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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Slave Girls of the White Rhino!, July 20, 2002
Not to be confused with a low-rent American movie of the same name made in 1950, Prehistoric Women was written and directed by Hammer producer Michael Carreras in 1966, on redressed sets left over from Hammer's One Million BC. Definitely an excuse to find a way to reuse the sets, and no dinosaurs this time around, but the film is so outrageously, unapologetically campy that it's complete bliss.Terminally sincere great white hunter David touches the sacred horn of the statue of the White Rhino while in Africa, and is transported back in time, where he discovers a tribe of White Rhino-worshipping brunettes, who have enslaved all the blonde women, and sent all the men to an even worse fate doing hard labor. Martine Beswick is just great as the evil and cruel queen Kari, who chooses David for her love slave. Unfortunatly, David has eyes for innocent blonde slave girl Saria, and.... This flick has everything, wildly loopy Amazon dance numbers, sacficial rituals, catfights, jungle action, babes in fur bikinis, outrageous dialog ("Cruelty is what makes me cruel!"), and a climax where the White Rhino comes to life (who cares if it moves like it's rolling on wheels....besides, no real rhino could have such an wonderfully phallic horn). Beswick puts a lot more into the role of Queen Kari than one would expect from this sort of movie--she definitely has more commanding presence (in more ways than one) than Raquel Welch, for example. It's obvious director Carraras didn't take any of it with an ounce of seriousness, even though it's all played as though it is. His original working title was "Slave Girls of the White Rhino", which I think is a much better title than Prehistoric Women. Still, a sheer, delerious delight. Anchor Bay's letterbox transfer is great (and is featured on the VHS tape as well as the DVD). The letterboxing is vital for this flick, since for some reason Carreras decided to go against typical Hammer practice and do this one in genuine widescreen Cinemascope....probably because you can fit a lot more prehistoric babes in one shot that way.
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