89 reviews
A Truly Frightening Monster
- crittercat
- Apr 13, 2005
- Permalink
Good entertainment
This science fiction tale of doom and gloom was one of the earliest from Roger Corman, who produced and directed. While at times being a bit slow and predictable, the film features some fine talent. It stars Richard Denning as the heroic scientist hero--a role he was certainly no stranger to performing, the lovely Lori Nelson as one of the atomic blast survivors-Louise Maddison who is as far as the two leading men(Rick & Tony-played by Mike 'Touch' Connors)in the cast and even the mutant monster in the film are concerned the most desirable woman alive as far as they know. The Mutant Monster is another Paul Blaisdell brought to life on screen by Blaisdell himself. Despite looking a bit rubbery, it does have a real menace about it. Mike Connors is decidedly unsympathetic and uncaring as the two-bit hood Tony(who only wants to take and is concerned only for satisfying his own twisted desires). Paul Birch and Adele Jergens are also quite good as Maddisson(the concerned father who tries to maintain the safety of the group and fend off Tony) and Ruby(Tony's loyal kind-hearted girlfriend with a shady past). For a low budget film effort, this one is really quite good.
- Space_Mafune
- Nov 6, 2002
- Permalink
One of Corman's better movies
The Day the World Ended deals with The End of the World...not the one prophesied in the Book of Revelation, but the one popular with Hollywood. After all, if Christ returns for His own, how can you make a movie on the Millennial Kingdom?
"Day" is one of Roger Corman's first forays into low-tech, low-budget science fiction movies. His first effort is commendable; if only he had remembered his lessons when he made some of his more notable bombs. A Navy vet and his daughter are living in a home protected by a plot contrivance - it's basically sheltered from radiation from the surrounding mountains. Hills, mind you, that deadly radiation cannot get over, but are easily traveled by an old man and his burro.
Beyond that, it is an intriguing story of what happens when a little pocket of humanity survives mankind's worst nightmare. Mike "Touch" Connors does an interesting turn as a bad guy with a moll whose old enough to be his mother. Connors has the hots for the Navy vet's daughter, and would like to repopulate earth with her. Other stowaways include an archeologist and a man suffering from radiation poisoning. In this movie, radiation poisoning either kills you, turns you into a monster, or makes you look like Moe Howard.
Even with the end of the world, God is not left out. Notice that the Navy vet asks his daughter to marry the archeologist before they seek to restart humanity, as well as his later statement that, "I prayed and then I stopped worrying."
Sterno says "Day" is a great movie for a rainy Saturday afternoon.
"Day" is one of Roger Corman's first forays into low-tech, low-budget science fiction movies. His first effort is commendable; if only he had remembered his lessons when he made some of his more notable bombs. A Navy vet and his daughter are living in a home protected by a plot contrivance - it's basically sheltered from radiation from the surrounding mountains. Hills, mind you, that deadly radiation cannot get over, but are easily traveled by an old man and his burro.
Beyond that, it is an intriguing story of what happens when a little pocket of humanity survives mankind's worst nightmare. Mike "Touch" Connors does an interesting turn as a bad guy with a moll whose old enough to be his mother. Connors has the hots for the Navy vet's daughter, and would like to repopulate earth with her. Other stowaways include an archeologist and a man suffering from radiation poisoning. In this movie, radiation poisoning either kills you, turns you into a monster, or makes you look like Moe Howard.
Even with the end of the world, God is not left out. Notice that the Navy vet asks his daughter to marry the archeologist before they seek to restart humanity, as well as his later statement that, "I prayed and then I stopped worrying."
Sterno says "Day" is a great movie for a rainy Saturday afternoon.
