Sadly Over-hyped

A lot of fun.

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

"Trog" might have been a camp classic (there are certainly scenes intentionally played for laughs, like the one which demonstrates that Trog vastly prefers classical music to rock) if the pacing weren't so tedious. The butcher's dispatching is a gory highlight. Notable as Joan Crawford's final theatrical film, but Joe Cornelious, as the eponymous cave dweller, actually gives the best performance (it's not surprising to find out that he was a pro-wrestler in real life). ** out of 4.

Trog makes me sad. Beyond the fact that it feels a lot like King Kong or Son of Kong - a doomed monster from our past just can't survive in today's horrible modern world - it's also depressing at times to watch Joan Crawford act her heart out in a film where no one else can come close to her power.That's not to say this is a bad film. It's perfectly enjoyable and well directed by genre vet Freddie Francis (Tales from the Crypt and plenty of other wonderful Amicus portmanteau films). And it's a quick moving, interesting film.But it's still sad.A troglodyte (TROG!) is found alive in the caves of England. Dr. Brockton (Crawford) has some success commmunicating with him and sees him as the missing link. However, her neighbors are not fans of her having a monster in her house, particularly after it kills a dog when it steals his ball.Local businessman Sam Murdock (Michael Gough, who appeared in plenty of Hammer films, as well as Alfred in the 80's and 90's Batman films) worries that the creature will negatively impact local business. But really, he has an issue with a woman being in charge.Meanwhile, Trog goes through multiple surgeries which enable him to learn how to communicate and there's a trippy sequence where we see into his mind, which is filled with memories of the Ice Age and dinosaurs.The court upholds Dr. Brockton's goal of teaching Trog, so Murdock sneaks in and lets him loose. He kills several people, including the businessman, before taking a little girl and retreating to his cave. Dr. Brockton is able to communicate with Trog and the girl goes free. Meanwhile, soldiers open fire on our titular caveperson and he falls to his death, impaled on a stalagmite.As Dr. Brockton leaves in tears, a reporter tries to interview her. She has no comment as she wander away.See? Depressing.Due to the films low budget, Crawford used her own clothes. And it shows. She's a beacon of fashion in a grimy town. She stands out like no one else. And speaking of suits, the one for Trog was left over from 2001: A Space Odyssey!This was Crawford's final film, but don't believe the TV show Feud: Bettte and Joan. She'd continue to act afterward, appearing in an epsiode of TV's The Sixth Sense called Dear Joan: We're Going to Scare You to Death. If you've ever listened to My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, that's where the sample on the song "A Daisy Chain for Satan Comes From." I'm glad I watched Trog. But the sad ending - and thinking of Joan changing in her car during the breaks in filming - make me a little misty eyed. That said, it's one of John Waters' favorite films, so there's that.

Don't pity Bian Crawford for the silliness of her last film. Hers is a performance not to pity or laugh at. The screenplay, however, is another matter. Think of Joan as the female Bela Lugosi, and if she didn't exactly die with a script in her hand, she did end her career with a bang. Of course, the film doors end with a bomb and a boom and a bang, and some critics do label it as a bomb, but there are some sweet intentions, even though the final results are outrageously absurd.Joan is a scientist at an institute specializing in the search for the missing link, the proof that mankind has gone through many stages since their days as cavemen and does indeed, but not without a price. Others surrounding her fight the efforts she makes to educate the captured missing link, most of all the evil Michael Gough. Trog is interested in learning, reacting positively to the colors blue and green, as well as classical music, but turns violent over the color red and annoying rock music. A friendly dog isn't quite so friendly with Trog, while he has a soft spot for the female of the species, particularly blonds.In a sense, this is a variation of the Frankstein monster and Rdward Scissorhands even, so fresh it is not. There is also more than a passing resemblance to Pmanet of the Apes. Trog's rampage thanks to the evil Gough ends up gruesomely violent.Totally enjoyable in spite of its obvious ineptness, this is saved by Crawford's sincerity and the well- meaning themes. As for Trog, he wouldn't be so silly looking a creature had the monster like features in his face but the body building physique of a muscular little person into body shaving.

Oh dear, Oh dear, Oh Dear. Twenty seconds of watching Joan Crawford walking around with a bucket of dead fish was enough. This film(presumably like the fish) is a stinker.She was not the first Big Hollywood Star to enter the actor's graveyard of British film-making. Lon Chaney Jr. tried it in Hammer horror. He was dead within a year. She was lucky to last 5. Hardly a cure for alcoholism is it? Anyway I've said enough. I'm turning it off. God knows why I'm supposed to write a minimum of ten lines about this nonsense, but I'll try anyway. I always thought that brevity was a virtue but not, it seems, on an IMDb comments page. I think I've made it. I'm off to bed.