BAD MOVIES (the day after)

[kyle dusty]

i like bad movies..not bad spelling..o.k. PLAGUE damn it!!(it was late) THE DAY AFTER was a really bad movie(just really bad)...my vote for most depressing ending too.NUKES

[Abby]

Actually, I bought a used copy of this recently -- and I laughed my onion off. I remember when this aired, it seemed all dark and creepy, but it's really pretty cheesy to watch now.

I'd love to see that AmeriKa made-for-TV disaster again -- it aired about a year or so later. It was about what would happen if the USSR took control of America -- and boy was it funny. Gotta love the Reagan years.

[Squishy]

"The Day After" was all hype, no substance. I saw its premiere amongst a group of college students in a dorm basement, and there was a lot of weeping and gnashing of teeth and speeches about "doing something" to "stop the madness," but a week later the entire hoo-hah--movie included--was forgotten. In fact, all I remember about the stupid thing is (1) children's skeletons are apparently a lot denser than the metal desks in which the kids are seated, and (2) Carl Sagan appeared on a follow-up program and said, "blah blah blah blah blah." Pap like "Testament," "The Fire Next Time," "Atomic Train," and "Special Bulletin" are relative classics compared to "The Day After." Hell, next to "Day," "Five" is a freaking masterpiece. Doomsday never seemed so boring.

[Steve.]

The Day After was hyped to hell in the UK - it was a freakin turkey. The BBC did a far better job with a little made for tv movie called Threads.

[Flangepart]

I saw Threads! It did for me, what The Day After was supposed to do. It got my attention because of its average person approach to the event. The problim with star filled movies, you know enough about the stars  in real life, it can interfear with getting into some of the story worlds they inhabit, for the short time of only two hours. "Jason Robards as...." well, good actor, even in Day after...but his billing reminded me, this is only a movie. On the other hand, Steve, Threads did not have that problim for me, and the realistic approach to the horror got to me. As it should. Were the stars in Threads familure to you? Anyway, Threads was the Scary story it intended to be, so if you guys want a keep you up all night film about "Sprouting Mushrooms", then this is the one.

[kyle dusty]

i remember seeing the day after when i was a kid and it scared the hell out of me.now it seems so goofy..but i can't imagine my parents making me watch that crap..too much for a little kid to take in..i remember being totally convinced that the bombs would be dropping any day now..yeah,right!Abby wrote:
>
> Actually, I bought a used copy of this recently -- and
> I laughed my onion off. I remember when this aired, it seemed
> all dark and creepy, but it's really pretty cheesy to watch
> now.
>
> I'd love to see that AmeriKa made-for-TV disaster again -- it
> aired about a year or so later. It was about what would
> happen if the USSR took control of America -- and boy was it
> funny. Gotta love the Reagan years.

[kyle dusty]

thats hilarious! the seriousness that was implied..the speach after the film sounds great!!what an ass whipping that must of been..

[Steve.]

Actually Mr. Flange they were just yer average bit-part tv performers - no "names" at all. The bit that freaked me (apart from the excellence of the actual bombs going off - remember just before they hit, that poor pregnant lass bursting into tears as she was decorating her baby-to-be's nursery?) was the final scenes - the survivors having to learn everything again- picking up the "threads" of a new life (or what was left of it.) An excellent little movie that proves what can be done with a bit of imagination.

[Abby]

To be a little uppity and weird ... in the 80's, children named "Nuclear War" as their greatest fear -- even over losing a parent (which had been the most popular child fear up until that point). Before the late 70's, the "duck and cover" myth had kept most average people from being completely petrified of nukes.

I was in sixth grade when Day After came out, and I KNOW I was super-creeped out by anything nuclear. Then the Soviet Union crumbled.

In the nineties, children said they were most afraid of being shot. Nuclear war didn't even crack the top five fears.

[kyle dusty]

yeah,who really cares about the nukes anymore..it sucks that some of us had to fear things like that back then..melting people,mushroom clouds,and post nuclear war shotgun deaths..

[Mofo Rising]

kyle  dusty wrote:
>
> yeah,who really cares about the nukes anymore..it sucks
> that some of us had to fear things like that back
> then..melting people,mushroom clouds,and post nuclear war
> shotgun deaths..

Yeah, glad we got that out of the way.  Nothing but smooth sailing from here.  Seriously, there are a lot of nuclear weapons floating around.  A lot of them reside in the seriously corrupt former Soviet Union.  Don't forget India and Pakistan are also nuclear powers now, too.  I think the nuclear hysteria has died down to a constant low-level paranoia for some and willfull ignorance for others.  Of course, if you really wanted to worry you could start reading up on biological warfare. . .

THE DAY AFTER was pretty boring.  I don't remember much about it.  It was referenced in BLOOM COUNTY.

The movie I remember from childhood was MIRACLE MILE, with Anthony Edwards as a man who receives a phone call informing him that the bombs are on the way.  He then has a couple of hours to find his girlfriend and get to a safe place as the entire city goes to hell.  I was impressed as a kid, and it wasn't too shabby the last time I saw it.

WHEN THE WIND BLOWS is another nuke movie.  It stars an animated, doddering old English couple.  I couldn't get into it at all, seeing as the old couple are serious idiots.  Everybody's dead, aren't you the least concerned?

I don't recall seeing any bleak future movies lately.  Have they gone out of style?

[Chadzilla]

The two things that impressed me the most about the movie were...

1.)  After Edwards receives the call and knows that nuclear extinction is only 70 minutes away the movie runs in real time.  I clocked it with a stop watch.

2.)  John Agar is in it!

Nifty we're all doomed thriller.

[Flangepart]

This one is in my list of "Never want to see it agine, but respect it immensley" I came in on it at a Marcon convention, in the movie room, and at half way through, felt compeled to watch it. The ending realy bummed me.....but i respect its take on the reality of such a situation. Gteat, now i can't get the sinking helocopter out of my head. Man! But, that was the films point all along, wasen't it?

[peter johnson]

I did a play in Burbank once with Robert DoQui, the guy who played the diner owner who pulls the gun to "calm" Anthony Edwards down.  Mr. DoQui also plays the gruff police captain in the first 2 ROBOCOP movies.  Actually, DoQui's being in the film was the reason I went to see it.
For a no-budget thriller, it really does work as a small film on a big topic.  Check out the La Brea tar-pits imagery & the Rip Torn drunken freakout on the roof at the end.  Also the missle tracks across the sky were well-done & creepy & NOT CGI!!  A change I would have made:  Stick with the original crew in the diner & make it more of an "Iceman Cometh"/"Lifeboat" sort of ensemble piece.  This could be easily remade.

[Chris]

I remembers The Day After it scared me too when the bombs when off and every body was skeleltons.. But now I a little happy that never happens or it will we will never knows.