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| Images courtesy of Visual Vengeance |
Visual Vengeance continues to scour the annals of
straight-to-video films either partially shot on film and/or tape with their
ongoing rollout of movies that have an SOV charm to them. Films that don’t necessarily have the
resources financially or technically that still go for broke with an aim for
tongue-in-cheek lo-fi fun, their latest release of fan film pioneer, Marvel
Comics scribe and Star Wars novelist Don Glut’s 1996 sexploitation
time-travel caveman comedy Dinosaur Valley Girls being no exception. Partially shot on 35mm before being edited
with tape-shot sequences on an analog source, the film is best remembered for
featuring the final screen appearance of Blacula star William Marshall
and also features an unlikely cameo from Karen Black. Despite being a straight-to-video cheapie,
unlike the more slickly produced t&a Jim Wynorski flick Bigfoot or Bust,
this one is surprisingly fun with some charming stop-motion animation as well
as practical-effects work to boot!
Chain smoker hotshot B-movie action star Tony Markham (Jeff
Rector of American Horror Story) lives in Hollywood with his tart sultry
girlfriend while fangirls clamor around his every step looking for a shot at
getting into one of his movies. One day
while doing some research one his next movie, he acquires an ancient magical
artifact which transports him back into prehistoric times where cavemen and
dinosaurs coexist. Encountering angry
boorish cavemen, he is rescued by a tribe of sexy cavewomen. Despite there being a language barrier
between English and caveman dialect, his reliance on his action movie star
skills including but not limited to karate moves helps him and the cavewomen to
fight off hungry dinos as well as thirsty cavemen.
A goofy tongue-in-cheek smorgasbord replete with an
out-of-nowhere music video montage of the cavewomen lustily strutting around
taking their bras off to lyrics about battling dinosaurs featuring a surprising
bit of world-building including the social hierarchies of the cavemen and
cavewomen, Dinosaur Valley Girls is a surprisingly fun direct-to-video
ride. Featuring shoutouts to famous
1980s action-movie stars like Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger and
some not-so-subtle allusions to a certain Steven Spielberg blockbuster, it has
more on its mind than merely wallowing in half-nudity. With far better visual effects than Tammy
and the T-Rex though not nearly as much innovative insanity as that film
tapped into, the animatronics of the dinosaurs for being straight-to-video
aren’t bad including eye and mouth movement.
Now the extras department are where the folks at Visual
Vengeance went crazy. Including new and
archival audio commentaries, there’s also a making-of documentary, a look
inside the director’s home museum of dinosaur miniatures, an alternate PG-13
cut, deleted scenes, music videos, storyboards and production image
galleries. As always, the set includes VHS
tape stickers, reversible sleeve art and a folded mini-poster. Visual Vengeance have gone above and beyond
the call of duty here in terms of furnishing plentiful extras and the
picture/sound quality of the tape source itself is in pretty good shape all
things considered. Visual Vengeance have
done it again with this cheeky fun analogue to Carnosaur, Tammy and
the T-Rex and even Caveman with Ringo Starr and the extras included should
keep more dedicated fans amply satisfied.
--Andrew Kotwicki
