At the Earth's Core (1976)

Masterpiece of the Z grade fantasy genre.

I'm serious as well, I mean don't get me wrong, if you haven't got a bent for this type of Z grade, creaky creature feature (why would you be watching is my first thought?) then it's most likely a rating of about 4 to 5 out of 10 tops, but to me it's a special kind of nonsense that takes me back to a nice time in my childhood. You know the kind, where the memories have never left you. Eagerly taking it all in with youthful wonderment as Doug McClure and Peter Cushing tunnel beneath the mantle to do battle with a host of creatures and sub-human species. And guys! Now we are all grown up we can admire most seriously at the wonder of Caroline Munro and her heaving cleavage. No wonder my older brother was keen to take me to the cinema to see this one!

Yes the effects are bad, men in suits, strings pinging parrot monsters around and exploding rubber frog like thingies amuse us greatly. And yes, Cushing and a surprisingly pudgy McClure (wearing bell bottomed flared trousers) act as if they have truly been mesmerised by the evil Meyhas at the "core" of our film. But it matters not, zany and clunky and awash in glorious colour, At The Earth's Core is a throwback to a special pre ILM time when kids like me queued around the block to see such joyous nonsense. 8/10

_**So bad it’s… bad**_

A scientist and David Innes (Peter Cushing and Doug McClure) use the former’s awesome drill vehicle, the “Iron Mole,” to journey to the core of the planet where they discover the inner-world of Pellucidar. This prehistoric realm is run by giant telepathic flying reptiles, called Mahars, who are served by the ape-like Sagoth and enslave the primitive humans, including Dia (Caroline Munro) and Ra (Cy Grant).

“At the Earth’s Core” (1976) was an Amicus production, a company that ended their low-budget output with three films based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ books, all starring Doug McClure: “The Land that Time Forgot” (1975), this one, and “The People that Time Forgot” (1977). Despite their obvious modest budgets, I like those other two adventure flicks, especially the first one, but “At the Earth’s Core” is a huge let down and falls into ‘What were they thinking?’ bad.

Cushing’s doddering campy character is the first negative sign, but when the protagonists encounter the telepathic flying reptiles it becomes godawful. I was hoping to roll with these faults and enjoy the comic book story, but it’s just not compelling and is marred by its set-bound limitations (the sets are reminiscent of something out of the original Star Trek TV series). The creators simply failed to translate the story from book to cinema.

On the positive side, McClure is likable as the protagonist, so is Cy Grant, and Caroline Munro is stunning as the cavegirl, but she’s strapped with an outfit that fails to effectively take advantage of her figure. Thankfully, the production team fixed this flaw with Dana Gillespie’s more alluring costume in “The People that Time Forgot.”

The movie runs 1 hour, 29 minutes and was shot at Pinewood Studios, just west of London, England.

GRADE: C-/D+

Ok, this is just a daft Victorian action-adventure film with Doug McClure as the dashing explorer ably assisted by Peter Cushing (delivering a very similar style of performances as his "Doctor Who") as the boffin who designed the ultimate boring machine to travel to the innards of the planet. Once there, they encounter slaves ruled by a race of giant, angry looking, telepathic penguins. Based upon an Edgar Rice Burroughs fable, the effects are pretty dreadful and, indeed, so is the whole thing. It's isn't rubbish, though - and was a perfectly entertaining film for kids when I was 9!