Last Days of Planet Earth

[Paul Westbrook]

I have to agree with most of the other disappointed moviephiles out there that expected Godzilla to be the one that put a merciful end to that model, Japanese community. Instead, we are treated to plastic giant bats, and other Toho created monstrosities. yawn.

[Scotto]

Do yourself a favor and miss it, or suffer the *fate* of a masochist! (I can't believe this is currently airing on AMC).

[Mick Cantone]

The movie makes sense when you're drunk. It makes more sense when you're high on pot. It makes the most sense when you're trippin' balls. It's just eye candy. Turn the sound down, put on your favorite music, pick your favorite mind-altering chemical and enjoy the show.

[Noah Hopson-Walker]

I saw this late at night on TNT's '100% Weird'.  It was like a train wreck:you want to look away but you can't stop watching.  I finally turned it off after I saw the African Natives who looked like Japanese guys with body paint and 'fro wigs on.

[Chris K.]

This is a pretty good film. It supposidly was released in U.S. theatres as PROPHECIES OF NOSTRADAMUS, but it was later released on home video as THE LAST DAYS OF PLANET EARTH. I recently obtained a copy, but it was the horribly re-edited print released in EP mode thru Paramount Home Video (I really don't care if it was re-edited, but I think that Paramount has problems with releasing videos in bad EP copys). It was really a good film and totally thought provoking, but when Toho used stock footage destruction sequences from THE LAST WAR(1961) it made me wonder where the budget went to? But, it has been said that in the 1970's some films had huge budget restrictions in both the United States and foreign films as well. But, who can turn down a film from the company who brought us Godzilla? I can't!

[andromeda]

This airplane Not are a concorde but an SSTV, stratospheric airplane, if in an immaginary future many of this flyng, with an ozone hole into atmosphere need only 2 or 3 (explosion) to enlarge this or not?

[Paul Westbrook]

It's true. It's true. The prophecy depicted in this movie is true. If Toho keeps churning out this junk, then the world will end.

[J.K.]

For some reason, when I saw this on AMC, I thought it was pretty good. I love the music, for some reason, the music really touches me. I think if this film was re-made to today's standards, and rewritten just a tad, it could be pretty good. It would be nice to find a widescreen copy of this movie, but a full screen I really wouldn't mind either. The dubbing to English is horrible, but enjoyable. This is one of those kind of films, that is B-rated, yet still enjoyable to watch, like The Crawling Eye.

[David Silliman]

The film was banned in Japan when an Anti-nukes group complained. It was originally 114 minutes, but Toho's international version is 90 minutes and you can find it on the web with Dutch subs. Americans ALWAYS mutilate these films. The americanization or bastardization which is known as Last Days of Planet Earth has everything that makes sense and links everything is edited out.

[barry kaufman]

Out of curiosity, I searched Last Days of Planet Earth and badmovies.com was one of the first listings on the search engine. Badmovies.com is as superfluous and annoying as the Medveds' "Golden Turkey Awards". The type of criticism that approaches older, lower budget films as inferior and takes cinema completely out of cultural context.  Mostly a product of the film brat generation, which loves to label unworthy films as "cheesy"(I hate that word), yupster "bad movie" lovers wouldn't know an inspired film unless somebody else told them.

That being said, Last Days of Planet Earth is certainly a flawed film. But while it is clumsy at times, the oppressive atmosphere of dread and pessimism make this an oddly compelling piece. There are some impressive special effects (the chain reaction traffic jam explosion), and some not-so-impressive ones (the little girl who can jump 20 feet into the air). My main complaint is that the tacked on conclusion following the nuclear holocaust and grotesque radioactive mutant feeding frenzy is a cop-out.

Finally, the atrociously dubbed dialogue is the fault of domestic and/or UK distributors, and has nothing to do with the Japanese film as it was originally produced.

[grin]

There is one thing this movie teaches us.

If the Concorde ever explodes in midair it will destroy the Ozone Layer.

No really. Go run screaming from your homes! You must see this movie. As dumb and cheesey as it apears today, it's also quite good and artsy in parts. Chilling too.

No...wait.....yeah it was just bad.

[Steven]

It's one of those fun bad movies. It's horrible, yet, you can't stop watching it. I am even thinking about trying to find it, and buy it myself.

[minjofu]

As kooky as this film was, I remember catching the last part of it, the part with the little mutant people, at like 3 am one night.. well, I woke up to them on my television rather, and for some reason they creeped the ever loving crap out of me..

.. well, so did the monkey people at the beginning of 2001:ASO ..