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The Lost Continent (1968)

Dir: Micheal Carreras/Leslie Norman

One of 'Hammer's' more obscure films, and one of it's most enjoyable.

An old ship carries a mixed bag of passengers, all with secrets, all fleeing their past. Little do they know that the Captain (Eric Porter from "Hand of the Ripper") is also hauling a cargo of dangerous explosives that become unstable if exposed to water.

When the ship is holed during an accident, some of the crew mutiny and escape. The Captain, the passengers and the remaining crew try to save the ship but have to flee to the lifeboats. As in-fighting increases between the survivors they find themselves floating in what looks like seaweed, but it's really a flesh-eating organism.
Terrified they drift through the killer weed and come upon their ship again.
But far from finding safety they discover the weed is dragging them to a rocky, weed covered graveyard of ships where it crushes the hulls to feed on the people on board.

If this wasn't bad enough this 'lost continent' is also inhabited by other strange creatures and a mad religious cult, made up of descendents of the crew of a trapped Spanish galleon, that make human sacrifices to all who do not obey them…..

 

It has to be said that the film does take too long in getting the cast to 'The Lost Continent' itself, but the excellent cast (that includes that 'Hammer' essential, Michael Ripper as a scarred seaman), helps keep the viewers interest.
The main fault here is the flabby script (adapted from a Dennis Wheatley novel).
You need time to introduce characters of course, and these all have dark pasts to explain, so this is not a problem. But the time spent with the mutiny subplot is. We have a long sequence concerning the crew fleeing the ship and the battle with the remaining crew and the Captain. But in the end the people left aboard the ship, despite another long sequence in moving the explosives, have to abandon it anyway. To have had them all abandon ship the first time would have added much needed time to the latter half of the movie which, specially the finale, is very rushed.

But there are more plus points on show here than negative ones.
Although the effects (especially the ship graveyard which looks like someone's extremely dirty bath water) are limited, this has some of 'Hammer's' most ambitious sets and ideas.
The weed-covered ocean World is drenched in fog with jagged rocks jutting out of the lethal water and makes for a highly effective, creepy atmosphere.
The monsters are also loads of fun. As well as a huge mutant Octopus, we have a giant, slobbering crab monster, a giant, scuttling scorpion (who have a wonderful 'old school' fight with each other that looks like something from a "Godzilla" movie) and a trashy and enjoyable, multi-toothed 'mouth' that the strange Cult throws undesirables into. Sure, these are very cheap but deliver that 'Saturday Morning Matinee' fun feeling that's highly appealing.

Special mention as well to the crazy 'weed floating' costumes. These are big round shoes for walking on top of the killer weed with a twin balloon harness that straps on the shoulders to help the wearer 'float' lightly over the weed. The first sight of these costumes, from a distance emerging out of the fog, makes it look like some kind of strange creature is walking around. Although it has to be said that the first person our stranded heroes see wearing on of these costumes, is being played by Dana Gillespie (from "The People that Time Forgot") who's mightily impressive breasts would seem to make the balloons redundant!

The 'Cult' is a nice touch that helps add to the idea of how long the weed has been stranding ships, but they don't appear to well into the film. Which makes for that aforementioned rushed finale.

Performances are more than adequate, with good work from old pros like Porter, Ripper, James Cossins as the Chief Engineer (The opening victim in Brit classic "Deathline"), Jimmy Hanley as the jolly Bar Steward, (who was once a child star in old British films including the classic Will Hay vehicle "Boys Will Be Boys") and veteran German actress Hildegard Knef.

Overall a sadly neglected little gem that deserves a larger following. It's certainly more entertaining than some of 'Hammer's' better known horror films.