Das Ende der Welt

"A scientist discovers signals from space that appear to carry information concerning a series of seemingly unrelated natural disasters, occurring across the globe. Hoping to discover the source of these signals and who's behind them, the scientist and his wife set out on a trek to locate the intended recipient of the signals. What the couple eventually discovers is a small remote convent with occupants who are not really who they appear to be," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

Kirk Scott (as Andrew Boran) is the scientist who intercepts alien messages on his computer. He suspects a series of "Large Earth Disruptions" may be connected to the weird space static. Mr. Scott and pretty blonde wife Sue Lyon (as Sylvia Boran) investigate the mysterious signals from outer space. They discover priestly, but creepy Christopher Lee (as "Father Pergado"), and other silliness. Given that, "End of the World" is remarkably dull.

*** End of the World (1977) John Hayes ~ Kirk Scott, Sue Lyon, Christopher Lee

I rented this movie as part of the mini-series "cult video", hoping for as much fun as I had with "Laserblast" or "creepozoids" that are also part of the edition. Unfortunately, this movie cannot keep up with those gems. Even though it is stupid enough, it is all in all just boring, and moments of fun (like the seconds where the "true face" of the aliens is shown) are too rare to make it up. I have to say, however, that the concept of destroying the whole earth is somewhat audacious, and the movie even delivers one scene of odd true horror, that is when the couple watches the end of the world (earthquakes, inundations) on some TV screens like from the distance ...

Christopher Lee is one of my favorite actors! I'm trying to view all of his work. He has been known to single-handedly save movies with his presence. Unfortunately, this is not one of them. This movie suffers from a low budget and it's production values are disturbing. Please...for the love of Christopher....avoid this film!

At the moment I'm writing this review, the world is faced with the Corona-virus pandemic. Many countries, mine included, are in lockdown and the immediate future doesn't look too hopeful, so I though it was perhaps appropriate to watch a Sci-Fi/horror film with a title like "End of the World".

Well, when the world does come to an end for real, whether due to Corona or another biblical catastrophe, I sincerely hope it won't be as slow and boring to sit through as this dud of a film. There are two noteworthy scenes in this film; - namely the pre-credits opening sequence and the cataclysm-montage during the climax. Everything in between is painfully dull, difficult to follow and plain uninteresting. The almighty Christopher Lee stars as a priest, but his persona is taken over by an evil alien bent on destroying the world from within a secluded little monastery. It's up to a clueless scientist and his wife Lolita to save the planet. In other words, we're doomed!

A good deal of running around. A badly conceived adversary with very little complexity. A scientist who works in communications sending off signals into space and receiving them, gets caught up with aliens. Along with his pretty wife, he invades their territory and is given secrets about them. He becomes rather traitorous in the process. Granted, he is given little choice anyway. There is a scene where he gives them everything they want. This is a dull movie with lots of long stretches where little happens. The plot isn't technically bad. It's just that we are usually following a car, a trip through a woods, investigating a building. This is what editing is all about. I suppose the story wouldn't technically support much more. Not much here.