Although Charles Band and his studios are mainly known for horror, Band also dabbled heavily in to action, comedy, porn, and yes, especially fantasy films. “The Primevals” in spite of its limited budget is perhaps the most complete and richly developed Charles Band backed film I’ve ever seen in the studio’s entire history. David Allen has a clear vision of what kind of adventure film and he fully realizes it in what is such a fun, inventive and vintage action adventure. With obvious influences from Harryhausen, RKO Pictures, movie serials, and the Fleischers, “The Primevals” is a damn good bit of matinee fare that I could easily myself re-watching and re-watching on VHS when I was a kid.
Deep in the Himalayas, a group of Sherpas subdue and kill a towering humanoid creature. Its remains — including a brain that appears to have undergone some kind of surgery — wind up under the supervision of Dr. Claire Collier (Juliet Mills), who believes it to be one of the legendary Yeti. Joined by her former student Matt Connor (Richard Joseph Paul), a longtime believer in the creatures’ existence, big-game hunter Rondo Montana (Leon Russom), and others, Dr. Collier leads an expedition into the mountains to track down more of the abominable snowmen. Their trek results in an encounter with a tribe of primitive hominids — which in turn leads to the far more frightening discovery of beings they never could have expected or imagined.
David Allen’s (which he scripted with fellow effects artist Randy Cook (“The Gate”)) tribute to the classic adventure films is not just obvious, but he embraces their storytelling tropes and plot elements, even concocting monsters that are part traditional effects, and part quite impressive stop motion animation. “The Primevals” has been a long in-development action picture that has been a project of stop motion effects artist David Allen’s (who worked on a massive list of films including The Howling, Twilight Zone: The Movie, Young Sherlock Holmes, et al.) since 1994. He set out to make the most ambitious Full Moon movie ever made, but sadly Allen fell victim to cancer and died in 1999. The once mythical incomplete project is finally complete and cobbled together with footage and thanks to crowd funding with help by Band and longtime Allen associate Chris Endicott.
“The Primevals” seems like it works toward David Allen’s original vision, opting for a movie that is exciting and creative, but also wears its influences on its sleeve until the very end. “The Primevals” watches so much like an old fashioned movie serial with the reluctant young hero, the chiseled older adventurer, the professor, the native guide, and even the young damsel in distress. In particular there’s Juliet Mills who is very good as noble doctor Claire, while Richard Joseph Paul is charming as the film’s inadvertent hero. And although there is no real super villain, “The Primevals” does venture in to action in the vein of “The Valley of Gwangi” where our group enter in to a mysterious land, and have to do battle with the elements and their wildlife.
The animation is so fantastic and I loved the way director Allen opts for more traditional routes, even using stop motion animation on the reptilian soldiers that battle our heroes. “The Primevals” a charming, entertaining, and exciting tribute to David Allen’s vision, and Allen’s obvious affection for vintage adventure cinema. As a fan of the classic serials myself, I had an absolute blast, and I hope genre fans embrace it, too.
This year the Fantasia International Film Festival runs in Montreal from July 20th to August 9th.