Trog (1970)

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sugarpuss
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Trog (1970)

Post by sugarpuss »

I'm not sure if this topic belongs in the Horror or Comedy section. Either way, I was looking forward to this movie SO MUCH and I wound up being so disappointed. It was released last week in the "Cult Camp Classics" Box Set (along with "The Big Cube"--which, believe it or not, I really enjoyed!--and "Caged", which I have yet to watch).

I'm not sure if I was expecting this really high camp production that would make me laugh for hours on end, but I spent the majority of the movie feeling retroactively depressed for Joan Crawford since it was kind of slow and boring. There's something terrible about watching the great Joan Crawford playing ball with a man in a monkey mask.

A good deal of my disappointment stems from the fact that they TELL you what's going to happen on the back of the box. The last 10 minutes when Trog goes on his rampage is described in full detail (a guy gets impaled on a meat hook, Trog kidnaps a little girl and tips a car over, which then bursts into flames)! How disappointing.

The only thing really laugh worthy is Trog's "Monkey" suit. It's a guy with a really bad mask on. They didn't even bother to make up his torso so that he looked like a guy who was living in a cave for 1,000's of years. I wound up MST3K-ing the movie with my mom and imagined that Trog was really Bette Davis in disguise.
"Some of the best parts of life are frivolous." - Arthur Kennedy in A Summer Place
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The Roadshow Version: A Modern Take on Classic Movies
benwhowell
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Post by benwhowell »

I read about that "Cult Camp Classic" box set in Entertainment Weekly. I taped "Caged" during the Screened Out series. Loved it! I don't know that I would label it "camp." Jonathan Demme's "Caged Heat" or "Chained Heat" with Linda Blair and a great supporting cast of '70's/'80's B movie actresses would have been a better "cult camp classic" companion.
I'm interested to hear about "The Big Cube." Does Lana Turner drop acid?
I read that it was filmed in Acapulco. Are there a lot of great location shots? I was in Acapulco several years ago and it was like a surreal acid trip...
klondike

Re: Trog (1970)

Post by klondike »

sugarpuss wrote:The only thing really laugh worthy is Trog's "Monkey" suit. It's a guy with a really bad mask on. They didn't even bother to make up his torso so that he looked like a guy who was living in a cave for 1,000's of years. I wound up MST3K-ing the movie with my mom and imagined that Trog was really Bette Davis in disguise.
Sugarpuss, having sadly witnessed the very end of Ms Crawford's career by actually buying tickets to the "evidence" as it was released, the best solace I can give you is to urge you to track-down & watch Joan in '67's Berserk, just as soon as you possibly can; you'll be amazed, watching this one, how quickly your memories of Trog improve.
Unlike Errol & Bette, she didn't save the worst for last!
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sugarpuss
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Joined: April 14th, 2007, 12:57 pm
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Re: Trog (1970)

Post by sugarpuss »

klondike wrote:Sugarpuss, having sadly witnessed the very end of Ms Crawford's career by actually buying tickets to the "evidence" as it was released, the best solace I can give you is to urge you to track-down & watch Joan in '67's Berserk, just as soon as you possibly can; you'll be amazed, watching this one, how quickly your memories of Trog improve.
Unlike Errol & Bette, she didn't save the worst for last!
I've seen the first half of Berserk and I fell asleep for the second half. That should explain how much I enjoyed it. I know TCM is showing it on Joan's Summer Under the Stars day, so I kind of want to see it just for posterity's sake. I found it funny that Ty Hardin would be actively pursuing Joan! And ever since I found out the backstory of his stage name, I can't see it in print without giggling (mentally, I'm five).

Ben, I really enjoyed The Big Cube. I thought it would be terrible like Jennifer Jones's second-to-last movie, Cult of the Damned/Angel Down We Go, but it wasn't! I really enjoyed it--I mean, it's dated. There's dialogue like, "I'm gonna cube that mother good!" and a wacky, 60's hippie wedding. It's very soap opera-ish. The location shots aren't much, mostly when Lana is on the beach after her boating accident. That's really all.

Lana doesn't drop acid, but her pills get spiked by her stepdaughter and her boyfriend. It's more of an anti-LSD movie than a pro-one though. And Lana and her stepdaughter both sport absolutely beautiful wardrobes!
"Some of the best parts of life are frivolous." - Arthur Kennedy in A Summer Place
-----
The Roadshow Version: A Modern Take on Classic Movies
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