Film
The Land That Time Forgot
Other titles called The Land That Time Forgot: the 2009 film.
A 1974 adventure film where WWI enemies—German submariners and British survivors—wash up on a hidden island teeming with dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures. It's earnest, colourful, and unapologetically pulpy, built on the charm of rubber monsters and location filming. For anyone who loves old-school adventure that doesn't wink at itself.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you have a soft spot for old-school creature features, where a preposterous premise is played straight and the lost-world pulp feels like a Saturday afternoon matinee with no apology.
Skip it if you need the characters to have real depth, since the men are mostly sketches and the drama leans on the next dangerous encounter rather than on anyone's inner life.
What it asks of you: A brisk ninety minutes with little patience for slow build-up; you take the adventure as it comes and let the wild set pieces roll past.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
King Kong1933
The template for every prehistoric-creature adventure. A magnificent beast, real scale, genuine wonder—this is where the DNA comes from, and it's more gripping than any modern remake.
But Three hours of 1930s pacing and prints that vary wildly in quality. Some find the racial politics impossible to look past.

Journey to the Center of the Earth1959
Similar era, similar spirit: a subterranean world of dinosaurs and impossible wonders. Technically shrewd, visually inventive, and James Mason is a joy in it.
But 20th-century studio production values show their age. Long stretches of talking before the payoff arrives.

The Lost World1925
Conan Doyle's novel brought to life with stop-motion dinosaurs that still have genuine presence. A direct ancestor of *The Land That Time Forgot*, and historically vital to see.
But Silent film speed and title cards. The narrative is thin and the gender politics are of another world.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Land That Time Forgot
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
The Abyss1989
Both strand their crews in an isolated environment where discovery and danger arrive simultaneously, and both ask what you'll do when the world beneath the surface is more real than anything you expected.
A group of deep-sea workers encounter something inexplicable. Like *The Land That Time Forgot*, it's about ordinary people in an environment so alien it might as well be another world, with creatures that challenge what survival means. James Cameron builds the same sense of being trapped, far from help, in a place that doesn't care about you.
But Nearly three hours, and the theatrical cut removes crucial character work. The final act ventures into mysticism that divides viewers.

More like this (7)
Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes1984
An adventure with scope, intelligence, and genuine respect for its wild setting. Ralph Richardson is extraordinary; the physical filmmaking is immense.
But Nearly three hours. Some find it slow-moving and overly serious for what the story is.

At the Earth's Core1976
Amicus creature adventure with cheerful b-movie confidence. Underground world, impossible beasts, and a cast game for anything. Pure pulp.
But The monster suits are very obvious. The script prioritizes spectacle over sense.

20 Million Miles to Earth1957
A creature grows from alien egg to rampaging monster on Earth. Ray Harryhausen's effects are mesmerizing and the film moves with pace.
But The human drama is perfunctory. Harryhausen fans may find the creature underused.

The Crater Lake Monster1977
A prehistoric beast awakens in a modern lake. Genuinely weird, colourful in a strange way, committed to its creature-feature premise.
But Made on a shoestring. The monster effects are rough and the pacing is slack.

Eolomea1972
A Czech science-fiction adventure with its own unsettling visual logic. Strange, methodical, and visually distinct from Anglo-American adventure films.
But Eastern European pacing and sensibility. The dialogue is sparse and the tone is distant and cool.

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island2012
An island adventure built around a submarine crew, unlikely alliances in an alien ecosystem, and the choice between going home and staying lost.
A 19th-century submarine crew washes up on an uncharted island where giant creatures rule. It's recent enough to have modern action clarity but unapologetic about its adventure-story heart. Dwayne Johnson commits fully to the pulp.
But The script is thin and the monster logic shifts. It's more popcorn than substance.

Annihilation2018
Both films centre on an expedition into a place fundamentally hostile to human life, where survival requires accepting that you don't understand the rules anymore.
A team crosses into a strange zone where the rules of biology twist sideways. It has the same quiet horror of encountering something that shouldn't exist, the same atmosphere of people trying to survive a place that rewrites itself. Beautiful, disturbing, and genuinely alien.
But Abstract and slow-burn. The science is intentionally vague and the ending doesn't resolve neatly. Many find it frustrating rather than atmospheric.

People
Cast
Doug McClureBowen Tyler
John McEneryCaptain Von Schoenvorts
Susan PenhaligonLisa Clayton
Keith BarronBradley
Anthony AinleyDietz
Godfrey JamesBorg- Bobby ParrAhm
- Declan MulhollandOlson
Colin FarrellWhiteley
Ben HowardBenson
Roy HolderPlesser
Andrew McCullochSinclair
Directing
- Doreen SoanContinuity
- Kevin ConnorDirector
Writing
- Edgar Rice BurroughsNovel
- James CawthornScreenplay
- Michael MoorcockScreenplay
Production
- John PeverallAssociate Producer
- Robert H. GreenbergExecutive Producer
- John DarkProducer
- Max RosenbergProducer
- Milton SubotskyProducer
Recommended by
Journey to the Center of the Earth, The Lost World, One Million Years B.C., At the Earth's Core, The Island at the Top of the World, When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, Caveman, The Land That Time Forgot, Creatures the World Forgot, Warlords of Atlantis, The Last Dinosaur, The Lost World, A Journey to the Center of the Earth