Holocaust 2000

An industrialist , Kirk Douglas , in charge of a Middle East nuclear plant figures out that his son , Simon Ward, is a Devil with dark purports and sets out in stop him . Along the way he falls in love for a young reporter, Agostina Belli, and she then is pregnant . He will destroy the World. No man can stop him. No man will even try. He is the Chosen . The nightmare will be real. He is coming as Lucifer's Currse . And we will all be damned .The World will be destroyed in a rain of fire. It is written.

A thrilling and bizarre film with a fantastic and disconcerting premise . The film benefits itself of an interesting issue , and , nowadays very usual : the Biblical theme about the Commentary of Apocalypse by St. John . Stars an aging Kirk Douglas who gives a nice acting as the powerful executive who discovers his son results to be the Anti-Christ , while Agostina Belli is fine as the beautiful journalist who falls in love with him . Acceptable Simon Ward who plays the nasty son with sinister purports to wipe out the mankind. Being an Italian/British coproduction bears most of the worst traces of international financing , lines of dialogue that sound as copies from other flicks or like subtitles and poor dubbing . However , appearing notorious secondaries as Brits : Virginia McKenna , Alexander Knox , Geoffrey Keen , Anthony Quayle , Dennis Lawson, Petr Cellier as Italians as Ivo Garrani, Massimo Foschi, Romolo Valli, Adolfo Celli , among others.

Here stands out the suspenseful and intriguing musical score by the great Ennio Morricone , composed in his usual style .The motion picture was professionally directed by Alberto De Martino, though with a sense of disunity between cast and filmmaking , having some flaws and gaps . This Italian filmmaker was a good artisan who wrote and directed a lot of films of all kinds of genres and exploitation movies , as well as various straight Rip-offs with less attention to plot detail . He usually shot films to cash in on other hugely boxoffice successes as The "Exorcist" Martino made "Anti Christ" and " The Omen" he filmed this " Holocaust 2000" . As Alberto De Martino shot Peplum or Sword and Sandals genre : Spartan Gladiators , Invincible Gladiator , Seven Spartans, Valley of Stone Men, Secret Seven . Spaghetti Western sub-genre : Django shoots first, Providence , Charge of Seven Cavalry . Europe Spy subgenre : OK Connery , Operation Lady Chaplin and Terror : The AntiChrist, Miami Golem, Horror , Holocaust 2000 and several others .

There's no question about it: Italian film-makers used to make the most enjoyable crap – and this one is a prime example. Whenever a Hollywood movie became a runaway box office success, the Italians would waste no time in making their own carbon copy of it and, in this field, director Alberto De Martino was one of the top "go to" guys in the country; having recently made his own "pasta" versions of THE GODFATHER (1972) and THE EXORCIST (1973) – in THE COUNSELLOR (1973) and THE ANTICHRIST (1974) respectively – it was natural for him to be entrusted with concocting an Italianized clone of THE OMEN (1976). As it happens, this was an Italo-British co-production (as that impressively star-studded cast can attest) and the end result is, as I said, far more enjoyable than a half-arsed imitation has any right to be.

The film's ageing American star, Kirk Douglas (in the first of 4 horror/sci-fi outings he did in quick succession – the others being Brian De Palma's disappointing THE FURY [1978], the maligned-but-fair SATURN 3 [1980] and THE FINAL COUNTDOWN [1980], which I haven't watched in ages), does have one up on Gregory Peck from THE OMEN in that he gets to share a nude love scene with leading lady Agostina Belli! The rest of the cast, unsurprisingly, is a mix of established Brits and Italians: Geoffrey Keen, Alexander Knox (as the requisite professor who unravels the diabolical scheme and who's given a memorably subtle death scene), Virginia McKenna (like in the subsequent BLOOD LINK [1982], also from De Martino, she's killed off during the opening scenes!), Anthony Quayle, Simon Ward (effectively cast as a cold-blooded Antichrist), as well as Adolfo Celi and Romolo Valli (playing the equally indispensable and ill-fated priest).

The plot comes up with an ingenious modernization of the Apocalypse prophecies, illustrating a plausible analogy between mythical and modern monsters. Among the film's most notable sequences is Douglas' surreal nightmare (in which he's stranded stark naked in the desert, witnesses the demons rising from the sea and is haunted by the presence of a religious fanatic in a Diabolik-like outfit!) and one where a Middle Eastern political leader – opposed to industrial progress – gets the top of his head chopped off by a helicopter blade (thus anticipating the more celebrated moment in George A. Romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD [1978]). Once again, Ennio Morricone's score may sound overly-familiar (given that he composed THE ANTICHRIST and also EXORCIST II – THE HERETIC [1977])…but there's no denying that it serves the taut proceedings admirably.

