Popular reviews

• 

  Review by Sally Jane Black

  With a little polish, this could have been a great film. Its premise--strangers try to prepare for impending nuclear attack in the middle of nowhere--is a rich one. From that, you could draw tension, compassion, and insight, and this film is hit and miss with all of those. What it lacks is a strong script and a formidable cast, more than anything else. While the look of it is lo-fi, that's not always a flaw. It could be used well to draw out the failings of these characters. Instead, it's just another part of the laundry list of flaws.

  The most egregious flaw is the characterization, which is a mixture of bad dialogue, bad acting, and bad writing. The performances…

• 

  Review by Brad Henderson ★★½

  This is definitely an interesting film especially during the time period. Humanity sucks now and it sucked then. Really dug the concept but it’s a little lackluster on its pacing and presentation. 3rd act kicks the film into high gear though but I imagine this was terrifying in the 60s.

• 

  Review by parkergehring ★★

  This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

  Another film for defunding the police.

  Watch the Twilight Zone episode with the same plot instead.

• 

  Review by Zach in Black ★★½

  Decent zero-budget Cold War paranoia flick that only gets interesting in the last 15 minutes, but remains watchable throughout. Lots of plot strands go nowhere so we can stick to the point of view of a cop who spends most of the running time being a shithead (not much has changed since 1962...). Would've been better if the supporting cast had any real characterization or were played by more capable actors.

• 

  Review by Paul D ★½

  A group of individuals travelling a mountain road are stopped by a cop who has been instructed to block the road because of, it eventually turns out, impending nuclear war. The idea being that when the populace find out what's happening they will panic and block all the roads which need to be kept free for the emergency services.

  That's all very well except that on this remote road he's stopping what little traffic there is from heading in both directions. It's a strange kind of road which leads to the same place no matter in which direction you travel it.

  These 8 people, for the most part, subject themselves meekly to the will of this one policeman who orders…

• 

  Review by Lencho of the Apes ★★½

  Another Cuban Missile Crisis panic attack, the last seventy-two minutes of LifeAsWeKnowIt before the bombs start falling. But it's cheaper, more ill-made and more poorly written than the one or two others I've seen in this exact niche, it's just da worst. The Highway Patrolman who takes charge of the situation was such a flaming authoritarian asshole that today, this reads like "it doesn't matter about the war because the totalitarians have already taken over," but I'm pretty sure that wasn't their intention, the creative team were just slavishly devoted to the idea that authority figures were automatically righteous in ways that civilians couldn't equal.

• 

  Review by Suzette Payne ★ 2

  This movie had more loose plot threads than Threads. Plus, after spending an hour with the characters, you’d think I’d want them to succeed and survive, but they were all so bland or stereotypical that I was almost apathetic.

• 

  Review by kenko14 ★★½

  This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

  I literally thought they would come out and say it was a test at the end to have a “gotcha” moment. So I guess I was shocked by the ending.  Found myself laughing at a lot of this and disturbed by a fair amount as well.

• 

  Review by Dustin Baker ★★½

  For a cheapo, hastily shot public domain movie, there are quite a handful of haunting moments here. By leaving the big elements up to the imagination while the varied characters play out their drama, it brings across a feeling of despair that I don't see very often. The movie slowly comes to a crawl as it begins to plod the longer it runs before picking up again in the final moments, but for what it does manage to accomplish is worth noting.

• 

  Review by Paul Senior ★★

  A lone cop stops a group of random vehicles on the highway during a nuclear attack. It plays out like a Twilight Zone episode, minus the assured writing of Rod Serling.

  72 minutes of cliched characters bickering while the world blows up offscreen, it suffers from a mixed bag of acting and virtually no budget. The primitive direction doesn't help either.

  Despite the limitations it's almost watchable, if a little on the low rent side.

  Film #31 of 2021.

• 

  Review by eddie ★★★½

  like a warm bath. the z-movie Kiss Me Deadly in how a looming nuclear threat teases out human depravity. a tight 70 minutes of hanging out with a bunch of misfits who want to get drunk and make out before they die, as the hard nosed, lumbering cop tries to wrangle them all into a truck. featuring one of the least believable but most amusing portrayals of an early 60s beat/hipster, who can draw out a phrase like "what's goin on, pops" over 8 seconds. a very cynical read on the unpreparedness of people in crisis, despite the constant drilling testing of the era. ends on a rightfully dour note with the introduction of unnamed looters who deliver late-game exposition about the world outside of this film's two locations. very effectively cut together, with some clever staging and camerawork despite the obviously limited resources. all cops are bozos.

• 

  Review by Rick D ★½

  A scary look at the world of 1962.

  A police officer creates a roadblock at 4am on a seemingly deserted road. Why? No idea at first.

  A unique group of people are pulled over and ordered out of their vehicles.

  Finally, the word is given that a red alert is in progress and that missiles have been launched at the US.

  What do the people do? Will they listen to authority or panic?

  Not alot happens in this one. Really about the tensions and attitudes of the people as doom is evident.