemic. The few remaining souls have resorted to tribalism in the regard that they gather in packs and rely on basic human instinct to get by, as if their common sense, morality, and values have all been extracted along with the epidemic.A group of survivors, all teens, soon come in contact with two people who have been genetically altered and modified in order to combat the epidemic and now reside in a city reliant off of solar power. They have their own vision of humanity, although we never really grasp what that may be. The two groups collide and what ensues is pure madness as each try to assert dominance as well as go about their own agendas.The teens have virtually no personality, so to name them is a worthless exercise. The film, if it should be remembered as anything besides what seems to be a go- for-broke filmmaking attempt by Clark, should be seen as a solid showcase for talents of Richard Hillman, who plays one of the genetically-altered humans. Hillman handles this offbeat character effectively, that is, until emotions rings true in the last act. Up until then, however, he is great fun to watch and his frantic acting talents are a rarity that are nice to see unfold before us. Other than Hillman, nobody else shines, particularly because their characters are so thinly written. But even that is a non- issue compared to the fact that the film is just terribly uninteresting. Clark tries to infuse the story with the coldness of teen sex and relations and it's a move that is more fun to comment on than actually watch. The futuristic setting, especially in the context of a viral epidemic and mutant forces, just doesn't make for an interesting time period on sex and adolescent bonding. It seems that beneath the rubbish, Clark had the idea of making this film one that would potentially see sex in the future as an action robbed of its intentional purpose - to produce love and pleasure. An overarching theme in Clark's filmography is the loss of meaningful sex, and here, the meaning is muddled to the point where sex means as much as a spur-of-the-moment kiss or hug but with even less sentiment and passion. With this idea as my only justification for the material at hand, Clark seems to be going for some attempt at commentary lodged firmly inside a story that acts as an homage to the corny, ultra-low- budget science-fiction films from the thirties, forties, and fifties. I admire the courage and the subversiveness completely but, in the end, I sigh at the result. Teenage Caveman will forever be etched in Clark's filmography, replacing another film potentially having a great amount of insight and braver filmmaking.Starring: Richard Hillman, Tiffany Limos, Andrew Keegan, Tara Subkoff, and Stephen Jasso. Directed by: Larry Clark.

Despite the wooden acting, shoddy effects, b-movie values and soft core pornography, i actually enjoyed this...or maybe it was because of those things? I haven't watched Kids so i don't really get Larry Clark but judging this movie alone, i found this to be an enjoyable film with a decent storyline which moves along nicely (except for the breaks for gratuitous nudity and sex) and has some good ideas.I came to understand, following watching it, that it was a made for TV movie and maybe that explains some of the production values. The story focuses intimately on the wants and beliefs of it's teenage core but also manages to consider larger issues like the dangers of genetic engineering, religion and how it is often perverted, and the possible fate of the human race.If Larry Clark had managed to find better actors who could actually deliver lines of dialogue like they believed in them i would rate this higher. B-movie production values don't put me off a film if the Director gets the essentials (good actors, good script, good plot and ideas) right.

To begin with, I was surprised to learn that controversial director Clark (of whose work I had previously only watched KIDS [1995] and ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE [1998]) had lended his services to a series of made-for-TV remakes of schlocky Grade-Z movies from the 1950s entitled “Creature Features”. Actually, not only was this the first of these revamps that I’ve watched but I haven’t checked out any of the originals either!; for the record, the first version of this one was made by none other than B-movie guru Roger Corman (though it’s not considered one of his better titles).Anyway, while the film displays Clark’s typical fixation with the promiscuous (and vapid) lifestyle of teenagers – though hardly to the graphic extent that he’s used to – it also serves up the expected sci-fi/apocalyptic trappings of the plot. In the future, the world – devastated by man-made nuclear warfare – has virtually reverted to a prehistoric era, with humans newly reduced to caveman status; the youngsters are forbidden knowledge of their ancestors (though they still retain the ability to speak and read, which is the basis of evolution in the first place!) and, disgusted by the attitude of their elders – a mix of religious fanaticism and hypocrisy – a small group of teenagers set out into desert. Eventually caught in a storm, they’re saved by another young couple but who seem more advanced (they even live in a hi-tech building amid the ruins of a big city and own a car!); at first, the former cave-dwellers find the liberty offered by the others intoxicating – cue a lengthy sequence (occupying practically the film’s entire mid-section!) detailing the former’s initiation by the latter into sexuality and drug abuse.However, two of the kids – the son of the raving and lecherous leader of the cavemen, and his intended ‘bride’ – mistrust the couple and isolate themselves for the night; the trouble is that the city-dwellers have some form of disease (a clear reference to AIDS) which ravages – indeed obliterates – the infected kids in extremely gory fashion and, apparently, in no time at all! Incidentally, the former (who are actually quite old but have retained a youthful appearance – in fact, when wounded, their scars heal instantly) seem to be able to metamorphose themselves into other people: for instance, when the heroine determines to see one of her companions (who is really dead but is told that she’s only been taken sick), the female host takes over the deceased girl’s semblance!; similarly, when the couple want to infect the hero, she presents herself to him as his girl (and seduces the boy into making love to her)! Actually, having by this time done some work on the virus, it doesn’t destroy the hero – rather, he acquires the same level of knowledge and brutish strength as his male host; however, the former caveman won’t join his ranks and the film culminates in a duel between the two (for which they take monstrous shape – a condition which had turned up intermittently throughout for the city-dweller but which he was previously able to control). At the end, the survivors return to the caves – but the hero has basically taken the role of a more benevolent version of his former host (complete with stupid coiffure)! The film is perhaps less interesting – certainly far less entertaining or titillating – than this synopsis might suggest; for one thing, most of the characters are obnoxious – especially the ‘superior’ young man – even if the girls do look good. Of course, I can’t compare this to the Corman flick – which had starred, of all people, Robert Vaughn! – but I’m sure that version, while definitely a cheesier prospect (after all, the characters there get to grips with prehistoric creatures!!), must be worthier to sit through in the long run…

In a post-apocalyptic society, a tribe with a few survivors lives in caves with an abusive religious leader. When he was raping the teenager Sarah (Tara Subkoff), his son David (Andrew Keegan) kills him and is sentenced to death, tied to a pole. However, Sarah and David friends decide to release him and leave the caves. They find a destroyed city, and in the middle of a storm they are rescued by two locals, Elizabeth (Crystal Grant) and Neil (Richard Hillman). The couple of survivors introduce the teenagers to sex, drug, beverages and clothing and sooner they find that Neil is a genetic experiment of a new breed of predators, and Elizabeth was modified by his semen."Teenage Caveman" is simply an awful low-budget movie. The story is illogical, does not make any sense, and most of the scenes are cheap exploitation of the nudity of the cast and not engaging. The group of youngster comes from a primal society, and in a couple of hours, they have the behavior of teenagers of First World, inclusive knowing how to sabotage a Jeep. The sex scenes are not exciting, even with nudity and gang bang. Richard Hillman has an absolutely exaggerated performance and most of the cast has unconvincing acting. Some discussions about "Teenage Caveman" in the Message Board are hilarious and the best I saw about this crap. My vote is two.Title (Brazil): "Além da Escuridão" ("Beyond Darkness")