** 1/2          I Don't Really Know About This Land…

In the 1950's there was a lot of effort going into exploring the Antarctic continent to start a military presence there. During that time it was found that the place once was subtropical during the time of the dinosaurs. So obviously someone got an idea to stick a tropical jungle in the middle of the place, fill it full of dinosaurs, and make a movie on it.

After finding out about a warm water oasis in Antarctica, an expedition is sent to go explore it. Three men and one woman (they had to have a woman of course) go to Antarctica, hop in a helicopter, and fly off to it. After being smacked by a pteranodon, the helicopter falls and lands in a hot steamy volcanic valley 3,000 feet below sea level. Apparently the place has remained unchanged since the time of dinosaurs due to the unchanging climate (by "time of dinosaurs" it means giant lizards, carnivorous plants, a really lame T-Rex, and river-dwelling plesiosaurs). They find a person who has been since an expedition a decade ago, who has survived there due to "selective breeding" and warding things off with a conch shell. His ultimatum: "Give me the women and I'll give you the part to fix your helicopter". Knowing precisely what he wants the women for, they decide to instead search around for it themselves for a month or so. On the second-to-last day possible, they eventually get the guy to be "humane", get the map to find the part, fix the copter, and fly off with all aboard. They land next to the leaving ship (yes, next to) and float off to live happily ever after.

In all actuality despite some rather odd parts the plot is pretty good. It involves a lot of elements on survival and going crazy because of it. The acting is also pretty good throughout (except maybe Ms. Squinty-Eyed). It also has some nice touches, such as that one guy bashing dinosaur eggs to control the population. There is also a part where one of other guys (I think he was the mechanic or something) uses the radio to fruitlessly call for help, drains the batteries, and causes it to not be as powerful when a plane actually flies overhead, which of course strands them there without help. It also seems like the people who made the movie did quite a bit of research before hand. Everything fits together with a lot of actual Antarctic fact around, and the explanation of the dinosaurs aint too ludicrous. Unfortunately the research behind the movie gets a touch to obvious when some of the lines sound like the person is reading out of a textbook. As a whole the plot is fairly good and somehow classic. However, the main noticeable feature of the movie is of course the so-called "dinosaurs". The pteranodon on strings, the giant puppet of an elasmosaurus, and the monitor lizards who (literally) fight to the death. And of course then there is the lamest tyrannosaurus ever made. Basically it's a guy in what looks like a paper mache' rex suit, complete with really "off" proportions! I have to admit he looks kind of cool (from the neck up), but he still is pretty dang lame. Admittedly there are some good things with the effects, such as the really neat scenery and the fact that the interactions with the human characters work pretty well. Some neat interactions include using the helicopter blades to ward off the T-Rex. Still, the "dinosaurs" are really very pathetic, even for the time the movie was made.

As a whole the movie is quite lame, cheap, and pathetic. Even so, it's not laughably pathetic. It has some good parts, the plot aint to bad, and the scenery is good, but other then that the movie is truly "bad". I know they had a very low budget, but they still could have done a lot better then they did with a lot of the effects. With the exception of the scenery building, the stuff looks like it was slapped together rather uncaring-like. Unless you are a huge fan of 50's sci-fi movies, I don't really recommend spending money on it. It's probably better just to watch it on TV (AMC has it on every once in a while). However you see it, you get to witness the thing I dubbed "The Worse Tyrannosaurus in Movie History".

Fairly Good Plot

Nice-looking scenery

Good dinosaur interaction

A few good ideas

Good use of Antarctic expedition stock footage

Well-researched (except in dinosaur anatomy)

Unreasonably lame special effects

Why on earth would a pteranodon fly up that high in the fog?

Despite a fight-to-the-death being cool, I feel sorry for the poor dead lizard

Why do they always have to include a screamy whiny female character who does nothing but be scared of monstrous things?

The winner of the "Worse Tyrannosaurus in Movie History" award!

Credits