Atmospheric, claustrophobic and creepy
The Day The World Ended was released by American Releasing Corporation, which soon would be known as American International Pictures. AIP became one of the most interesting film-making and releasing companies of all time, and The Day The World Ended is one of AIP's best horror/sci-fi efforts from the 1950's. The movie was also director Roger Corman's first effort in science fiction. This movie horrified me as a child with its nuclear doom, and its three-eyed monster with horns and pointed ears. As an adult I find I am still very fond of this movie. Upon my recent screening I have realized what an exceptional acting job Lori Nelson does as she plays Louise. Her facial expressions are perfect as she plays the different emotions her character goes through. Paul Birch plays her father, Jim Maddison. He's a man who is most gloomy over the aftermath of the (offscreen) nuclear war, and under the pressure of running his household with the uninvited survivors who show up. Richard Denning plays Rick, one of the survivors of the atomic bombings who shows up carrying a man named Radek (Paul Dubov.) Rick soon becomes involved with Louise, while Radek, contaminated with nuclear poisoning is not only beginning to lose his mind but his body is becoming mutated as well. Mike Connors (billed here as Touch Connors) and Adele Jergens also show up at the house in the valley which escaped the nuclear doom. They play Tony and Ruby; a couple who certainly have their problems. Tony is a bickering thug, and Ruby is a striptease dancer who's too good to be bad and too bad to be good. The problems increase for the couple when Tony seems to have Louise on his mind constantly. Also retreating to the house is an old timer named Pete (well played by Raymond Hatton) with his burro. The movie then shows the interactions, problems and emotions of the characters as they try to survive in the limited space of their post-atomic world. There is also discovered a mutation from the radioactive war lurking closer and closer to the house as time goes by. The Day The World Ended is a low-budget movie, and uses that low-budget to accomplish some good results. The only indoor setting is the house, which seems claustrophobic with the survivors. The limited, radioactive-free area of the outside world is atmospheric; especially the pond where Louise gets spooked while swimming with Ruby, and the night woods. The hills surrounding the house are covered with a radioactive haze, which adds nicely to the atmosphere and feeling of claustrophobia. The sci-fi music is creepy, and the beginning credits roll in a fashion that adds a nice touch. Ruby seems to have her own theme with the grind-instrumental record she plays while passing time in the house. There's a hint of ESP in the movie as the three-eyed mutant (possibly Louise's fiance', who was believed to have been killed when the atomic bombs exploded) seems to be making contact with Louise. Louise claims the mutant talks to her at times. The mutant (created and played by monster-maker Paul Blaisdell) often disappoints viewers. I still find the mutant to be sheer ugliness although I no longer cover my eyes as I did when I was a child (LOL.) The Day The World Ended is a fine and interesting low-budget movie with a serious, but somewhat unrealistic approach to nuclear horrors. I still find this to be a gem of a movie.
The New Adams And Eves
If you were to pick folks to hopefully populate the world again as the new Adams and Eves the group from Day The World Ended would not be selected as a typical gene pool. But they are an interesting crew to entertain us for 79 minutes in a typical Roger Corman low budget film.
This futuristic look after the Apocalypse was shot on a shoestring and it shows, but Corman was a master at stretching things. A valley where Paul Birch and his daughter Lori Nelson have their ranch seems to have escaped the holocaust and some folks have arrived there for shelter that include an escaped convict Michael Connors and his moll stripper Adele Jergens, geologist Richard Denning, old prospector Raymond Hatton, and a strange man who has a taste for the radiated flesh of the dead animals around played by Paul Dubov.
Birch has a lot of supplies stored away probably he would be considered a survivalist today, but this is not a crew to think of the larger picture. Both Connors and Denning make a play for Nelson and Jergens is feeling rather frustrated. And there are some nasty mutant beings hanging around, but strangely not entering the valley.
Day The World Ended is a bit better than some of the low budget science fiction from the Fifties. The characters if not original are indeed entertaining.
Roger Corman could stretch a dollar better than most.
This futuristic look after the Apocalypse was shot on a shoestring and it shows, but Corman was a master at stretching things. A valley where Paul Birch and his daughter Lori Nelson have their ranch seems to have escaped the holocaust and some folks have arrived there for shelter that include an escaped convict Michael Connors and his moll stripper Adele Jergens, geologist Richard Denning, old prospector Raymond Hatton, and a strange man who has a taste for the radiated flesh of the dead animals around played by Paul Dubov.
