Tag: roger corman

Teenage Caveman: Guest Review by Steve Paul, of Sketch Zine

Ok. So it’s a little weird for me to add this one, but I feel like I need to. This is a guest review from the old site. I think it was submitted around 1997 or so. The reviewer is Steve Paul who was a xerox zine publisher, wicked skateboarder, rabid Nirvana fan and all around great friend. Some years later he was killed in a freak accident and just reading this review brought all of that back. But, I guess it’s best to remember his hilarious and sarcastic nature and this review sure does celebrate that. 😉

So what can I really say about the movie, “Teenage Caveman” that we haven’t really thought a million times while watching a movie with a clever idea that somewhere in the making stages went completely wrong?
The entire thing’s about this young buck in a caveman-style mini-skirt that is going through adolescence in a Neanderthal society, but the entire story takes place after the nuclear holocaust. The general theme is that after the world blew up, the few people in society fell back into a zero technology culture and we all had to start over from scratch again. Kinda a bummer of a future if you think about it, but then you throw in the rebel against the system, “We don’t need no thought control, man!” theme, and what you end up with is one gigantic mess.
Teenage Caveman mainly consists of four or five dialogs that are repeated so often throughout the course of the movie that you want to poke No. 2 pencils in your ears to stop the insanity. (Editor’s note: “The word is the law. The law is the word. The good is the blah. Blah dee dee blah.”) Plus there are lots of neat monsters with really pathetic costumes, and eventually you begin to ask yourself, “Does prolonged exposure to nuclear radiation really lead to a mutated society full of Cro-Magnon beatniks, 60 year old Jimmy Stewarts, and rubber Godzilla wannabes?” Something to think about before you go vote this fall. Stick it to the man and tell him, “We don’t want your rules and we certainly don’t want your goddamn war!”
Viking Women and the Sea Serpent/Teenage Caveman (1958)

Roger Corman’s GAS-S-S-S

Wow.  I’m not sure how it happened that I never heard of this movie.  The full title is, “GAS-S-S-S, Or It Became Necessary To Destroy The World In Order To Save It”  Apparently the concept goes something like this: The world is in crisis (I’m assuming maybe it’s a population issue?) so the government releases a toxic gas that kills everyone over 25.  I guess the assumption is that the young folks will get it together and fix the planet.  I bet you can guess what really happens, though….

Yup, you guessed it alright.  Wah-wah pedals come out of the woodwork, everyone drops acid and “freaks out”!  Umm… awesome!  Roger Corman is the master of making movies on effectively no budget, but somehow he managed to get Country Joe and Fishto make a guest appearance.  The set-up is simple, all the old fogies are dead so what do the kids want to do?  Well why not have a Woodstock-style 3 day rock fest?  Why not have it in a motel?!  Um… what?  Couldn’t they just crash the Hollywood Bowl or something?

I’m seriously considering buying the Roger Corman collection, but then somehow I’ll have to explain to my wife why we are watching bad movies on purpose.  These days, that’s getting harder to explain to myself.  Heh.

Roger Corman Collection (Bloody Mama / A Bucket of Blood / The Trip / Premature Burial / The Young Racers / The Wild Angels / Gas-s-s / X) (1967)
Roger Corman Collection (Bloody Mama / A Bucket of Blood / The Trip / Premature Burial / The Young Racers / The Wild Angels / Gas-s-s / X) (1967)