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Overrated and overhyped

Awesome Movie

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Cranky scientist experimenting on transforming animals and people into their prehistoric selves (sorta), tries it out on himself and becomes a Mr. Hyde-type Neanderthal. Robert Shayne (Inspector Henderson from The Adventures of Superman) plays the would-be Jekyll and he's great fun. His character gets upset with everyone and insults them at the slightest provocation. He's a real bitch and I love it! The rest of the cast is solid, with some interesting character actors like Robert Long and Dick Rich helping to keep things moving. The script doesn't give them a lot to work with but they bring their lines to life with conviction. Richard Crane is a bit annoying as the stiff protagonist and just about every woman in the movie is insufferable, save for the great Beverly Garland in a minor role. Working with an obviously limited budget, director E.A. Dupont and cinematographer Stanley Cortez craft a pretty polished-looking B picture. Of course only so much can be done special effects-wise on a small budget but there is some nice camera-work and a decent level of atmosphere in some of the night scenes. Better than some of the other reviewers are giving it credit for but nowhere near a classic. Worth a look for fans of '50s B horror and sci-fi.

A rip off of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", this takes a lot of patience to tolerate Household cats become giant beasts and a moody scientist turns into a prehistoric man, growing more facial hair than the wolf-man. His friends and family suspect that something is up but let him be. When people start being attacked he feigns sympathy. Of course, where there is caveman, there must be cave-woman and that is where the film dissolve s into absolute silliness. Shots of big jungle cats passing as prehistoric cats fools nobody. As the truth of what is going on is revealed, the film moves into melodramatic drivel that seemed more appropriate for the decade before when Lon Chaney Jr. was making films like this by the dozen.

Neanderthal Man, The (1953) * 1/2 (out of 4) Poor horror film about a mad scientist (Robert Shayne) trying to bring man back to the stone age. He turns his pet kitten into a saber-toothed tiger, he then injects himself with his magical serum and turns into the title character. This film only runs 78-minutes but it felt like three hours considering not too much ever happens. The neanderthal man looks silly but the makeup is certainly memorable. The only problem is that he's not on screen enough. Some of the close ups of the tiger gets a few laughs since you can tell it's just a toy. It's also interesting that most horror films from this period try to play the scientist in a sympathetic view point but that's not the case here. The scientist here has got to be the biggest jerk ever to grace a horror film.

Scientist Robert Shayne developes a serum that reverses evolution. He uses it on his housekeeper and regresses her to a cavewoman state, then he tries it on himself and ends up stalking the area as an ugley, hairy-faced monster.Several transformation scenes are shown, but they aren't very well done, and the makeup consists of a stiff mask, completely without mobility. He uses it on his house cat and produces -- a saber toothed house cat!Co-starring Richard Crane (TV's "Rocky Jones - Space Rangers"). Directed by E. A. Dupont, who did much better things earlier in his career.Ah, but just for fun, suppose Shayne had used the serum on a few lizards, a squirrel, and an elephant in the local zoo. Persto! A herd of stop-motion dinosaurs, a giant tree sloth, and a wooly mammoth!Gee, why am I the only one who thinks of these things?