The Primevals – Fantasia 2023

A stop-motion adventure nearly five decades in the making comes to fruition with The Primevals. Sherpas in the Himalayas have killed a creature that seems to be the mythical Yeti. When the specimen is acquired by Dr. Claire Collier (Juliet Mills), her former student Matt Connor (Richard Joseph Paul) wants to lead an expedition to find a living Yeti. Joined by big game hunter Rondo Montana (Leon Russom) and guided by Kathleen Reidel (Walker Brandt) and the vengeful Sherpa (Tai Thai), Claire and Matt head to Nepal in search of the Yeti. What they find is a hidden valley ruled by reptilian aliens.

The Primevals Synopsis

The Primevals is a decades-in-development adventure film directed by stop-motion artist David Allen (The Howling, Young Sherlock Holmes, Willow). Produced by Charles Band (Puppet Master), principal photography on the film was originally done in the 1990s, but work on the film was halted following Allen’s death from cancer in 1999. Nearly three decades later, the film has finally been finished under the supervision of David Allen’s longtime associate Chris Endicott.

My Thoughts on The Primevals

The Primevals comes off the heels of Phil Tippett‘s Mad God, as another decades-in-development stop-motion film to finally reach completion, with Tippett even getting credit as one of the animators attached to the original 1978 crew of the film. The goal of The Primevals is to pay tribute to the films of Ray Harryhausen by presenting an adventure full of breaktaking stop-motion creatures. However, while the stop-motion animation in The Primevals is splendid, the majority of it occurs quite late in the film, with the adventure of the human protagonists for the first two thirds being a major bore.

Trailer for The Primevals – Fantasia 2023