'Eegah: Special Edition' [Blu-ray]
(Arch Hall Jr., Marilyn Manning, Richard Kiel, et al / DVD / NR / (1962) 2019 / The Film Detective)
Overview: Seven-foot-tall Eegah the prehistoric caveman (Richard Kiel) is out on the prowl in his desert domain when Roxy (Marilyn Manning) runs him down with her sporty little roadster.
The brute survives, but he s soon holding both Roxy and her father captive in his lair.
It's up to Roxys boyfriend Tom (Arch Hall Jr.), a gas station attendant who moonlights as a rock 'n' roller, to subdue the rampaging man-beast.
What Tom doesn't bargain for is Eegahs extreme interest in stealing his girl!
DVD: That's right, boys and girls, the "name written in blood," 'Eegah', returns to the spotlight for a special-edition release from The Film Detective (TFD); a leading classic media streaming network and film archive that restores classic films for today's cord-cutters.
Releasing November 26th, 2019, TFD will bring us a simply must-have collector's set for any cult fan that includes a 4K restoration of 'Eegah' (1962); the 1993 Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) version of the film; and exclusive interviews with star Arch Hall Jr., who portrayed the local teenage hero, and MST3K creator Joel Hodgson.
As for the movie itself, and aside from the whole MST3K angle, it's basically the aforementioned plot of Richard Kiel as a giant, prehistoric man (dubbed Eagah) discovered living in the rocky wilderness outside LA.
Following a chance sighting by Marilyn Manning on the road, her father (Hall Snr) ventures into the desert in search of the giant Neanderthal, but when he fails to return, Manning and her crooner boyfriend (Hall Jnr) jump in the dune buggy and camp out at his last known location.
Manning is eventually abducted by Eagah, held captive in his cave dwelling while Hall Jnr scours the rocky terrain in search of the missing link.
Hall Jnr seems to be promoting his singing/strumming career more so than acting, while Manning has some provocative scenes in bathing suits and torn blouses which might raise some temperatures.
Kiel is suitably confused as the lonely giant, the last surviving link to a lineage of now mummified corpses that he keeps to inhabit his cave home for company.
There's an awful lot of nothing happening for the most part, and when it does begin, it's corny stuff - teaching caveman how to shave, showing off trinkets, making music, etc.
It's quite obvious that Kiel's character is overly infatuated with Manning, being that it's his first encounter with a woman, so much so that he leaves the safety of his remote wilderness sanctuary to search for her in the unforgiving burbs of LA.
As mentioned, it's cheap, cheesy drive-in fodder with a trio of tunes from Hall Jnr to punctuate Kiel's unintelligible grunts, and what one assumes to be the-then audience's frequent groans!
Right from the opening scene of a flower being panned up and away from, the MST3K trio are off and running (in this case, announcing Goldie Hawn in Cactus Flower!).
Once the "leaking" title comes up its suggested that they are in for a game of Scattergories (a creative-thinking category-based party game originally published by Parker Brothers in 1988, for those of you playing along at home), and then with the reveal of the, well, whatever it is in the mud, by the late TV host and creator, Joel Hodgson, provokes him to add that this was Art Clokey's first study of Gumby (re: the popularization of stop motion clay animation).
Ok, I know, I could go on like this all day revealing every single outburst and fun barb, so I won't - but what I will say is that watching this version back now, some 26 years later, the show still resonates as warm, cozy and totally delightful to sit and follow along with.
As we get our first look at Kiel's character, "Jim Morrison, the Paris years" is how Hodgson describes him whilst as he is about to smash Manning over the head (and possibly the nice sports car she's in too), she screams and Tom Servo shouts out "I'm still making payments" and adds that she screamed due to a polka song being played on the radio"!
In the fun desert car ride scene, Manning is moaning and shrieking with delight (about, well, everything), and so Tom Servo (or Crow T. Robot) suggests that she must be in pain and to "put a wallet under her tongue"! (never heard that expression before!)
Anyway, so I don't continue to give away the fun bits here, suffice to say that come the end, once Kiel has tried to take Manning away from a very swanky suited do, he returns to a pool party followed by the police (or, as Robot calls them, the Hat Squad) to reclaim her (and does so, even though Crow suggests to "push him in the pool, he's probably got tubes in his ears!"
Come the final moments, watch out for the fabulously sardonic, but spot on "Whoops-a-Daisy" moment as when you hear it and see why it was put out there, well, it will make the entire cinematic event beyond worthwhile (and will have you chuckling for days too!).
This is a Widescreen Presentation (1:85.1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs and comes with the Special Features of:
Mystery Science Theater 3000 Version, 1993
An Interview with Mystery Science Theater 3K Creator Joel Hodgson
An Interview with Star Arch Hall Jr.
4K Resolution
Only 1,500 Blu-rays Made!
Original 'Eegah' Movie Trailer
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