AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Cleveronix A different way of telling a story

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

rodrig58 Simple and effective. Without too much expense, no damages, no special effects and just a few actors. A credible story that can happen anytime. Kathleen Quinlan(remember her in"American Graffiti" ?) and Verna Bloom(Mary, Mother of Jesus in "The Last Temptation of Christ") are very natural. (both played with Telly Savalas in two different episodes of "Kojak"). All the other actors are good. Peter Graves's best role. I say this because of the final scene, when he says how much he loved his wife. John Llewellyn Moxey did a good job with minimal means. Even the rabid dogs played well under his direction. He made many successful TV series and TV films, including some that have enjoyed my childhood and my adolescence: "The Avengers," "The Saint," "Mission: Impossible" (the original series of the '60s-'70s , not those forgery with Tom Cruise), "Mannix", "Charlie's Angels", "Miami Vice".

bnwfilmbuff Made-for-TV apocalyptic film following a family that while vacationing in the California mountains their friend that is with them suddenly gets ill, dies, and turns to powder. The remainder of the film follows their struggle to get back home to Malibu where Jay W. MacIntosh, in the role of the mother/wife, has returned. Along the way father Peter Graves queries son Michael James-Wixted, a physics student, to try to determine what has exterminated most of the population and why they haven't been affected. Nothing too out-of the-ordinary happens in this. Kathleen Quinlan in the role of the daughter does some occasional narration which doesn't add much. One interesting aspect is that dogs have become particularly menacing. There is an obvious Biblical theme to this movie that never gets explored and might have made this a bit more interesting. Despite being cliché it's pretty well done for a made-for-TV.

noone9999999999 I am amazed at the number of people who were disturbed by this movie at a young age. I am one of them, but I've always contributed the feeling of dread and despair this movie left me with to my tendency to worry about everything. I'm glad I'm not alone! I saw the movie at age 11 the first time and it stayed with me in a bad way for a very long time. I ran across the title channel surfing today and thought 'OMG, it's THAT movie!' So, of course I had to watch it. I was curious to see if it would have the same affect on me at 46. It truly does get to you, but I did not experience the fear of doom that I felt at 11! I would recommend it to older viewers, but not to the impressionable. I gave it a 10 for sheer impact. The director obviously did something right.

Poseidon-3 Made during the era of classic made for TV movies when curious, unusual stories could be presented within an abbreviated running time, this one is fondly remembered by a certain generation. Graves plays a man on a fossil-finding trip in the mountains of California with his wife, two children and an aide. His wife is called home on business and then, while he and the kids are inside a cave, strange solar flares surge in the daytime sky. Shortly after, the aide begins to get seriously ill and Graves has no idea whether the earth has been exposed to radiation, nuclear attack or what! As the family treks home to reunite with Graves' wife, they see that people everywhere have died, leaving behind only their clothes and some sand-like substance inside them. Additionally, all the electricity has been knocked out and working vehicles are at a premium. Though they encounter the occasional survivor along the way, most of the population is no longer around, making for an eerie and fascinating scenario. Graves, who was in the midst of the hit series "Mission: Impossible" at the time, retains much of his staid manner, but clearly tries to inject some emotion and feeling into his role as well. Just seeing him in jeans alone is a shock, considering how smartly dressed he was in the bulk of his projects. O'Hanlon plays his son, conveniently a bit of a science geek, who helps figure out how to aide them in their trek home. Quinlan, in an early role, plays Graves' daughter and demonstrates a keen talent for emotional scenes and affability. Bloom, who has a memorable entry into the film, plays a wayward mother, in shock following the disaster. Wixted is a young boy who survives both the solar flares and an attack by some other refugee survivors. Willingham, who portrays the aide at the campsite, enacts an uncomfortably gruesome demonstration of the effects of the phenomenon. Not content to be merely a sci-fi action film or mystery, the writers strive to examine the human reaction to the incidents. There's a stark quality to the movie (some of which was surely necessitated by the budget), which gives it a forlorn, apocalyptic feeling. It also manages to present anger-affected dogs as a memorable and tangible threat. There are some pat situations and conveniences present, of course, and some trite dialogue, but overall it's a compelling and concise piece of entertainment.