THE DAY THE WORLD ENDED (us dvd)
stan winston's creture features

plot
New York City therapist Dr Jennifer Stilman (Nastassja Kinski) arrives in the small rural town of Sierra Vista as a school psychiatrist in the local elementary - despite the suspicion held on her by the inhabitants of the town. It soon becomes clear that the people are holding back a dark secret - tied in with the strange boy that Stilman befriends, who has been adopted by the town Doctor (Randy Quaid). Stilman swiftly finds herself torn between a terrifying monster and the unmentionable evil at the heart of the town's community...

dvd review

story
The last in the Creature Feature series, based on the old films of Sam Arkoff (who died last year). Its a fairly straightforward piece of B-movie fodder. Much more like the simple horror movies I remember watching on tv as a kid.

Kinski plays the semi-intelligent psychologist amongst a close-knit village of bumpkins and idiots, and befriends the boy who seems to be at the centre of the conspiracy - a boy who has been adopted after his mother was murdered, and who shows signs of strange powers - esp etc. The child is a fan of sci-fi B Movies (there's a couple of great shots of him watching the original Day the World Ended on the tv), and believes that his dad is an alien.

Something lands on Earth, in the village and starts killing off the locals involved in the conspiracy, whilst the child tries to find his father, and the outsider is left somewhat bewildered.

There are few moments of real terror or fear, and the make-up itself is over the top, and yet it fits in very well as a high-class reworking of B-movie material, making it slightly more contemporary and adult, whilst retaining its inspiration fondly. The kid is ok, and Randy Quaid is all right. Kinski's come a long way from her debut on Hammer's To The Devil A Daughter, and her performance is enthusiastic and sympathetic, but limited owing to the script material.

Production values are ok, but as with the rest of the series, much better suited to tv movie than cinema release, so the DVDs are probably hitting the market just right.

transfer
Visually, the transfer is ok - limited, but fair, with some colour problems notably with blacks. There is a choice of anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen or full-frame.

The sound is better - with choice of either 2.0 surround or a full 5.1 mix. Some of the special effect noises though, are a little unbelievable and naff.

Design
The cover fits in well with the rest of the Creature Feature range - adorned with blacks and bold lettering. Stylish to an extent. The menu screens are animated with sound - the choice of lightning in a forest fits the movie well, though is not perhaps animated enough to merit itself as an extra feature.

The rest of the screens are easy to navigate, and fairly plain.

extras
This film has been given a little bit of a push towards the special edition treatment, though it still lacks in informative and worthwhile behind the scenes material. Its a good disc and an ok movie - one which may be worth sitting through a couple of times.

Commentary Track Producers Stan Winston (modern legend of special effects), and Shane Mahan give what seemed a rather dull and pedestrian commentary when I listened. In fairness, I got a little bored and turned it off after half and hour. Their speech is somewhat uninspired, and tired. Someone is evidently supping coffee for reserves, and I get the impression that neither really knew what to do with the track. Insights into the film, were fairly bland before I switched off, though as the track is billed as a creature effects commentary, one hopes they pick up when the rather silly monster comes on board. I'll repost if I ever listen far enough... Though for a low-budget film, the commentary itself is a worthwhile addition, if only to hear Stan tell you that he takes the credit for work he didn't do on films!

Making Of Featurette (3mins 30) There's simply not enough material on these featurettes - they reek of cheapness, and everything appears shot on video, if not camcorder stuff. British director Terence Gross talks quite eloquently - though I do find myself disagreeing with most of what he says. Its pre-watching publicity material. Oh, and its full-frame.

Photo Gallery Quite a lot of photos in separate galleries for Monster Sketches, Building the Monster, Behind-The-Scenes Photos and Production Stills. Worthwhile, and welcome addition - making up for a poor featurette.

Filmographies Whilst not overly informative or in-depth, a quick run down is always useful for hunting other work by the artists - here are basic selected filmographies for Randy Quaid, Nastassja Kinski and Stan Winston.

Trailers
Creature Features (2mins 50) Full frame trailer for the whole series, selling itself on Stan Winston's effects. Transfer is a little blocky.
Bram Stoker's Dracula (2mins 35secs) Non-anamorphic approx 1.85:1. Stunning sound. Transfer suffers from some dirt
Night of the Living Dead (1min 10secs) Fullscreen. Fab teaser for the Tom Savini reworking. Good stereo sound.
The Blob (1mins 24) - Anamorphic 1.85:1.Trailer for the remake of the classic B-movie. Quite stylish all in all. Good transfer too.

Subtitles English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Thai, Chinese, Korean.

SUMMARY
A good honest B-movie feature, which gets the feel of the old movies right, whilst presenting them for a modern audience. Not a bad film to have in the collection, but I'd rather rent before I buy in this case.

RJES

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