Birch has a lot of supplies stored away probably he would be considered a survivalist today, but this is not a crew to think of the larger picture. Both Connors and Denning make a play for Nelson and Jergens is feeling rather frustrated. And there are some nasty mutant beings hanging around, but strangely not entering the valley.
Day The World Ended is a bit better than some of the low budget science fiction from the Fifties. The characters if not original are indeed entertaining.
Roger Corman could stretch a dollar better than most.
- bkoganbing
- Oct 19, 2010
- Permalink
See It in Widescreen!
This film was recently televised on AMC in 2:35 Superscope, and if you've seen it before (like me), you've missed almost half the picture. The wide photography opens up the film considerably, in the mountains, at the lake, even in the house. The film is eerie, with creepy music and atmosphere, but monster costume at the end disappoints. Yet director Roger Corman wisely keeps the creature offscreen most of the time, effectively using sounds, shadows, and blurred camerawork in this end-of-the world thriller. Lori Nelson is lovingly photographed, playing the comely daughter of Navy vet Paul Birch. It's odd that all the seven survivors gather at once in the beginning of the film, including Richard Denning as (conveniently) a geologist, Adele Jergens (excellent) as a stripper and Mike Connors her punky boyfriend. The film is not uninteresting, and I wonder whether the creature is actually Nelson's transformed boyfriend, since she claims he keeps calling her by name. Worth seeing, but ONLY in widescreen.
Strippers have rights too!
Missing a scene??
Seeing this film many years ago and now owning the NA-VHS release I recall an additional scene where the Navy vet father tells the Geologist that there is a LUGER with a snail drum in the house and to rescue his daughter with it. He loads up and wounds the mutant and rescues her. My VHS does not have this scene, does anyone remember it also??? Otherwise the film is intact and my comments are that this is still effective for its time but not as good as Panic in Year Zero, which is still the best of the nuclear nightmare flicks and its effect on people and the breakdown of society. Overall 7 rating,noted for atmospheric effects and the moll is great!
- Mark_Marcon
- Feb 13, 2005
- Permalink
About Time The Film Ended.
A world of unimaginable horror awaits seven survivors of a global nuclear war; an hour and nineteen minutes of tedium awaits anyone who decides to watch this lame Roger Corman post-apocalyptic quickie.
Corman's first crack at sci-fi/horror is heavy on the yak-yak-yakking and light on mutated monster action, making it strictly dullsville for most of the running time. The film's clichéd characters include alpha male Rick (Richard Denning), innocent eye-candy Louise Maddison (Lori nelson) and her concerned father Jim (Paul Birch), reprehensible low-life Tony Lamont (Mike Connors), past-her-prime stripper Ruby (Adele Jergens), irradiated Radek (Paul Dubov), and an old-timer prospector so clichéd that he's called Pete (just like in Toy Story). The intended tension between these characters is actually quite boring, leaving one longing for the unseen threat lurking in the bushes to make itself seen.
Unfortunately, when the film's scaly creature finally shows its face, it's one of the most ridiculous and consequently unscary monsters to ever grace a low-budget B-movie. Three eyes, pointy ears, horns, fangs, scaly skin, hook nose, claws, and strange appendages attached to its shoulders, it's like Corman threw half a dozen creature designs into a blender, and then spent less than ten bucks on realising the resultant mess.
3.5/10, generously rounded up to 4 for Jim's hilarious child-like sketches of mutated animals, and for Ruby's impressive death scene, the poor woman thrown off the top of a cliff, her 'body' actually looking like it has some weight and realistic movement to it (unlike the rigid-limbed store mannequin usually used for such scenes).
