The Day the World Ended

Thought I’d never find this weird movie again! But Amazon had everything I guess :)

OLD SCI FI MOVIE THAT WAS A LITTLE MORE CAMPY THAN I REMEMBER BUT ENJOYABLE ANYWAY

I have yet to see the original The Day the World Ended, directed by Roger Corman and released in 1955 by American International Pictures (AIP), but I did get a chance to see this 2001 feature of the same title...I wouldn't necessarily call it a remake as in reading the synopsis of the original movie apparently it dealt with survivors living in a post apocalyptic holocaust, forced to fend for themselves against a fleshy headed mutant...this updated, made for cable version features none of that...directed by Terence Gross (Hotel Splendide), the film stars Nastassja Kinski (Cat People, Unfaithfully Yours) and Randy `Cousin Eddie' Quaid (Vacation, Kingpin). Also appearing is Bobby Edner (Haunted Lighthouse, Welcome to Paradise), Harry Groener (Road to Perdition), Lee de Broux (Pumpkinhead), Debra Christofferson (Mousehunt), Neil Vipond (Phobia), and Stephen `Ned the Head' Tobolowsky (Basic Instinct, Sneakers, Groundhog Day). Kinski plays Dr. Jennifer Stillman, a therapist and native New Yorker who's recently taken a position working for a school district in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in a small town called Sierra Vista. Upon arrival she finds she has her work cut out for her as she meets Ben McCann (Edner), the adoptive son of the town's doctor Michael McCann (Quaid). Seems most of the residents of the town, especially the children, regard Ben as some kind of freak (they're not too far off as it turns out Ben does possess some spooky, freaky deaky mind powers). Ben's mother, before she died, claimed Ben's father was from outer space, and Ben believes someday he'll return and take Ben away (I sort of suspect mom was pretty promiscuous, and told her son this only because she probably couldn't say for sure who his real father was...). As Stillman begins rooting around in Ben's past, the townspeople get edgy (seems certain individuals have something to hide), and soon we see the arrival of an entity from space, something large, squishy, and covered with hurty tentacles which it uses to rip peoples faces off, quite deftly, I might add. As the townspeople mobilize into an armed posse to scour the wooded areas for the killer (the body count is on the rise), Stillman continue her prying ways, and Ben's repressed memories start coming forth, indicating perhaps those recently slaughtered may have all been a apart of something that happened not too long ago involving the death of Ben's mother. Eventually various truths are revealed, along with a few more individuals de-brained (aliens sure seem to like them juicy noggins), as the good (and not so good) folks of Sierra Vista learn the hard way the past, while buried, isn't necessarily gone. In and of itself this film was pretty decent, with a seemingly good amount of effort from most involved. The main bone I have to pick with the movie is while it shares a title with his predecessor releases some fifty years prior, that's about all it shares. None of the original story, as I understand it, has remained intact, and given the story that was used, it didn't really tie in with the title all that well making me wonder what was the point in even keeping the title? A more appropriate title might have been The Day the World Ended for One Particular Little Boy. The film does pay homage to that which had been released before in one, small way, as at one point Ben and his adoptive father are watching the original Roger Corman feature on television. Thanks for throwing us that meager bone...ah well...the story was kind of fun I suppose, but really, it didn't offer up any surprises because most of it I'd already seen in some format or other (the `twist' element reminded me a lot of story featured in the Twilight Zone movie released in 1983). I thought most of the performers competent and capable enough, but there seemed a lack of strength, particularly because there wasn't a solid lead actor (most of the performers were of the character actor variety, including Quaid). Ms. Kinski did well, but I thought she was slightly miscast in the role, as I just found it hard to buy off on this obviously metropolitan oriented individual taking a job across the country in some bumf**k, backwater mountain community for no, proper reason. Did she lose a bet? Was she doing it for kicks? Maybe she just wanted to see how the other half lived. Despite the issues mentioned (some of them fairly major, from my standpoint), the movie still comes off reasonably well. The creature effects, provided by Stan Winston, were professional as the monster really did look like something from a 1950s science fiction movie, only instead of a guy in a rubber suit, it looked someone had taken that idea and given the technology at hand, created a real, living, breathing monster. I did get a little annoyed with the character of the kid, especially once the killing starts and he never shuts up about the creature being his father and how he was the only one who truly understood it and all. I'll tell you what, if'n I were that kid, once I got a look at the ugly, slavering beast I wouldn't have been as willing to go around telling everyone it was my father. Had it been up to me, I probably would have sent the kid into the woods to be with his `father'...have fun, squirt, and don't forget to send us a postcard from whatever crab nebula you end up in...I did like the `conspiratorial' aspect of the story, and I kept hoping it would result in a bigger payoff, but we got what we got. All in all I thought this not an outstanding feature, but slightly better than average, and worth a look if you enjoy science fiction tinged with horror...just don't expect something along the lines of the original feature (again, which I have yet to see, but given the synopsis I've read, the two have little in common). The picture, provided in both fullscreen and anamorphic widescreen, looks decent enough, and the audio, available in both Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Surround, comes across well. Extras include a `making of' featurette, a fairly large photo gallery, filmographies, a creature effects commentary with Stan Winston and Shane Mahan, subtitles in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Thai, Chinese, and Korean, and trailers for other DVD releases like Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), Night of the Living Dead (1990), and The Blob (1988), the last tentatively scheduled for big screen remake in 2007. Cookieman108

I wish movie makers today would refrain from using titles of sci-fi classics in their DUD of a movie. The title has NOTHING to do with the sci-fi classic movie. Second, it'a a BAD RIP OFF of a classic Twilight Zone episode. Third, the "acting" is BEYOND AWFUL!. Avoid this movie!

Had seen once long time ago and still isn't into stream prime or anywhere else. Worth watching. Sometimes small town is no good much as big town.

Small-town intrigue, suspense and mystery.

Love these creature feature remakes (kinda remake). You have to listen to the commentary to understand how the idea of remake fits in. I have 2 of the other creature feature movies She Creature and Earth vs. the Spider both very enjoyable

I looked for this movie for a very long time!!!