Eegah! One of Le Bad Cinema's most notoriously terrible productions, was directed by Arch Hall Sr. and released on June 8th, 1962. Featuring a small cast of schlock actors and actresses including: Richard Kiel, Marilyn Manning, and Arch Hall Jr., the film has obtained "Fifty Worst Films of All Time" status as stated by Michael Medved. Although the film in itself is rather boring and especially cheesy, watching the film with commentary from the cast of Mystery Science Theater 3000 is truly hilarious. The overall plot of Eegah is particularly unbelievable and based on absolutely no scientific basis. However, numerous films have followed the same format and are still moderately enjoyable such as Demolition Man. So, what exactly makes Eegah different? Besides its ungodly explanation for how Eegah survived for the past several hundred years, the acting isn't top notch either. Basically, the storyline follows a teenage girl as her and her boyfriend go on a scavenging hunt through the desert for a genuine caveman she ran into a few nights ago. Her father, played by Arch Hall Sr., actually went out looking for the giant also after listening to his daughter's claims of nearly hitting one with her car. Somewhere along the way, Roxy is kidnapped by Eegah and dragged away to his cavernous encampment where he is also holding her father. Once within Eegah's home, her father, Robert explains how he has begun to unsophisticatedly communicate with the Neanderthal. Eegah then presents his mummified relatives to Robert and Roxy, receives a shave, gives them a glass of sulfur water, and even attempts to sexually harass his new female companion. All the while, Arch Hall Jr., has been reluctantly scouring the desert-side in his dune buggy looking for his comrades. Upon discovering their location, Roxy and Robert break free of Eegah's clutches and hop in the dune buggy. For the next subsequent fifteen minutes, Eegah chases them around the entire hillside until they finally lose him. The film ends when Eegah finds his way into a party being hosted by Roxy and picks a fight with two cops each carrying a .357 Magnum. Although the ending was a rip-off of King Kong and The Cabinet of Dr. Calagari, in total, Eegah was a good yet terrible film. Its main strong point was its affinity for making me laugh due to the sheer level of nonsense filled within its scenes. However, as a warning, if I hadn't seen it with commentary from Mystery Science Theater 3000, I might not have appreciated it as much.
Review of Eegah