Corman's first crack at sci-fi/horror is heavy on the yak-yak-yakking and light on mutated monster action, making it strictly dullsville for most of the running time. The film's clichéd characters include alpha male Rick (Richard Denning), innocent eye-candy Louise Maddison (Lori nelson) and her concerned father Jim (Paul Birch), reprehensible low-life Tony Lamont (Mike Connors), past-her-prime stripper Ruby (Adele Jergens), irradiated Radek (Paul Dubov), and an old-timer prospector so clichéd that he's called Pete (just like in Toy Story). The intended tension between these characters is actually quite boring, leaving one longing for the unseen threat lurking in the bushes to make itself seen.
Unfortunately, when the film's scaly creature finally shows its face, it's one of the most ridiculous and consequently unscary monsters to ever grace a low-budget B-movie. Three eyes, pointy ears, horns, fangs, scaly skin, hook nose, claws, and strange appendages attached to its shoulders, it's like Corman threw half a dozen creature designs into a blender, and then spent less than ten bucks on realising the resultant mess.
3.5/10, generously rounded up to 4 for Jim's hilarious child-like sketches of mutated animals, and for Ruby's impressive death scene, the poor woman thrown off the top of a cliff, her 'body' actually looking like it has some weight and realistic movement to it (unlike the rigid-limbed store mannequin usually used for such scenes).
- BA_Harrison
- Feb 28, 2021
- Permalink
Nice gem from Roger Corman
Curtains for the Human Race
- junk-monkey
- Jun 7, 2008
- Permalink
Roger Corman's extremely solid & engrossing 50's sci-fi end-of-the-world debut feature
- Woodyanders
- Apr 12, 2006
- Permalink
Low budget used to good effect
Day the World Ended (1955) was the fourth film directed by Roger Corman. The events take place after an atomic war has destroyed human civilization.
Some of the acting performances were excellent such as Lori Nelson (also Revenge of the Creature) playing the part of Louise. Her facial expressions convey very well the different emotions her character experiences.
Adele Jergens who plays Ruby gives a standout performance as a burlesque / striptease performer who is a bit past her prime and who is rejected by her companion Tony, the small time hood. She's rough around the edges but her heart is in the right place and we feel for her in her drunken grief.
Richard Denning (Target Earth, The Creature from the Black Lagoon & Creature with the Atom Brain) plays the rational scientist hero effortlessly in this and other films.
Mike Connors (TV's Mannix) is perfect as the ruthless uncaring and completely unsympathetic small - time hood, Tony who is only interested in satisfying his own selfish desires.
Convincing performances are also given by Paul Birch (Beast with a Million Eyes & Not of This Earth) who plays Jim Maddison, the decisive authority figure, as well as by Raymond Hatton, the old timer gold prospector, Pete who seems to have ambled onto the set with his mule fresh from a western movie!
Apart from the good acting performances, the film's main strength lies in its portrayal of the interactions, conflicts and emotions of the characters as they try to survive within the limited confines of their post-atomic world.
The Day The World Ended uses its low-budget to good effect with its limited, confining and almost claustrophobic setting.
Some of the acting performances were excellent such as Lori Nelson (also Revenge of the Creature) playing the part of Louise. Her facial expressions convey very well the different emotions her character experiences.
Adele Jergens who plays Ruby gives a standout performance as a burlesque / striptease performer who is a bit past her prime and who is rejected by her companion Tony, the small time hood. She's rough around the edges but her heart is in the right place and we feel for her in her drunken grief.
Richard Denning (Target Earth, The Creature from the Black Lagoon & Creature with the Atom Brain) plays the rational scientist hero effortlessly in this and other films.
Mike Connors (TV's Mannix) is perfect as the ruthless uncaring and completely unsympathetic small - time hood, Tony who is only interested in satisfying his own selfish desires.
Convincing performances are also given by Paul Birch (Beast with a Million Eyes & Not of This Earth) who plays Jim Maddison, the decisive authority figure, as well as by Raymond Hatton, the old timer gold prospector, Pete who seems to have ambled onto the set with his mule fresh from a western movie!
