- Directed by: Freddie Francis
- Written by: Aben Kandel, Peter Bryan, John Gilling
- Stars: Joan Crawford, Michael Gough, Bernard Kay
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 33 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfM_VDRWOhQ
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
Cave explorers find a surviving primitive man in a cave, and a scientist takes the lead trying to study and help him. There’s plenty of pandemonium when he surfaces, but smart and capable Joan Crawford does a pretty good job of handling things. Until there’s more pandemonium when local rabble-rousers cause trouble. It’s on the campy side, but it’s not awful, and we both kind of enjoyed it.
Spoilery Synopsis
A group of spelunkers walk through a field to a cave. They drop their ropes into a deep pit and go down. They explore the cave system until one of them finds an underground stream. This leads them to a cave system where no one has ever been before. Suddenly, there’s a caveman attack! One of the cavers, Cliff, rushes in to find his friend Bill beaten to death.
Inspector Greenham goes to see Dr. Brockton, a doctor treating the traumatized surviving spelunkers. Cliff is in shock, but what he describes in the caves intrigues her. Malcolm, the third caver, explains to the Inspector what happened. Dr. Brockton wants Malcolm to be her new assistant.
Brockton wants to go back into the cave and see the creature. Just the two of them go back and explore the cave some more. They aren’t attacked, but she gets a really clear photo of the creature. She calls it a Trog, a troglodyte, half-man, half-ape.
Soon, there are newspeople, police, firetrucks, and crowds of spectators as everyone comes to the cave. Sam Murdoch, a local troublemaker, calls it all a hoax and nonsense. They all watch on TV as the trog attacks a camera crew. It comes out of the cave and is mesmerized by the sun. Brockton shoots it with a tranquilizer dart.
Later, Trog wakes up in a big cage in Brockton’s lab. He eats raw fish and lizards. Brockton’s daughter, Ann, likes to feed him. Sam goes on and on about the dangerous monster; it’s hurting business. She argues that it’s the “missing link.” Brockton theorizes that Trog was frozen solid in ice until just recently.
Brockton starts “taming” the trog. She’s nice to it, and he’s nice back to her. It likes classical music, but not rock.
Sam continues to raise more rabble. He works to enlist Dr. Selbourne, one of the other scientists, in his plan.
The scientists take Trog outside to play ball, but a dog gets involved, and that goes badly. There’s a court of inquiry by the locals, who want Trog killed as a wild animal. Everyone tells their side of the story, and Brockton fires Selbourne.
Brockton enlists a bunch of other scientists and surgeons, and soon, they’re operating on the mysterious caveman. They implant an electronic tracking device into him. They do a second operation, and this one will allow Trog to talk. Trog has a memory of stop-motion dinosaurs fighting.
Sam, unwilling to let this all continue, breaks into the lab one night and wrecks the place. He then opens the cage and is killed by Trog; he totally had it coming. Trog runs away into the woods.
Trog soon arrives in the small town, which is pretty deserted in the morning. Not completely deserted, as he kills a couple of shopkeepers. He comes to a playground and steals a little girl who looks like his favorite doll. He carries the girl back to his cave.
The local police bring in the military to deal with the caves. Brockton argues with them and then goes into the caves alone to defuse the situation. Trog gives the child to the doctor and then goes back into the cave. When she comes out, the army blows up the cave and shoots Trog, who dies.
Brian’s Commentary
This takes place in the “modern” 1970s. Were British people really that close-minded and provincial back then? I doubt it. There’s not really any motive behind Sam’s unreasonable hatred for the monster other than a vague mention of a land deal.
The Trog costume was a leftover from “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
This was Joan Crawford’s final film role, and one she later said was the worst film she’d ever done. It wasn’t that bad.
Kevin’s Commentary
I may have seen this when it came out; I barely remembered it as it was going along.
Trivia says Trog’s prosthetic is recycled from the opening scene of “2001: A Space Odyssey.” And it looks rubbery but pretty decent.
It was refreshing to see Joan Crawford playing a character who isn’t crazy, mean, evil or all three. I haven’t seen that very much. It was her last film role here. And she later said it was the worst movie she ever made. I wouldn’t call it the worst movie I’ve ever seen. It’s bad, but it’s a good bad, and I thought it was entertaining fun.
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