At the Earth's Core (1976)

I will say this for At The Earth's Core and its creator Edgar Rice Burroughs. No one could ever accuse Mr. Burroughs of no imagination. No lost world of dinosaurs falling through the surface and surviving in the bowels of the planet. His monsters were quite real and quite terrifying and completely original as in this film.Nutty professor type scientist Peter Cushing and student Doug McClure have invented a new drilling machine which they are exhibiting and the test is to drill a tunnel through a small mountain in Wales. Problem is the machine makes a wrong downward turn and these two arrive in a different kind of society under a cherry red sky. Humans are at the bottom of the social strata, slaves to giant bird like creatures with a hypnotizing glare. Enforcing the will of the big birds are these other ape like creatures who keep the human captives in line. Of course it's not hard to figure out that the story is of McClure and Cushing leading a revolt against this society. Especially when the fate of the humans is either to be slaves or to be food. Along the way he wins native princess Caroline Munro who did a lot of these pulp fiction adventure stories. As did Doug McClure back in the day. I guess they were fated to be together in one.At The Earth's Core will appeal to pulp fiction film fans. And I did love that ending. Won;t say a word, you have to see it.

As you know, I love monster movies, I love dinosaurs, and I love special effects. I got introduced to this movie when I was nine. My father gave me this movie and when I watched it, I enjoyed it! I was struck with awe and wonder and laughed at how cheesy it was. I was an avid watcher of Godzilla movies and I enjoyed dinosaur movies. I loved the special effects, the sound, and the music. Peter Cushing, of Hammer horror fame (which I was not introduced to until my twenties, so sorry), plays a quirky professor who provides the comic moments in this movie. The saggoths sound like skipping CD's, but they remind me of PLANET OF THE APES. Some the monsters look like rejects from a Godzilla movie. The mayhars were the primeval ancestor to the Skeksis from DARK CRYSTAL. Caroline Munroe's beauty steals the picture, but in my opinion, it is the beasts. This film, like LAND THAT TIME FORGOT, had some situations. For instance, when Jim Danforth, who was a fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs, wanted to get involved in it when he heard that it was announced, but this film, like THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT (read my comment), got changed and lacked the stuff that Jim had in mind. For instance, he wanted to use his matte-painting and stop-motion animation skills to be applied in this movie. Instead, Amicus wanted to make a movie that is catered to the kaiju-watching audience. I bet Jim was not happy about this. The effects are clunky be today's standards and if this was made today, then it would be nothing but a CGI fest. If you want stop-motion, let Brett Piper (read my MYSTERIOUS PLANET comment) do it. Also, there are a lot of explosions that might have impressed a young Michael Bay. So if you enjoy DUCKTALES (a reboot is coming next month), then you will enjoy this movie. Bottom line: Great fun despite the clunky special effects. Rated PG for violence, some blood, and scenes that are too scary for children. Who couldn't spell words like Rhamphorhynchus.

Just watched "At The Earth's Core" after not having seen it for very many years. Any serious film critic could pick dozens of holes in the movie but despite its many faults it is nevertheless fun to watch. It was made before the advent of computer graphics which dominates the film industry these days, especially in sci-fi special effects. It was deliberately made with its tongue firmly in its cheek & is an imaginative escapist movie. Based on the book by Edgar Rice Burroughs it stars Peter Cushing & Doug McClure both of whom are excellent & good fun to watch. Busty Caroline Munro provides the obligatory female interest & what a cracking piece of crumpet she was back when this movie was released in 1976. For us lads it is almost worth watching just to ogle her!. The sets are awful as are the rubber monsters but you couldn't expect much else given the low budget. They are, in fact, so bad that it somehow helps to make the movie even more fun.

Dr. Abner Perry (Peter Cushing) is a Victorian era scientist who is about to take his revolutionary vehicle, capable of boring through the Earth, on its maiden voyage. Accompanying him is former student turned businessman David Innes (Doug McClure). The vehicle is more powerful than they thought, and they end up deep inside the Earths' core. Here they encounter a nonstop assortment of monsters, a kingdom named Pellucidar, a tribe of primitive people, and their subhuman captors / tormentors, who pray to dinosaur gods.Now how can you resist any hokum featuring those elements? Produced by Amicus, and scripted by Milton Subotsky (based on the novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs), this is decently executed by director Kevin Connor, who was a real go-to filmmaker for this kind of fantasy material in the 1970s. McClure is a jut jawed hero, and Cushing seems to be relishing a rare opportunity to ham it up. His performance may not be one of his most accomplished, but it's certainly a fun one. Caroline Munro is *extremely* alluring as cave girl Dia. Also performing this amiable nonsense with straight faces are Cy Grant as the helpful Ra, Godfrey James as the stolid Ghak, and Sean Lynch as the devious Hoojah (just to be sure we get the point, Hoojah is nicknamed "The Sly One").The movie begins in grand style, with some striking opening titles and a beautiful, rousing piece of music. It promises a solid diversion, and that's what it delivers. The understandable criticisms often leveled at the production are its obvious budget issues, and rubber monsters. But these monsters are just so damn amusing, especially the exploding fire breathing frog. All of this is done in an agreeable tradition of the Saturday matinée feature. The sets and the visuals are reasonably impressive, and Connor keeps things moving along nicely (the movie hits the ground running), and building to an exciting and destructive finale."At the Earth's Core" does put a goofy smile on *this* viewers' face.Seven out of 10.