Apart from the good acting performances, the film's main strength lies in its portrayal of the interactions, conflicts and emotions of the characters as they try to survive within the limited confines of their post-atomic world.
The Day The World Ended uses its low-budget to good effect with its limited, confining and almost claustrophobic setting.
- christopouloschris-58388
- Jun 30, 2019
- Permalink
Trying to live after an H-bomb.
A group of seven people fear they are the only survivors of a near world ending H-bomb blast. Not only do they fear the radiation, but also mutants in the surrounding hillside. One of the group is already contaminated, but strangely poses no real threat to the others. Just surviving the friction of assorted personalities at close range is the sub-plot. Richard Denning plays the hero. Mike Connors is close to the edge playing a tough guy. Lori Nelson is the girl destined to start populating a brave new world. Not one of director Roger Corman's best. This is predictable black and white sci-fi.
- michaelRokeefe
- Oct 21, 1999
- Permalink
A rather creepy B-movie
- chris_gaskin123
- Feb 26, 2002
- Permalink
Total Garbage
I swore that I would never watch another Roger Corman disaster but I keep doing it.Basically because directors are meaningless to me.Well they were but now Corman is on my radar as one to avoid.Corman consistently fails on every level and it's amazing that anyone would let him make a movie.This movie starts with a nuclear war destroying most of the world.A handful of people have survived and they somehow all make it to the only "safe" place in the world.It's mostly just extremely tight shots of people walking down the same path over and over.Not to mention the atrocious acting.We are supposed to believe that the woman who shows up can not only fit into the other woman's clothes but they fit her perfectly and are in her style,not the style of the girl who lives there.And even though there are no utility companies left, they have electricity and water.They like to use the electricity to listen to burlesque music that always just goes away without anyone turning it off.When the main guy decides that they need to repopulate, he tells his daughter that since he was a ship captain he can marry people in an emergency.Which brings up so many questions.First of all I don't think it's true but he was a retired captain.They can perform marriages after they quit being a captain?Why does it matter if the are married?Especially if there's no law or government?Couldn't anyone perform a marriage if there's only seven people on the planet?I could rip this movie apart line by line but I won't.It's total trash that should never be seen.Although I must admit that the monster looks cool, we only see him for a short time and nothing about him makes sense.Never see this.
"There's no such thing as logic anymore."
Fun Roger Corman flick about a small group of people who survived a nuclear war only to be in danger from a monster. The survivors are a geologist (Richard Denning), a guy with a Moe Howard haircut who suffered radiation burns (Paul Dubov), a hotheaded hoodlum (Mike Connors) and his stripper girlfriend (Adele Jergens), an old prospector (Raymond Hatton), and a father (Paul Birch) and his daughter (Lori Nelson). They spend most of the movie hanging around Birch's house talking, fighting, and lusting after Nelson, but it's not as boring as it sounds. The characters are pretty one-note but the actors are able to keep them interesting enough. The monster is courtesy of Paul Blaisdell. It's a pretty kooky-looking creature. This is a low budget movie so don't expect much from the effects or production values. But there's a charm to it, as with many of Corman's early films, that I find hard to resist.
Lot's of Talking....
I'm not inheritantly against a movie containing a lot of dialogue, but this film is ridiculous. Seven nuclear fall out survivors all miraculously show up at a house spared by the devastation because of surrounding hills. Once everyone has settled in they talk and talk and talk...... And well, nothing much ever happens. I understand people having memories of watching this film as a child, or whatever, but that doesn't make this a good movie. The technical and make up FX are spaced so far apart, they're almost no existent. And as far as excessive dialogue in a film, at least write in a way that keeps viewers interested: The dialogue is simply stilted and uninteresting. I guess if you saw this in a theatre on a Saturday afternoon when you were twelve you might have fond memories of it. Otherwise, I don't for the life of me understand what the appeal of this film is besides it being made by Corman.
Scared the hell out of me.
