''Teenage Caveman'' is a 2002

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

- horror-

teen film Teen film is a film genre targeted at teenagers, preteens and/or young adults by the plot being based on their special interests, such as coming of age, attempting to fit in, bullying, peer pressure, first love, teen rebellion, conflict with pa ...

directed by

controversial Controversy (, ) is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin '' controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an opp ...

filmmaker

Larry Clark Lawrence Donald Clark (born January 19, 1943) is an American film director, photographer, writer and film producer who is best known for his controversial teen film '' Kids'' (1995) and his photography book ''Tulsa'' (1971). His work focuses pri ...

. It was made as part of a series of low-budget made-for-television movies loosely inspired by

B movie A B movie, or B film, is a type of cheap, low-budget commercial motion picture. Originally, during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood, this term specifically referred to films meant to be shown as the lesser-known second ...

s that Samuel Z. Arkoff had produced for AIP. The film reused the title and basic premise from the original 1958 film '' Teenage Caveman'', but it is not a remake of the earlier film.

Plot

The film is set in a

post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction are genres of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astronom ...

future, where the vast majority of humanity has died due to a viral epidemic. The remaining humans have reverted to primitive tribalism. After killing his father for sexually assaulting his girlfriend, the son of a tribal leader is banished from the tribe, along with his friends. They eventually stumble upon a solar-powered city whose only two inhabitants are genetically modified to survive the plague. They view themselves as superhuman mutants who intend to recreate humanity in their own image.

Cast

* Andrew Keegan as David * Tara Subkoff as Sarah *

Richard Hillman Richard Hillman is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'', played by Brian Capron. He first appeared on 20 June 2001 and became the show's main antagonist until his eventual departure on 14 March 2003. Ric ...

as Neil * Tiffany Limos as Judith *Stephen Jasso as Vincent *

Crystal Celeste Grant Crystal Celeste Grant (born September 20, 1980, in Houston, Texas) is a former American actress and singer. She is best known for roles in the films '' Teenage Caveman'' (2002) and ''Kids in America'' (2005). In television, she guest starred o ...

as Elizabeth *Shan Elliot as Joshua *Hayley Keenan as Heather * Paul Hipp as Shaman

Reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics. On the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 43% based on 7 reviews, with an average score of 4.50/10. Scott Thill of ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...

'' suggested to "grab some popcorn" and "kick back and laugh". Kim Newman of ''

Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...

'' gave the film a score of 3 out of 5 stars. When the

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

version of ''Teenage Caveman'' was released on June 10, 2016, Bill Chambers of Film Freak Central wrote: "Unfortunately, while

he film He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

is a testament to Clark's auteurist position, it establishes him as a filmmaker of limited range".

References

External links

* 2002 television films 2002 films 2000s science fiction horror films 2000s teen horror films Films directed by Larry Clark Films about patricide American post-apocalyptic films Remakes of American films Films about sexually transmitted diseases American monster movies American science fiction horror films Horror film remakes American teen horror films Films about juvenile sexuality American body horror films American science fiction television films 2000s American films {{US-tv-film-stub