The second in the self-generating ‘Apes series’ (see: cinematic terms onlt Roddy McDowall ever uses), this is top drawer weirdness, with James Franciscus sent after old Hesto, and finding instead an underground community of scary telepathic bomb-worshippers. Top flight set design once more (great on-the-cheap scenes of ruined Washington monuments), and a generally less actiony, more spooky atmosphere – lots of creeping round underground chambers to a dissonant electronic score, and *that* off-tune version of All Things Bright and Beautiful never fails to disturb. Plus at the end, he really *does* blow it all up. Not that that stopped the franchise from struggling ever more desperately on.