When you are a kid in the "atomic decade" (1950's), you grow up knowing that anything that will kill you and cause you a lot of pain and agony in the process, is a mutant monster caused by an overdose of atomic radiation. This movie added to the fear. The movie poster art for this film added to prep-fear. I have seen this movie again as an adult and thought the mutant monster was funny due to the crude costume. However, due to the impact that it had on me as a kid, I have to give it above average marks.
Based entirely on scientific fact....or not.
- planktonrules
- Sep 30, 2010
- Permalink
Silly but entertaining early post-apocalypse yarn from Roger Corman
After a devastating nuclear war (in 1970), a disparate group of survivors find themselves threatened by mutations. Roger Croman's earliest science fiction film is an entertaining, low-budget B-movie and was one of the first to depict life after the apocalypse. The 'science' in the fiction borders on ludicrous, especially the discussions of evolution and the convenient logic that something that thrives on corruption would be killed by purity, but serves to rationalise the presence of the 'monster' that studio expected (otherwise the film would be very similar to the boring 'Five' (1951)). The film opens with an ominous narration (voiced by Chet Huntley, soon to become a star newscaster on NBC's 'Huntley-Brinkley Report') describing the ruination of the world, and the cuts to Jim Maddison's (Paul Birch) home, which is located in a gully the serves as a natural fallout shelter where the entire film takes place. The cast is fine for an inexpensive genre-film and the beaked, horned, scaly three-eyed 'mutation' is one of Paul Blaisdell's more amusing creations (note the tiny pair of extra arms growing out of creature's shoulders). Typical of a Corman film, 'The Day World Ended' is pretty good for what it is and netted the studio a substantial profit. Pointlessly remade as the ultra-cheap 16mm 'In the Year 2889' (1969) by Larry Buchanan as part of A. I. P.'s deal to provide bargain-basement content for TV syndication.
- jamesrupert2014
- Feb 16, 2021
- Permalink
Decent sci-fi from Roger Corman
What a scary movie in 1955
I was 9 years old when I saw this movie. I was being "babysat" by a friend of our family while my parents were out of town and he took me to see this. Afterward, when I had gone to bed, he went outside, and scratched on the window of my room, I looked and he flashed a flash light under his face and he had some sort of masking tape and tree bushes on his face...Jeezeus Keehriest! He scared the crap out of me. So, this film always stuck in my mind.
I loved the music...very, very creepy and well timed. The monster, though stupid by modern standards, was all the rage in it's day.I remember the screams in the theater when it was first seen full view.
The story was rather frightening for the era, too. We all were thinking quite a lot about nuclear war happening to us right at home. People were really building bomb shelters int heir backyards...or had "escape kits" pre-loaded in their station wagons. Yes. It really was that bad.
I believe this film would be well worth re-watching, although, I have only seen it once again since I saw it on the big screen and the second showing it seemed a bit less spooky to me. But, the acting was good, the story was practical though of a totally unimaginable theme, and the monster, though rather "over the top", and a bit corny, was scary enough when combined with the well timed and creepy music.
I definitely would watch it again, just for the memories.
I loved the music...very, very creepy and well timed. The monster, though stupid by modern standards, was all the rage in it's day.I remember the screams in the theater when it was first seen full view.
The story was rather frightening for the era, too. We all were thinking quite a lot about nuclear war happening to us right at home. People were really building bomb shelters int heir backyards...or had "escape kits" pre-loaded in their station wagons. Yes. It really was that bad.
I believe this film would be well worth re-watching, although, I have only seen it once again since I saw it on the big screen and the second showing it seemed a bit less spooky to me. But, the acting was good, the story was practical though of a totally unimaginable theme, and the monster, though rather "over the top", and a bit corny, was scary enough when combined with the well timed and creepy music.
I definitely would watch it again, just for the memories.
Enjoyable post-apocalypse flick.
