SLAVE GIRLS aka PREHISTORIC WOMEN Reviews of Hammer’s fantasy flick

What do you think of this movie? Click on a star to rate it
  

prehistoric_women_1966_poster_01

Slave Girls is a 1967 British prehistoric fantasy film written and directed by Michael Carreras. Also released as Prehistoric Women

The Hammer Films production stars Martine Beswick as the main antagonist and stage actor Michael Latimer. Steven Berkoff has a minor role at the end.

Plot:
David Marchant, a British explorer, along with Colonel Hammond and a guide are pursuing a leopard on an African safari. The Colonel takes aim but misses and only wounds the animal. With nightfall warned by the guide, David decides to follow the party back to camp whilst he puts the beast out of its misery.

He passes various trees with a picture of a white rhino but ignores them. Finally, he shoots the leopard, just as the weakened animal attacks him. No sooner is the creature dead, David is ambushed and captured by a primitive tribe. They accuse him of disturbing the spirit of the white rhinoceros and take him to their leader’s temple. Just as he is about to be killed for his trespassing and disturbing the spirits, David touches a white rhino statue and there is a flash of lightning that opens a giant crack in the cave wall.

edina ronay slave girls 1967

Marchant makes his escape and finds himself in a lush paradise jungle within a large valley. Hearing a noise, a terrified fair-haired young woman (Edina Ronay) tumbles out of the bush growth. David tries to help her but the woman bites him and runs off where she entered.

Following her, David tackles her to the ground. But they are both attacked by dark-haired women. David is escorted with them to their village whilst the fair woman is bound and taken with them. Entering the settlement, David finds the fair-haired woman serving the dark-haired woman, who they themselves are ruled over by the beautiful Queen Kari (Beswick), who immediately takes interest in David and chooses him as her mate, but he is appalled by her cruelty and spurns her advances…

prehistoric women martine beswick

Prehistoric Women Hammer Collection Studio Canal DVD

Buy Prehistoric Women on DVD from Amazon.comAmazon.co.uk

Reviews:

“…[Beswick] was cast as Queen Kari in the film Prehistoric Women, a sort of follow-up to the successful One Million Years BC. As the seductive and deadly leader of a tribe of lost amazons, Beswick had one of the great roles of a lifetime. Unfortunately, the production was plagued by indifferent direction, a low budget, and the fact that it was following up a gargantuan worldwide box office hit …” Film Fatales: Women in Espionage Films and Television, 1962-1973

“Idiotic Hammer Film in which the Great White Hunter stumbles into a lost Amazon civilization where blondes have been enslaved by brunettes. Honest! Nevertheless, it has developed a cult following due to Beswick’s commanding, sensual performance as the tribe’s leader.” Leonard Maltin’s 2010 Movie Guide

martine beswick slave girls 1967

“As in all of Hammer’s exotica films, there is a slim to fairly silly plot. However, Martine Beswick takes the opportunity to camp the role up to the hilt and gives it her all, be it draped seductively across her bed, commanding cruelties and heatedly debating the idea of equality.” Moria

“Hammer was often old-fashioned, but what makes its better films so well-loved is that they would find ways to bring them up to date: make them bloody, sexy, exciting, classy, and intelligent.  (Slave Girls was released on a double bill with The Devil Rides Out, which is all of those things.)  Carreras’ film throws everything into the mix except for what it really needs to spark everything to life, and as a result, it tumbles over into unintentional hilarity.” Midnight Only

Prehistoric-Women0010

“The cheerful silliness of Slave Girls is rather endearing in a way that an over-budgeted, over-long and over-produced behemoth like Avatar could never be. It might have a reputation as one of the worst Hammer films ever made but it is never less than entertaining.” Bruce G Hallenbeck, Hammer Fantasy & Sci-Fi: British Cult Cinema (Hemlock Books)

HammerSci-Fi-coverFinal

Buy Hammer Fantasy & Sci-Fi book from Amazon.co.ukAmazon.com

the devil rides out + slave girls british quad poster

hammer-story-marcus-hearn-alan-barnesjpg

The Hammer Story – Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Trailer:

Cast and characters:
Martine Beswick as Queen Kari; Michael Latimer as David Marchant; Carol White as Gido; Steven Berkoff as John; Edina Ronay as Saria/Sarah; Stephanie Randall as Amyak; Alexandra Stevenson as Luri; Yvonne Horner as First Amazon; Sydney Bromley as Ullo; Frank Hayden as Arja; Robert Raglan as Colonel Hammond; Mary Hignett as Mrs Hammond; Louis Mahoney as Head Boy; Bari Jonson as High Priest; Danny Daniels as Jakara

The film was released in the UK on a double bill with The Devil Rides Out.

MOVIES and MANIA provides previews, our own film reviews and ratings, plus links to other online reviews from a wide variety of trusted sources in one handy web location. This is a genuinely independent website and I rely solely on the minor income generated by internet ads to pay for web costs and cover yet more movies. Please support us by not blocking ads. Thank you. Oh and as an Amazon Associate, I earn a tiny amount from any qualifying purchases.