'Teenage Cave Man' is officially declared as 'one of the worst movies ever made'. Even Roger Corman himself has famously said, "I never directed a film called Teenage Cave Man". And Teenage Cave Man Robert Vaughn himself stated that he considers it worst film ever made. But that ending - even 'The King of All Twist Endings' Mr. M. Night Shyamalan himself couldn't come up with such a devilish one.Well, don't let yourself fooled by all the criticism and bad publicity. The film is silly and it looks cheap (fake fins on the back of baby alligator to make it look like prehistoric monster). Cavemen are hunky young dudes with haircuts by the latest '50s trends. Drawn out dialogue and overacting that sometimes hilariously falls into (pseudo)Shakespearian territories, make the film somewhat unwatchable at parts, but bare to the end - you will be rewarded. I wonder how this film would have come out with proper budget and with more work on the screenplay. The themes Corman played with 'Teenage Cave Man' are actually pretty intriguing (following some abstract rule with no explanation, standing by the dogmas, hunger for power, should father be punished for the crimes of his son - yes, it sounds like quite messy soap opera, but like I said - well developed screenplay). In 2002, Larry Clarke directed a film with same title and loosely based its premise on Corman's film, but never fully used the potential of the material in hand, but the original 'Teenage Cave Man' is worthy enough to give it a shot. You might be pleasantly surprised. Or, if you won't then you have witnessed one of the most awful pieces of cinema ever made. 3/10

At 1 hour long,this movie is another Roger Corman disaster. With almost no time to fill,the movie still drags and is mind-numbingly boring. Anytime it's not a tight shot of 2 people,it's them walking on the same path. Some of the monsters are OK but some are silly. The way the cave people talk is extremely lame.They can't figure out the concept of naming people but can call people things like "the fair haired boy".Of course,the teenagers look to be about 40.There obviously weren't any real teenagers in the 50s. The only thing more amazing than the terrible acting is the fact that this movie even got made. There is one redeeming quality,a good twist at the end.

I watched this Roger Corman offering from the 50's on the cult and awesome television show, Mystery Science Theater 3000. A movie with teenager in the title, but nary a teen in sight. Kind of like that other film that MST3K did, I think the name was Teenagers From Space, the one with the killer lobster. The closest thing to a teenager in this one is the young maiden and Robert Vaughn who is the title character, but he was like 25 when this was made and not a young looking 25 either. Still, the film kept me wondering a bit as to what was going to happen as I knew there was going to be some sort of surprise at the end of this one and I was correct. I also kind of guessed it as well. The film could have been better had they did more exploration of the forbidden lands, but this film wants to impress us more by having the word and the law discussed a lot. The film at these points in time is less exciting to watch than a filibuster. Like a lot of films from this era, it is also very short as back then I guess people did not mind only being in the theater an hour or so, plus they had shorts to go along with films whose run times were on the minimal side, MST3K even had to do two shorts to go along with this one! The story has a tribe of cavemen who hunt for food and are very rigid and set in their ways. One young caveman, who is a young adult (though I do admit teenage caveman has a better ring than young adult one) questions the laws and rules of his people. The food in the area they live in is scarce, yet across the river is a land full of greenery and animals aplenty to eat. He wishes to cross into this land to not only to get more food, but also to learn of its secrets and see a strange monster said to kill with only a touch. He is quite stubborn in his ways and will stop at nothing to learn the truth.This film, made for a pretty good episode of MST3K. Many of the riffs were directed at Robert Vaughn's age as he clearly is no teen, and also to the many uses of footage from other films in certain areas. They even use an image of the She-Creature during the end of the film. Of course, they riffed this film well before that one, so no mention of it being from another film. The film was very talky in areas, but they managed to keep me entertained in an area of the film I would have been bored otherwise without them. Though, the funniest laugh I gave this film was not even during the film, but during one of the bump segments as Dr. Forrester and T.V.'s Frank battle it out! So your typical MST3K fare and pretty much your typical Roger Corman fare as well. The most notable thing about the film is that it does have a young Robert Vaughn as its star, after that it has a bit of a twist at the end that is kind of like one found in an M. Night Shyamalan film. It is not completely terrible because it does seem to be racing to some reveal, but nothing to surprising for those of us today as it would have been for people back in the day. I kind of figured that was where they were going with it, and I am sure most others guessed it as well.

This is a strange caveman movie, as the men are mostly clean-shaven or sport very well-trimmed beards and look nothing like we'd assume cave people would look like. The worst example is young Robert Vaughn, who looks almost exactly like Napoleon Solo from his "Man from UNCLE" show! And, to further confuse the audience, these people also sound an awful lot like everyday folk, while Vaughn sounds like some tortured poet. They must be the most well-spoken and literate group of troglodytes in existence.When the film begins, Vaughn is apparently very angst-ridden--sort of a goth caveman. He questions EVERYTHING. In fact, it's silly because that's ALL he does--again and again and again. It's obviously a clumsy job of exposition for the audience's sake. Well, this questioning has him eventually asking why the tribe does not go into the "forbidden land". He's told that's because it's forbidden and no one else in the tribe other than Vaughn seems to recognize the circular logic. So, after he recruits a few others, they head into the forbidden land. Even though most of them return and the forbidden land isn't bad, Frank DeKova demands that Vaughn be killed because "it is the law". In fact, DeKova spends all the movie demanding that this person or that person be killed! In one scene, a stranger comes on horseback. He says "peace", at which point DeKova kills him! What a nut case! This sort of stuff goes on for a while until the end. At that point, a surprise ending is unleashed that ALMOST works--at least until you think about it. Then, it makes absolutely no sense and is very sloppy, indeed. You find out that these cave people are actually from the future, as they find a book with 20th century things in it--including a picture of the United Nations building. But then, oddly, the narrator tells that this is from the past and that this sort of thing has happened again and again due to nuclear bombs. Yeah, but are they meaning to say that there was ANOTHER United Nations building many millenia ago?! Huh?! What?! Overall, dumb from start to finish. If the ending hadn't been a jumbled mess, perhaps the film might have worked a bit better, but nothing could overcome the costumes, modern hair and language as well as craptastic special effects. For example, a scene from an earlier crappy film, KING DINOSAUR , is spliced into TEENAGE CAVE MAN. It's the cruel scene where an alligator with fins glues to its back fights for real with a giant iguana or monitor lizard. It's obviously NOT two dinosaurs and it's unimaginable that the film people would really let these poor creatures tear each other to pieces for our entertainment! This sort of schlocky borrowing also occurs when they take clips directly from SAGA OF THE VIKING WOMEN. Sloppy and stupid and a cynical attempt to pad the film without spending extra money! By the way, if you see DeKova and wondered where you've seen him before, he'd done many movies and TV shows--including an unfunny recurring role as a stupid American Indian on "F Troop" as well as a mobster on "The Untouchables".