Insane, R-Kalwe 90s Sci-Fi Sends Alien Caveman Into Virtual Reality Revenge Arc
Written by Robert Scucci | Published
It takes a lot for me to sit through an entire movie without knowing what the hell it’s about, and I just found this out in 1996. The Savage. There are many unrelated story lines that feel like they should connect and lead to a satisfying payoff, but never do. My experiencewith the movie made me want it all to make sense, but I had to read detailed plot synopses on both Wikipedia and IMDb to make heads or tails of things, and somehow I ended up even more confused.
Usually when I write a review, I open those tabs to target character and talent names because I’m good with faces but bad with words. In this case, I had to go SparkNote my way through the plot because The Savage it’s so absurd, to the point where I think it’s worth reading.
The Savage it’s a sci-fi action movie, but it’s also a revenge movie, but it’s also a movie about ancient animals, superpowered cavemen, and an evil virtual reality game company, all of which are completely at odds. Visually, it’s an absolute bargain of low-budget special effects, which is what drew me to it during the original late-night Tubi scrolling. I don’t regret watching it, but I can’t speak for how you will feel about this lovely reader.
Hell Hath No Fury Like A Caveman Hellbent On Revenge
Here is what I am trying to explain The Savage it’s about. A man named Alex Verne (Olivier Gruner) commits himself to a mental hospital after his family is randomly killed. One day, two years later, he decides it’s time to run away. Wandering in the desert, he heard a voice leading him to a cave. Inside are paintings of ancient aliens. Alex lives like this for an indefinite period of time until he meets an alien vision that first takes the form of his dead wife, then a murderer. The stranger tells him that he must take revenge because the killer will do it to “millions of others.”
Alex is electrocuted and suddenly has superhuman strength, matching the caveman skills he developed while living in the desert. He wanders the streets naked and is locked up in a police cell, where he meets officer Nicky Carter (Jennifer Grant), who is disappointed by his strange behavior but somehow finds him irresistible enough to become an important friend in the third act.
At that point, and suddenly, we are introduced to Reese Burroughs (Kario Salem), the corrupt chairman of the Titan Corporation. He’s obsessed with virtual reality video games and happily named henchmen Marie Beloc (Kristin Minter), Edgar Wallace (Sam McMurray), and Allan Poe (Herschel Sparber) who follow him wherever he goes. As luck would have it, Reese has been waiting a long time for the police report on the arrest of some kind of naked man, and now he has to track down Alex and finish him off for … reasons, I guess.
Alex, now called a bully by Reese and his goons because of his extraterrestrial abilities, escapes from custody, determined to break the Titan Corporation for … other reasonsI think, as the home viewer (because this is clearly a VHS specific attempt) tries to connect these plot points. You are left wondering how the endgame between these characters will play out in the real and virtual world they are in.
It’s Overly Pink With Many Visible Layers
Most reasonable people will read the above excerpt The Savage and decide not to watch it. I don’t blame them. However, for a direct-to-video sci-fi B-movie, it has some pretty cool visuals. The virtual reality sequence is immersive. aliens is corny but cool, and perfectly captures that “waking up at 3am and this is what’s on TV after i passed out watching something else” vibe that i miss so much from my university days.
If you can get past the fact that the plot makes no sense, The Savage it’s so much fun to watch. Personally, I treated it as a series of vaguely related vignettes that lived in the same universe, which allowed me to enjoy the visuals without delving into the storytelling too much. That said, it feels like there has to be a director’s cut floating around somewhere because the connection between Alex and Reese isn’t exactly clear until very late in the runtime.
The Savagein all its crazy glory, it’s currently streaming for free on Tubi. Give it a shot if you want something different because there is nothing like it. Just say I didn’t warn you when you’re in the middle and realize a lot has happened without talking about anything close to a coherent story.
