Five Million Years to Earth is a really interesting little sci-fi film that came from a BBC 6 part series orginally (which now I would very much like to see) The first portion made me think fondly about one of my favorite sci-fi books Inherit the Stars by James P Hogan. A scientific discovery is made while working on the extension of a subway train that leads to so much more. The movie builds from this discovery into larger revelations that eventually like Inherit the Stars explain human evolution. This theme is also central to Prometheus --which I will be seeing coincidentally later this week. Even with the cheesy special effects of this Hammer film--it was still an effective thinking man's sci-fi movie---whose influence can be seen in the works of horror film makers that followed.
The movie takes place at a subway station at Hobb's End.....The entire time I was watching the movie that seemed so familiar....I had to look it up after the fact. Look it up below and you can see how this influenced others as they paid homage to it in their films using the name in their stories. John Carpenter made it the central town in his movie In the Mouth of Maddness which features an a famous horror author (modeled after Stephen King). Several of King's works seem to have been influenced by this film's theme as well.
Learn about Hobb's End.
It is weird when you stumble across an older film like this and can immeadiately see how later works t were either consciously or subconsciously influenced by them. Like the case with Equinox and the Evil Dead which I noticed when I saw that film.