Ultimately, though, the film results in not being at all scary: for one thing, the Antichrist has no direct relation to the 'accidental' deaths of those who stand in his way; also, he's left pretty much to his own devices (with no diabolical helpers as in THE OMEN), yet, nobody ever seems to question his decisions. Besides, there's no explanation as to just how Ward became "the chosen" (one of the titles by which the film's also known, as seen in an alternate opening sequence included on the DivX copy I watched) – in THE OMEN, at least, it was a case of babies exchanged at birth! Other narrative flaws: why is the Agostina Belli character afraid of entering a church – considering that the child she's carrying turns out not to be the Antichrist after all (as Douglas himself had feared)?; the second scene in the psycho ward (with the religious fanatic going berserk and inciting his fellow inmates to kill Douglas) is baffling and somewhat redundant – since the latter has, by this time, become aware of Ward's true intentions!

The film concludes rather abruptly with the fairly ludicrous – and pretentious – suggestion of a new 'Holy Family'; I much preferred the alternate ending also found on the (once again) problematic DivX copy I have, after missing out on this title more than I care to remember on Italian TV over the years: while admittedly conventional, at least, we're shown Douglas willing to keep up the fight the only way he knows how – through violence. Finally, I have to wonder what's holding up the film's release on DVD; it doesn't seem to be available in any region and, while no classic, it's eminently watchable – apart from being, definitely, a commercially viable item (especially for fans of "Euro-Cult")...

great film. about the apocalypse and done very well, bringing the apocalypse into reality before your eyes. Kirk Douglas took on a different role for this film and one that works. the apocalypse was firmly & skilfully brought into the twentieth century in this film and it was so realistic it was frightening. saw this film some years ago and wanted it ever since but cannot get hold of it. it was on TV in 1992 or 1993 and i missed it but a friend of mine down the street came knocking on my door in early hours as she was terrified having just watched it that night! i am not a person who cares for 'horror' films and this is far from being one of those. it sure is scary but that's because it is based on things that could be so real.don't knock it! watch it. also, if anyone can tell me how i can get this film on video or DVD i would be very grateful, but it doesn't seem to be available according to HMV stores.

In 1976, "The Omen" was a very popular movie and it spawned sequels as well as a recent remake. So, it's not surprising that someone decided to make a similar film just year later. "The Chosen" (also known as "Holocaust 2000") is a film about the pending end of the world, but instead of a little boy being the spawn of Satan, here he is all grown up and ready for Armageddon.

Robert Craine (Kirk Douglas) is a rich man who runs a company that builds nuclear powerplants. He is hoping to build one in the Middle East though somehow you know that the project is evil and will lead to the end of the world. And, the guy driving this ending is Craine's own son (Simon Ward)...or perhaps his unborn child. Through the course of the film, Robert slowly starts to realize this...and it's up to him to save humanity...or not.

One of the big differences between this one and "The Omen" is the quality of the production. "The Omen" was made by Twentieth Century-Fox and "The Chosen" was made by a smaller company and released by American International Pictures...a company well known for low budget and cheesy films. Oddly, however, "The Omen" is much more over the top and silly...one of the reasons it is actually more enjoyable than "The Chosen". However, despite this, Douglas' performance is really over the top later in the movie...much more than Gregory Peck's in "The Omen".

One of the worst parts of the story is that Craine supposedly meets some priest and the old man tells Craine all about the apocalypse. But EVERYTHING he tells Craine is pure crap...and has nothing to do with the book of Revelation. It's just made up and is laughably so. They didn't even try to make it seem possible.

So it is worth seeing? Well, it depends on whether you like this sort of thing AND if you mind the silliness which occasionally occurs in the movie...and it is pretty silly.

By the way, according to IMDB, there is an American version and an international version...both with different endings. I saw the American one, though the ending was still pretty open-ended.

From the director of "Pumaman" and "Dirty Heroes" comes another ripoff film, this time a knockoff of "The Omen," complete with Hollywood golden age star Kirk Douglas having to face down the anti-Christ. Douglas plays an energy executive about to build a nuclear power plant in the middle east when he begins to suspect his son is actually the son of Satan and might use the nuke plants to wipe out humankind. Douglas brings sincerity to a ridiculous film and a fine score by Ennio Morricone make this dull and derivative horror film watchable, but certainly don't go out of your way to watch this one.