The leader of a clan of cavemen makes offerings, to a tyrannosaurus, of any wounded clan members. After a successful hunt, the clan roasts a boar they caught. The leader is always the first to eat. Then the remaining members of the tribe fight for the leftovers. One of the women in the tribe runs out of food. Another clan member, who is sweet on her, gives the young woman his remaining food. He calls her Oma. The clan leader throws a bone at Oma and hits her in the head. Oma gets angry and tries to attack the leader. He stomps on her and has her sacrificed to the T-Rex.
Oma’s beau follows the warriors and rescues Oma from the T-Rex. The two of them are now ostracized by the clan and take off. When the leader finds out about the rescue he sends several of his men to capture Oma and bring her back. Oma and Beau manage to avoid the search party, a T-Rex, giant rat creatures a Pachycephalosaurus and cannibals.
Oma is eventually captured by her tribe and returned to her cruel leader. Beau saves the life of the leader of another smaller clan. The leader of the new clan returns the favor when Beau is attacked by the cannibals. Beau spends a little time with the new tribe getting his strength back before continuing his search for Oma.
“Tyranno’s Claw” AKA “Tirannoui baltob” AKA “Tirano’s Claw” was released in 1994 and was directed by Hyung-rae Shim. It is a South Korean fantasy comedy and a dinosaur movie. It is basically South Korea’s answer to “One Million BC” 1940. At one point the movie was very obscure but is now available on YouTube. It may be more appealing to dinosaur completists but it does have its funny moments and a bit of gore.
The dinosaurs range from pretty good to incredibly cheesy. The T-Rex is lumbering and rubbery. The Pachycephalosaurus is a guy in a ridiculous rubber suit. The Pteronodon is a guy in a giant onesie with a pointed mask and fake wings. The triceratopses are a little stiff, but really decent looking. The movie also includes some giant muscle bound rats, that are hysterical, and a few furry cannibals.
It has a quick scene similar to “Jurassic Park” when the T-Rex steps down and you see his foot squish into the mud before he pushes over the jeep. There’s no jeep here, but you still get muddy T-Rex toes. There are a lot of little homage touches that have been seen in other dinosaur films. It was a bit silly, but a lot of fun.
The film’s dialogue is a series of grunts and moans. Your ‘cave speak’ translator will not work here. No one even has a name in the movie except perhaps the hero’s love interest. I think her name is Oma so that’s what I went with. I also decided to call the hero Beau since it was easier to name him than not.