History Film / LegendOfDinosaursAndMonsterBirds

* ArtisticLicensePaleontology: The ''Plesiosaurus'' and ''Rhamphorynchus'' are both referred to as dinosaurs, when neither of them actually are. Their monstrous, aggressive behavior is not based in any evidence. Most jarringly, both are several times larger than they were in real life - ''Plesiosaurus'' was actually only about 9 feet long, while ''Rhamphorynchus'' had a six-foot wingspan. In the movie, the ''Plesiosaurus'' can fit a person in its mouth and the ''Rhamphorynchus'' is big enough to grab and carry a human adult in a single claw.

* PinballProtagonist: The protagonists are a geologist who only wants to see the prehistoric creature for himself and his sort-of girlfriend, who's in the area for unrelated reasons and just happens to get caught up in things. Neither of them are actually involved in the discovery of either monster or the efforts to stop them, and they don't even see the monsters until the very end. They only ever try to save each other, and [[spoiler:by the end it seems almost impossible that they'll survive anyway.]]

->''A series of major earthquakes shatter the world. A new ice age seems to be beginning. The world is approaching its final crisis... Around Mount Fuji in Japan, summer spins rapidly into sudden autumn. The mountain peak is capped with snow---remarkably early. Things are happening in the five lakes which had formed around Fuji during its last eruption, eleven centuries ago. There are strange developments in the huge impenetrable forest of Aokigahara, enjoined to the lakes by the vast lava field. Bats gather during daylight hours. Centipedes increase in numbers. The temperature of the Lake Sai waters is suddenly extraordinarily high. Eels appear in people's beds. A couple out on the lake in a pedal boat simply disappear; one body only is recovered---the face stricken with abject terror. On a lonely, dark road, a horse runs crazily past a girl on a bicycle. Then, in the blackness ahead, she hears a thud. The girl find the animal dead---decapitated. And the grassy area around the odious sight is trampled flat. In a nearby village, an old crone recounts ancient legends about the dragons of yore... Only one young geologist seems to appreciate what is happening. The recent shuddering changes in the earth's crust about the Fuji volcanic zone match---exactly---the prediction of his long-dead biologist father. That such cataclysmic conditions would unearth, reawaken the dinosaurs in and around Lake Sai...and bring about hell on earth!''
-->-- Tony Crawley, House of Hammer, April 1978

* PteroSoarer: The real ''Rhamphorhynchus'' wasn't nearly as gigantic as the one in the movie.

* {{Kaiju}}: Both reptiles are scaled up from their real-life counterparts, especially the "monster bird." The real ''Rhamphorhynchus'' only had a wingspan of up to 6 feet.

* NonIndicativeName: Neither the ''Plesiosaurus'' nor the ''Rhamphorhynchus'' are (technically speaking) dinosaurs, let alone birds. Also there is only one ''Rhamphorhynchus'' in the movie.
* PinballProtagonist: The human characters wander around looking for "dinosaurs," find them by accident, and the the dinosaurs are killed by other dinosaurs or a natural disaster without any contribution from the humans. The story would have ended the same, except for a lower body count, if they'd just evacuated the area after the first attacks and come back a week later.

* RecycledInSpace: This film is pretty much what if ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' was made in Japan and had a giant ''Plesiosaurus'' instead of a shark and a very funky soundtrack.
* OminousFog
* SignsOfTheEndTimes: While subtle, the explanation for the reemergence of the prehistoric creatures is apparently caused by this. Earthquakes and heat waves and all of nature being out of wack. It is apparently either the end of an age, or the end of the world.
* SoundtrackDissonance The movie's score is almost entirely disco, and what isn't is equally dissonant lounge music or pop songs. Watching people getting devoured horribly by prehistoric monsters has never sounded this funky.

