Customer Reviews

Allan Quatermain and the Temple of Skulls

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

This movie just shattered my image of Allan Quartemain! Where was the fun? There was nothing in this movie that was enjoyable. It was attempting to be heavy handed and dark. Had this been a drama, maybe this would have worked, but as an adventure it needed to be much lighter. Think Indiana Jones or the Mummy. Allan Quartermain was completely unlikable. In fact, I was kind of hoping someone might just punch his overbrearing lights out. Sir Henry was as obnoxious as possible and Lady Anna was...Well, Lady Anna must have been in the movie for a reason. The fact that I can't figure out what that reason is does not change the fact that she must have been in it for a reason. The bad guy, with what appeared to be a new set of false teeth acted menacing enough, but my question is why didn't Quartermain use one of his thousand or so chances to take care of him do it? Nope, don't buy this one. Don't rent it. Just heed this warning and pass on this one. If you want to see Allan Quartemain and not Indiana Jones, go for Richard Chamberlain. Older but far better.

spoilers alert.
This movie is horrid. Where to begin? The direction was like what a film school student rushed to complete a project might have done. Seems like everyone that had an idea threw it into the mix. First let's throw 'temple of skulls' in the title before Indiana Jones comes out. Treasure map - yes! Wrap some strings around Allan's wrist like Johnny Depp. Oh and a cool Indy hat! Make Allan brusque. Yes, women love to be treated to rudeness they fall in love with that!

The budget won't let us hire good actors. Okay let's get this over-acting humongous-toothed guy to snarl at every little thing! Perfect! He is really scarey. Train chase scene! Cool, and then they jump off the train and the bad guy still chases the train but can't figure out to drive back when he sees the train is empty. Yes, too easy to spot people on the open plains so move on to the next scene and hope no one noticed. Our hero needs to have a sad back story to explain why he has no woman (currently). Also to explain the lack of interest in his lovely maid. But wait! She is not just a lovely maid!

Hey! someone was watching a horror film that had a swarm of bugs, let's make our hero and his friends fear for their lives because of a swarm of bugs that flies overhead with not a single bug landing on any of them. Because they were behind a rock and bugs just zoomed by. Because bugs are scarey. Because bugs won't look behind the rock. Because bugs fly by. Oh and the bad guy was able to disappear and be safe allofasudden too but not by hanging out behind the same rock, we don't know where in the plains he disappeared to. But our actors get really scared because of the bugs flying by. Let's move to the next scene and hope no one noticed.

Oh yeah, insert here that the girl has to twist her ankle so Allan can use his superior diagnostic ability in medical matters and tell her she twisted the ankle. Then the girl won't limp the rest of the way because that would be annoying and too predictable. She should walk like nothing happened.

Then they are captured! Then there is the bad guy again! Then the maid has a surprise and helps them! Then they are inside a cave and the ground breaks apart for no reason! Scarey stuff! Then the girl is captured by bad guy! Then he shoots her! Yes! Then Allan is suddenly in love with the girl - don't worry, the girl is just fine and doesn't even have a headache. Then everything is fine and they all force themselves to smile big at the end (oh the painfully long big forced smiles scene). The end. Um, what temple of skulls? Who said there was a temple of skulls? That's just the name, we are not confined as artists to make a movie that is about a temple of skulls just because that is the title of the movie. If you looked for a temple then that is where you went wrong. Allan had a map to the King Solomon mines.

This has to be the worse movie ever made. Don't be fooled by it's cover. I am a hugh fan of these kind of movies. Infact Allan quartermain has to be my favorite. But after this dreadful version of a classic story by H. Rider Haggard, I'm not to sure. Everything about this movie is bad. The acting has to be the worse I have ever seen. (the whole cast should all look for different careers) The effects are so old school, I have seen better done by kindergarden kids. Even the movies title (The Temple of Skulls) is beyond me. It has nothing to do with Skulls at all. I think they just wanted to cash in on the lastest Indiana Jones movie. my advise to it's director. (like he says on the extras. We had little money and only 9days shoting) So why bother. And to anyone who is thinking of buying this rubbish. I wouldn't. Save your hard earned money for something else. Or buy the Richard Chamberlain or Stewart Granger version. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED...

