The Dumbest Lost World Movies Ever
July 13 2009, Published 12:06 p.m. ET
Land of the Lost was a movie lost at the box office recently but it’s hardly the first “Lost World” movie to keep audiences away in droves and draw the scorn of critics and audiences. Dinosaurs, aliens and prehistoric people are not the magic ingredient for a hit and while they do sometimes yield great movies, they also are part of some of the dumbest movies ever. RadarOnline.com turned to our resident Lost World expert Jeff Rovin to give us a list of the 10 dumbest Lost World movies ever. Rovin is the author of The Fabulous Fantasy Films and has included on his list a few oldies where the remote lands go. Counting down to the dumbest:
1. #10. UNKNOWN ISLAND (1948): A drunk sea captain, a WW2 vet suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, and a girly-man scientist go to a remote island to photograph dinosaurs. The captain decides to try and capture a T-Rex, but a giant sloth (that looks like a man in a gorilla costume, which it is) kills him and the T-Rex.
#10. UNKNOWN ISLAND (1948): A drunk sea captain, a WW2 vet suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, and a girly-man scientist go to a remote island to photograph dinosaurs. The captain decides to try and capture a T-Rex, but a giant sloth (that looks like a man in a gorilla costume, which it is) kills him and the T-Rex.
2. #9. THE LAND UNKNOWN (1957): Long before global warming was a hot topic, scientists found a super-hot jungle in Antarctica where actors in canvas-costumes moped around pretending to be dinosaurs. Naturally, they went to explore by helicopter, which turned out to be a little too fragile for the journey. Duh! The South Pole!
#9. THE LAND UNKNOWN (1957): Long before global warming was a hot topic, scientists found a super-hot jungle in Antarctica where actors in canvas-costumes moped around pretending to be dinosaurs. Naturally, they went to explore by helicopter, which turned out to be a little too fragile for the journey. Duh! The South Pole!
3. #8. SADKO (1953): Don't get us wrong. We love this Russian epic. Disappointed in love, the burly hero sings a song by the seaside which is heard by Morgiana, the daughter of King Neptune. She invites him to come live in their kingdom under the sea, which he does -- frolicking and relaxing with octopi and his new gal pal...and able to breathe how?
#8. SADKO (1953): Don't get us wrong. We love this Russian epic. Disappointed in love, the burly hero sings a song by the seaside which is heard by Morgiana, the daughter of King Neptune. She invites him to come live in their kingdom under the sea, which he does -- frolicking and relaxing with octopi and his new gal pal...and able to breathe how?
4. #7. THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT (1975): It was a cool concept when author Edgar Rice Burroughs came up with it in 1924, but science kinda frowns on the idea that cave people could evolve to modern people simply by moving to different parts of Caprona...which is what happens here. Assuming they aren't eaten by dinos.
#7. THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT (1975): It was a cool concept when author Edgar Rice Burroughs came up with it in 1924, but science kinda frowns on the idea that cave people could evolve to modern people simply by moving to different parts of Caprona...which is what happens here. Assuming they aren't eaten by dinos.
5. #6. ATLANTIS, THE LOST CONTINENT (1961): A Greek fisherman stumbles upon the ancient lost continent shortly before it sinks, which is no loss: the crazed scientists there were busy turning men into dogs, pigs, and goats to bolster the animal population. Why not just mate the animals? Beats us.
#6. ATLANTIS, THE LOST CONTINENT (1961): A Greek fisherman stumbles upon the ancient lost continent shortly before it sinks, which is no loss: the crazed scientists there were busy turning men into dogs, pigs, and goats to bolster the animal population. Why not just mate the animals? Beats us.
6. #5. THE LOST WORLD (1960): Professor Challenger leads a scientific expedition to a remote plateau in South America, where they discover prehistoric creatures. Challenger calls the monsters by their dino names...but they're really just giant iguanas and baby crocs with fins and spikes glued to them. There are also vines that strangle people for no apparent reason, a Venus Fly Trap big enough to eat a human, a tarantula the size of a Buick, and a giant lizard that lives in a boiling lake. Colorful, but it makes no sense!
#5. THE LOST WORLD (1960): Professor Challenger leads a scientific expedition to a remote plateau in South America, where they discover prehistoric creatures. Challenger calls the monsters by their dino names...but they're really just giant iguanas and baby crocs with fins and spikes glued to them. There are also vines that strangle people for no apparent reason, a Venus Fly Trap big enough to eat a human, a tarantula the size of a Buick, and a giant lizard that lives in a boiling lake. Colorful, but it makes no sense!
7. #4. DR. DOOLITTLE (1967): We enjoy the Rex Harrison talk-to-the-animals musical, but the second half is all-turkey. When he heads to Sea Star Island, Doolittle has the dullest lost world experience ever: his job is to get a blue whale to push the island back to the continent from which it separated, after which our hero's party leaves inside the shell of the Great Pink Sea Snail while Doolittle flies off on Giant Lunar Moth. Boring!
#4. DR. DOOLITTLE (1967): We enjoy the Rex Harrison talk-to-the-animals musical, but the second half is all-turkey. When he heads to Sea Star Island, Doolittle has the dullest lost world experience ever: his job is to get a blue whale to push the island back to the continent from which it separated, after which our hero's party leaves inside the shell of the Great Pink Sea Snail while Doolittle flies off on Giant Lunar Moth. Boring!
8. #3. SINBAD AND THE EYE OF THE TIGER (1977): The Arabian Nights hero heads to the North Pole with Jane Seymour, whose brother has been turned into a baboon. Don't ask. (He's pursued by a witch who has the foot of a sea gull. Don't ask.) There, they find the lost civilization of Hyperboria, a pyramid that's supposed to cure people of monkeyism. It also houses a giant frozen saber-tooth tiger which battles a horned cave man. It's insane, but lively.
#3. SINBAD AND THE EYE OF THE TIGER (1977): The Arabian Nights hero heads to the North Pole with Jane Seymour, whose brother has been turned into a baboon. Don't ask. (He's pursued by a witch who has the foot of a sea gull. Don't ask.) There, they find the lost civilization of Hyperboria, a pyramid that's supposed to cure people of monkeyism. It also houses a giant frozen saber-tooth tiger which battles a horned cave man. It's insane, but lively.
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9. #2. THE MOLE PEOPLE (1956): Explorers enter a cave and find an underground civilization populated by Albinos from ancient Sumeria who rule a population of giant, two-legged moles. Don't plan on visiting: an earthquake sealed the entrance.
#2. THE MOLE PEOPLE (1956): Explorers enter a cave and find an underground civilization populated by Albinos from ancient Sumeria who rule a population of giant, two-legged moles.
Don't plan on visiting: an earthquake sealed the entrance.
10. #1. ATTACK OF THE MUSHROOM PEOPLE (1963): also known as MATANGO, FUNGUS OF TERROR. Yachters are shipwrecked on an island where scientists have been conducting research in radioactivity, which results in people being turned into giant, walking mushrooms. 'Nuff said.
#1. ATTACK OF THE MUSHROOM PEOPLE (1963): also known as MATANGO, FUNGUS OF TERROR. Yachters are shipwrecked on an island where scientists have been conducting research in radioactivity, which results in people being turned into giant, walking mushrooms.
'Nuff said.