->''A series of major earthquake shatter the world. A new ice age seems to be beginning. The world is approaching its final crisis...Around Mount Fuji in Japan, summer spins rapidly into sudden autumn. The mountain peak is capped with snow---remarkably early. Things happening in the five lakes which had formed around Fuji during its last eruption, eleven centuries ago. There are strange developments in the huge impenetrable forest of Aoki-gahara, enjoined to the lakes by the vast lava field. Bats gather during daylight hours. Centipedes increase in numbers. The temperature of the Lake Sai waters is suddenly extraordinarily high. Eels appear in people's beds. A couple out on the lake in a pedal boat simply disappear; one body only is recovered---the face stricken with abject terror. On a lonely, dark road, a horse runs crazily past a girl on a bicycle. Then, in the blackness ahead, she hears a thud. The girl find the animal dead---decapitated. And the grassy area around the odious sight is trampled flat. In a nearby village, an old crone recounts ancient legends about the dragons of yore...Only one young geologist seems to appreciate what is happening. The recent shuddering changes in the earth's crust about the Fuji volcanic zone match---exactly---the prediction of his long-dead biologist father. That such cataclysmic conditions would unearth, reawaken the dinosaurs in and around Lake Sai...and bring about hell on earth!''

* ArtisticLicenseGeology: At one point a scientist character says [[NonSequitur "If a dinosaur does appear, we'll also have magnitude 5 earthquakes."]] Yes, you heard that right, a dinosaur appearing will ''cause'' massive earthquakes.

* ChekhovsVolcano: A scientist tells the protagonist that if two dinosaurs appear, chances are that Mount Fuji will eventually erupt. This is exactly what happens during their fight at the climax.

''A series of major earthquake shatter the world. A new ice age seems to be beginning. The world is approaching its final crisis...Around Mount Fuji in Japan, summer spins rapidly into sudden autumn. The mountain peak is capped with snow---remarkably early. Things happening in the five lakes which had formed around Fuji during its last eruption, eleven centuries ago. There are strange developments in the huge impenetrable forest of Aoki-gahara, enjoined to the lakes by the vast lava field. Bats gather during daylight hours. Centipedes increase in numbers. The temperature of the Lake Sai waters is suddenly extraordinarily high. Eels appear in people's beds. A couple out on the lake in a pedal boat simply disappear; one body only is recovered---the face stricken with abject terror. On a lonely, dark road, a horse runs crazily past a girl on a bicycle. Then, in the blackness ahead, she hears a thud. The girl find the animal dead---decapitated. And the grassy area around the odious sight is trampled flat. In a nearby village, an old crone recounts ancient legends about the dragons of yore...Only one young geologist seems to appreciate what is happening. The recent shuddering changes in the earth's crust about the Fuji volcanic zone match---exactly---the prediction of his long-dead biologist father. That such cataclysmic conditions would unearth, reawaken the dinosaurs in and around Lake Sai...and bring about hell on earth!''
--- Tony Crawley, House of Hammer, April 1978

* ArtisticLicenseGeology: At one point a scientist character says [[NonSequitur "If a dinosaur does appear, we'll also have magnitude 5 earthquakes."]] Yes, you heard that right, a dinosaur will 'cause' massive earthquakes.

''A series of major earthquake shatter the world. A new ice age seems to be beginning. The world is approaching its final crisis...Around Mount Fuji in Japan, summer spins rapidly into sudden autumn. The mountain peak is capped with snow---remarkably early. Things happening in the five lakes which had formed around Fuji during its last eruption, eleven centuries ago. There are strange developments in the huge impenetrable forest of Aoki-gahara, enjoined to the lakes by the vast lava field. Bats gather during daylight hours. Centipedes increase in numbers. The temperature of the Lake Sai waters is suddenly extraordinarily high. Eels appear in people's beds. A couple out on the lake in a pedal boat simply disappear; one body only is recovered---the face stricken with abject terror. On a lonely, dark road, a horse runs crazily past a girl on a bicycle. Then, in the blackness ahead, she hears a thud. The girl find the animal dead---decapitated. And the grassy area around the odious sight is tramplbed flat. In a nearby village, an old crone recounts ancient legends about the dragons of yore...Only one young geologist seems to appreciate what is happening. The recent shurrdering changes in the earth's crust about the Fuji volcanic zone match---exactly---the prediction of his long-dead biologist father. That such cataclysmic conditions would unearth, reawaken the dinosaurs in and around Lake Sai...and bring about hell on earth!''