I used a promo code to rent this from a Redbox for free... and I want my money back.
Horrible script, acting, direction, and filming. Absolutely horrific.

I don't generally give poor reviews but let me say this one is horrible in every way. Horrible acting, horrible follow through on characters, horrible segues between scenes and on and on.

There is a lot of walking. They don't drive when they can, they walk. They jump off a train- to walk. They don't run after the bad man who has kidnapped the pretty girl- they walk. They are even walking when the cave is falling down on them and they may day.

The music is good and it swells when it should, indicates danger when it should, and shows a nice light happy feeling at the end. Unfortunately, dramatic, swelling, suspenseful music will not make for a suspenseful moment if the characters don't act suitably scared, brave and yet with trepidation.

This movie left a lot to be desired. Do not fall for it. The cover looks great, it sounds exciting and yet it is not.

This movie is BORING and TERRIBLE.....lacking in action, poor acting and terrible movie overall. I wasted my time and money ......DONOT BUY THIS MOVIE.

They had only 9 days to film this and not much money and it shows. Bad script, bad acting, bad direction, bad camera work, bad lighting, bad sound and bad special effects. The lead actor is a minor South African star but can't bring it off. Watching the DVD becomes more of a game of spotting anything they did right: the girl who plays Quatermain's servant is strikingly beautiful and regal, they added in some minor background effects approaching the "Temple of Skulls" which were OK, they had some period authentic African natives go topless. Ended up being boring and not fun.

The land that time forgot, a remake from an other movie. Its ok B movie. Graphics was good, acting ok. Its a B movie, its still fun to watch.

"Allan Quatermain and the Temple of Skulls" is slow in all respects. It is has the feel of a historical documentary. The finale is a bit of an anti-climax and lacks a big-budget punch.

However, the scenery is filmed on or near the locations mentioned in the H. Rider Haggard book. The tribesmen (if that is not an offensive term) are real South Africans who live in a village that caters to tourists. The spoken non-English language is apparently genuine and not some Hollywood mumbo-jumbo. The "Making of" and other features, while short, almost make this a two-star movie.

Viewed from a "we-have-two-weeks-to-make-a-movie" perspective, the movie works. However, the budget and time limitations reduce the movie to a one-star movie. So much potential was not realized.

"Allan Quatermain and The Temple of Skulls" is incredibly boring. Period. The characters walk and talk a lot, but there is hardly any "action." And those actions, not many in number, are amateurish, slow-paced and sloppily edited. And they look very cheap. Allan Quatermain is such a dull hero and it is almost painful to see the guy threatened by the bugs and a rhino.

The story goes like this. In South Africa, a rich aristocrat Sir Henry Curtis (Daniel Bonjour) and his sister Lady Anna (Natalie Stone) are looking for their missing brother. They enlist an adventurer Allan Quatermain (Sean Cameron Michael) to reach The Temple of Skulls, using a map torn in half. A native Umbopa (Wittly Jourdan) accompanies them. (Unlike the original novel and other film adaptations Umbopa is a woman here.)

If you are looking for something thrilling and exciting, like the action-paced tale of Indiana Jones or compelling adventure story of H. Rider Haggard's "King Solomon's Mines," please watch something else. Those who love the story of H. Rider Haggard will enjoy old British film made in 1937. The 1950 American production starring Deborah Kerr is also good. Even the "comedic" take of the story, the 1985 version starring Sharon Stone looks ten times better than "Allan Quatermain and The Temple of Skulls."

"Allan Quatermain and The Temple of Skulls" is a loose adaptation of H. Rider Haggard classic novel "King Solomon's Mines." But as the "Skull" title suggests, this film (produced by The Asylum) is actually a low-budget direct-to-DVD production that capitalizes the blockbuster "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." If you are interested in such titles as "Transmorphers" and "The Da Vinci Treasure," this is your film.

The only good thing about the film is the beautiful locations. (According to the film's end credits, it was shot in South Africa.)