Originally designed as a vehicle for his son, filmmaker Arch Hall Sr. assumed the roles of writer, producer, director, and actor to bring the film to fruition, utilizing pseudonyms like “Nicholas Merriwether” and “William Watters” to prevent his name from appearing multiple times in the credits.
Incorporating all of the rock ‘n’ roll, pop culture staples of the ‘60s, he added a rampaging, seven-foot-tall Neanderthal to create the thrilling comedy, which follows Eegah (Richard Kiel), a prehistoric caveman who is nearly run over by Roxy Miller (Marilyn Manning) on her way to a party. Forming a romantic interest in the young beauty, Eegah holds Roxy and her father (Hall Sr.) captive in his lair. It’s up to local gas station attendant Tom Nelson (Hall Jr.) to rescue his sweetheart from the raving brute.
Matching the whimsical tone of the movie itself, Arch Sr. once said, “It was always sort of a subject of laughter that the darned thing did so well.”
Despite its campy prehistoric origins, the legacy of Eegah has stood the test of time. In 1993, the movie was picked up for an episode of MST3K, the wildly successful comedy series that made playful commentary on entertainment’s most-notorious B-movies, recently revived on Netflix in 2017. The episode further immortalized the film’s most famous, satirical line, “Watch out for snakes,” a comment noticeably dubbed during post-production. Eegah embedded itself so deeply into the culture of MST3K, that the show took to the road in 2017 for a live Watch Out for Snakes Tour
- A 4K restoration of “Eegah” (1962)
- The 1993 Mystery Science Theatre 3000 (MST3K) version of the film
- Exclusive interviews with star Arch Hall Jr., who portrayed the local teenage hero, and MST3K creator Joel Hodgson.
