Dinosaurus

Director– Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr.

Starring – Ward Ramsey, Paul Lukather, Gregg Martell

Released by: Kino Lorber Studio Classics

Number of Discs - 1

Reviewed by - David Steigman

Date- 10/09/2019

Dinosaurus! has been a movie that I’ve been watching and has been part of my home video collection for well over 35 years. This was one of the first movies I owned on VHS and later on DVD. Now it’s reached the big time, making it to the world of high definition!

The movie is more or less is a light-hearted tale about two dinosaurs, a Brontosaurus and a Tyrannosaurus Rex that are discovered frozen on the ocean floor by a couple of harbor builders after some undersea explosions occur near a Caribbean island. The explosions caused the frozen dinosaurs to rise to the bottom of the ocean floor. They are brought ashore where the two dinosaurs are later thawed out during a rainstorm. The aggressive T-Rex goes on a rampage eating people while the Brontosaurus, an herbivore is just eating plants and befriends a little boy named Julio. Young Julio gets to ride on the back of the brontosaurus! Also thawed from its frozen lair is a caveman (Gregg Martell) that provides the films’ comedic or at the very least, amusing moments.

Dinosaurus! is mixture of scares and laughs, with the peak moments are the Tyrannosaurus terrorizing the people on the island, and its battle to the death the lovable Brontosaurus. The finale where he fights a digger driven by the films’ hero Bart (Ward Ramsey) is also well done. The cast, including Ramsey, Paul Lukather, Kristina Hanson, Alan Roberts, and “Caveman” Gregg Martell all hand in satisfying performances, but let’s face it, the dinosaurs are the reason why we are tuning in.

The special effects for the two creatures aren’t the greatest, but this is a low budget film from 1960. The two beasts actually don’t look that bad at all, with the Tyrannosaurus looking fierce. I’ve seen far worse. CGI didn’t exist at the time and would most likely have taken the charm and character out of the dinosaurs, which is why practical effects for monster movies are still preferred, at least by me.

The director, Irvin S. Yeaworth, Jr. who also directed The Blob and 4D Man, does his usual credible semi-serious/semi-campy job, and despite the shortcomings on the films budget and effects, Dinosaurus! is still a lot of fun. He wanted Steve McQueen who had just done The Blob to play the lead, but it didn’t work out for some reason.

After being released on VHS and getting a DVD release years later from Image Entertainment in one of those horrible snapper DVD cases, Dinosaurus! makes it’s long awaited debut on Blu-ray. Originally planned for a release over a year ago, the film was delayed due to rights issues; the movie which had been thought to be part of the Jack A. Harris library actually was not. Kino worked their magic with whoever had the rights to this movie and was able to finally give this movie its Blu-ray release and was well worth the wait.

Featuring a brand new 4K restoration from the original camera negative, Dinosaurus! looks spectacular with the image boasting lavish colors, superb depth and great detail to the scenery. The colors, especially greens blues, which there is a prominent amount of are simply ravishing, be it outdoors scenery, such as skies and trees to the clothes the actors wear. Skin tones have a natural look to them, and the film still has an organic, film-like appearance to it, without DNR being applied. This is nothing short of a revelation!

The English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track is rich with great depth to the dialog. The dinosaur roars and the lively musical scores by Ronald Stein sound much more aggressive. No audio issues such as hissing were detected. Optional English subtitles are provided for this offering.

Extras for this release include an audio commentary by Kris Yeaworth (Irvin’s son), where he talks in great detail about Dinosaurus!, the cast, the crew, what his mother Jean added to the story among other interesting tidbits. It is well worth the listen. During the commentary he actually talks about how impressive the Blu-ray image of Dinosaurus! is.

Dinosaurus!: A Monstrous Story is a well-made documentary style featurette that has interviews with producer Jack H. Harris, film historians Donald F. Glut and Bill Warren, and co-star Paul Lukather. This is also a must watch for fans of this genre as they discuss the film in detail, its legacy and what it meant for its filmmakers. It’s a lot of fun to sit back and enjoy this featurette. Some of the historical information about the film that is shared is remarkable!

A theatrical trailer for Dinosaurus! and trailers for several other Kino Lorber releases within the same genre including The Land Unknown, One Million Years B.C. Monster That Challenged the World, 4D Man, The Astro-Zombies, and Beware! The Blob (Son of Blob) round out the extras.

While Dinosaurus! is far from the Citizen Kane of dino-films, the film is still a notch better than other ones made around the same time. It finally has been given the respect it rightfully deserves. With the movie looking the best that it ever has on home video, along with the substantial bonus materials for this release, the Blu-ray presentation from Kino Lorber will most likely not be improved on for the foreseeable future and is the definitive release. Easily recommended!