The low budget sci-fi / horror / drama "Day the World Ended" is pretty good as Roger Cormans' low budget genre efforts go. It's well acted overall and well photographed; do try to see this in widescreen if you can. It's largely dependent on its acting and writing to carry it through a long stretch in which there's no real scary stuff. That's saved for the end. Corman is wise to keep his monster off screen until then, and fortunately when the reveal finally happens, the work by Paul Blaisdell ensures a fairly interesting creature, certainly better looking than, say, the thing in "It Conquered the Earth".
The movie features a decent ensemble cast with stolid, handsome Richard Denning ("Creature from the Black Lagoon") as the hero Rick, Mike Connors ('Mannix') as hot headed, creepy antagonist Tony, Paul Birch (Cormans' "Not of This Earth") as homeowner Jim Maddison, pretty Lori Nelson ("Revenge of the Creature") as Jims' nubile daughter Louise, sexy Adele Jergens ("Armored Car Robbery") as Tony's gal pal, Raymond Hatton ("The Hunchback of Notre Dame" '23) as aged gold hunter Pete, Paul Dubov ("Shock Corridor") as infected man Radek, and Corman regular Jonathan Haze as an unnamed victim. Blaisdell himself plays the monster.
The actors play a disparate group of people who gather at Jims' home after nuclear devastation has made most other places dangerous; Jim lives in a valley that offers some protection. They find that surviving is tough, but making things worse is Tony, who gets the hots for Louise. They also become concerned about the daytime activities of Radek, who frequently disappears into a contaminated area. And eventually the monster shows up...
Devotees of genre efforts from this decade and followers of Cormans' career should find this to be agreeable entertainment. Even though the scares only start coming toward the end, the filmmaker manages to keep you watching and involved. Certainly you wait hoping for the rotten Tony to get his comeuppance. There may be moments that inspire more laughter than anything, but taken as a whole the movie is fun.
Seven out of 10.
The movie features a decent ensemble cast with stolid, handsome Richard Denning ("Creature from the Black Lagoon") as the hero Rick, Mike Connors ('Mannix') as hot headed, creepy antagonist Tony, Paul Birch (Cormans' "Not of This Earth") as homeowner Jim Maddison, pretty Lori Nelson ("Revenge of the Creature") as Jims' nubile daughter Louise, sexy Adele Jergens ("Armored Car Robbery") as Tony's gal pal, Raymond Hatton ("The Hunchback of Notre Dame" '23) as aged gold hunter Pete, Paul Dubov ("Shock Corridor") as infected man Radek, and Corman regular Jonathan Haze as an unnamed victim. Blaisdell himself plays the monster.
The actors play a disparate group of people who gather at Jims' home after nuclear devastation has made most other places dangerous; Jim lives in a valley that offers some protection. They find that surviving is tough, but making things worse is Tony, who gets the hots for Louise. They also become concerned about the daytime activities of Radek, who frequently disappears into a contaminated area. And eventually the monster shows up...
Devotees of genre efforts from this decade and followers of Cormans' career should find this to be agreeable entertainment. Even though the scares only start coming toward the end, the filmmaker manages to keep you watching and involved. Certainly you wait hoping for the rotten Tony to get his comeuppance. There may be moments that inspire more laughter than anything, but taken as a whole the movie is fun.
Seven out of 10.
- Hey_Sweden
- Oct 13, 2013
- Permalink
Quickie doomsday product...
Seven survivors (and a sleepy mule!) of a nuclear disaster hole up in a California home and eventually begin to get on each other's nerves; meanwhile, a mutant monster borne from the radioactive fallout terrorizes the females. Hopefully, all the duck-tailed teenagers who went to see this tacky Roger Corman sci-fi in the theater had dates to neck with during the slow spots! The monster--who's afraid of water--isn't frightening at all...in fact, he's rather sympathetic. The humans are the ones I would want to avoid, including Mike "Touch" Connors as a tough-talking gangster so oily he puts Mario Puzo's Mafiosos to shame. Played to the rafters, but with such barren material it's hard to stay interested. * from ****
- moonspinner55
- May 20, 2011
- Permalink