* NonIndicativeName: Neither the ''Plesiosaurus'' nor the ''Rhamphorhynchus'' are (technically speaking) dinosaurs. Also there is only one ''Rhamphorhynchus'' in the movie.

* BehemothBattle: The ''plesiosaurus'' and the ''rhamphorhynchus'' get into one at the film's climax.

* EyeScream: The ''rhamphorhynchus'' stabs out one of the ''plesiosaurus'''s eyes with its beak.
* HumanPopsicle: The eggs of the ''plesiosaurus'' and ''rhamphorhynchus'' were both frozen in an ice cave before they thawed and hatched.
* {{Kaiju}}: The real ''rhamphorhynchus'' had a wingspan of up to 6 feet. The "monster bird" version in the movie is much bigger.
* NonIndicativeName: Neither the ''plesiosaurus'' nor the ''rhamphorhynchus'' are (technically speaking) dinosaurs. Also there is only one ''rhamphorhynchus'' in the movie.
* PinballProtagonist: The human characters wander around looking for dinosaurs, find them by accident, and the the dinosaurs are killed by other dinosaurs or a natural disaster without any contribution from the humans. The story would have ended the same, except for a lower body count, if they'd just evacuated the area after the first attacks and come back a week later.
* PrehistoricMonster: The ''plesiosaurus'' is pretty much mindlessly aggressive, as well as the ''rhamphorhynchus''.
* PteroSoarer: The real ''rhamphorhynchus'' wasn't nearly as gigantic as the one in the movie.
* RecycledInSpace: This film is pretty much what if ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' was made in Japan and had a giant ''plesiosaurus'' instead of a shark and a very funky soundtrack.

* TailSlap: Both the ''plesiosaurus'' and the ''rhamphporynchys'' keep their pimp tails strong, the former when it first reveals itself by whacking a man out of a boat, and the latter during its reveal attack on the beach by smacking several people during a fly-by.

* BehemothBattle: The plesiosaur and the rhamphorhynchus get into one at the film's climax.

* EyeScream: The rhamphorhynchus stabs out one of the plesiosaurus's eyes with its beak.
* HumanPopsicle: The eggs of the plesiosaurus and rhamphorhynchus were both frozen in an ice cave before they thawed and hatched.
* {{Kaiju}}: The real rhamphorhynchus had a wingspan of up to 6 feet. The "monster bird" version in the movie is much bigger.
* NonIndicativeName: Neither the plesiosaurus nor the rhamphorhynchus are (technically speaking) dinosaurs. Also there is only one rhamphorhynchus in the movie.

* PrehistoricMonster: The plesiosaurus is pretty much mindlessly aggressive, as well as the rhamphorhynchus.
* PteroSoarer: The real Rhamphorhynchus wasn't nearly as gigantic as the one in the movie.
* RecycledInSpace: This film is pretty much what if ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' was made in Japan and had a giant plesiosaurus instead of a shark and a very funky soundtrack.

* NonIndicativeName: Neither the plesiosaurus nor the rhamphorhynchus are (technically speaking) dinosaurs.

* RecycledInSpace: This film is pretty much what if ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' was made in Japan and had a giant plesiosaurus instead of a shark.

* SoundtrackDissonance The movie's score is almost entirely disco, and what isn't is equally dissonant lounge music or pop songs.

* SoundtrackDissonance The movie's score is almost entirely disco, and what isn't is equally dissonant lounge music or pop songs.

* FollowTheLeader: Lifts whole scenes (as well as the same overall plot structure) from ''Film/{{Jaws}}.''

For the ''MysteryScienceTheater3000'' version, please go to the [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S0EK21LegendOfTheDinosaurs episode recap page]].

* SoundtrackDissonance The movie's score is almost entirely disco, and what isn't is equally dissonant lounge music or pop songs.

* FollowTheLeader: Lifts whole scenes from ''Film/{{Jaws}}.''

* SoundtrackDissonance The movie's score is almost entirely disco music.