A group of obnoxious survivors of a nuclear holocaust are protected in a house in a valley surrounded by lead hills. They have to wait there for a few months until it's safe to go out again. Naturally they start to get on each others nerves...and how about the "horrible" creatures that are roaming the forest just outside the house?

Larry Buchanan is a god to bad film fans (like me). He's ALMOST as bad as Ed Wood Jr.! Basically, his films suck. They're made on no budget, with unknowns and incredibly cheap production values. This one is easily one of his "best".

Let's start with the jaw-droppingly stupid assumption that, after a nuclear holocaust, it will just take a few months for everything to be fine! And don't get me started on the lead hills! The script is just dreadful--almost bad enough to be good. The lines are just stunningly stupid. A few times I had to replay the tape because I couldn't believe those lines were actually uttered! As for the acting---hoo boy! Only Paul Petersen showed any bit of talent--the rest were truly dreadful. And what's with the sound? It all sounds like bad post-production recording--some of the voices don't even match the "actors"! And the "horrifying" creature was uproariously funny! It's some idiot in a stupid bargain-basement Halloween mask with a fright wig, silly fangs and (supposedly) steel claws!!!! You watch in amazement at this.

I'm probably making this sound better than it is...it's actually pretty dull. VERY dull. Not worth wasting your time at all. Not bad-good just BAD!!!

And some cable TV stations have mistakenly given this an NC-17 rating! It's PG all the way.

Here we go! Its Larry Buchanan and this is another incredibly inept film that is fascinating to watch for the same reason. Story is about survivors after a nuclear bomb has put an end to the world but a few people did survive because they were in a canyon that lies below the radiation mists that hover at the top of the hills. At the bottom of the canyon is a home that is owned by a retired Navy Officer named Captain John Ramsey (Neil Fletcher) and his daughter Joanna (Charla Doherty). They have enough food for just the two of them but suddenly they get unwanted guests like Steve (Paul Petersen) and his brother Granger (Max W. Anderson) who has been exposed to dangerous levels of radiation and scarred. Then a sleazeball named Mickey (Hugh Feagin) and his stripper girlfriend Jada (Quinn O'Hara) bust in and Joanna pleads with her father that they just can't send them away. The next day Tim (Bill Thurman) who is a ranch farmer from over the hill stumbles in and they are forced to allow him to stay. John proclaims himself in charge of the group and that Steve is second in charge and he will decide how much to eat everyday. John has guns and the key to the store room where all the food is kept. John and Steve notice tracks around their property and they figure out that certain creatures have survived the bomb but have become mutated monsters that feed on raw meat!

*****SPOILER ALERT*****

Mickey is in love with Joanna and keeps hitting on her but she and Steve have become romantic. Jada tells Joanna to watch out for Mickey because he's her man. Mickey keeps trying to get John's gun so he can take over and have Joanna all to himself but John has decided to act like the Captain of the ship and marry his daughter to Steve.

Just like all of Buchanan's films this is technically a disaster and one of the things that stand out is the bad sound and editing. The Radiation Meter makes a strange noise that sounds like some kid stuffing popcorn in his mouth. Also, in at least two scenes their is a very quick cut to another scene in mid-verse. Just as a character is speaking the scene quickly ends and we never hear the end of the sentence! The mutant that lumbers around in this film suspiciously looks like the monster in another Buchanan classic called "It's Alive". Its probably the same mask and make-up and one of the other mutants has a ping-pong ball on one side of his face. Neil Fletcher is a Buchanan regular and so is big Bill Thurman, you can't have a film directed by Buchanan without big Bill having a role. Doherty was in "Village of the Giants" and she never had much of an acting career after this. One of the funny things in this film is the character John. Talk about illusions of grandeur! One of the first things he tells Steve is that he should kill his brother. Then he says he won't bother feeding him since he'll probably die anyway. He even tells his daughter that he will marry her off like a sea Captain and tells Steve that she should have kids as fast as she can. Finally he tells Steve that he should kill Mickey since he's trouble. One guy was making all of these life and death decisions, I guess he didn't want to consult with the others on anything. And you can't help but notice that it's suppose to be 2889 but they still dress like its the 60's. So much for progress! I have to say that I love Buchanan's films for all of their low budget silliness and cheesy dialogue and waiting for Thurman to make his appearance. He makes the best he can with practically no budget and the end result is usually unintentional laughs. I can't wait to see more of his films!

This is a very low budget remake of THE DAY THE WORLD ENDED--a film about a tiny group who have somehow survived nuclear annihilation. Considering that it was made by Larry Buchanan, it's no surprise that the film not only stinks but is rather boring. This is the same guy who managed to make MARS NEEDS WOMEN dull--and which a title like this, how could you possibly make it dull?! This is the same director who is seldom mentioned in the pantheon of bad directors but should--producing films that even Ed Wood would be ashamed of making!!

The film begins just after a worldwide nuclear war. Practically everyone is dead but a small oasis of life exists all thanks to an explanation that really never made any sense. But, the old guy who explains it all seems to know what he's talking about, as he's got provisions and plans on surviving along with his daughter. However, several survivors straggle in as well as there just isn't enough food for them all AND a couple of the survivors are obvious scum--so obvious that you wonder why anyone would bother to save them! Well, with the help of one of the 'nice' survivors (Paul Peterson from "The Donna Reed Show"),they do their best to conserve the food and fight against mutants (why are there ALWAYS mutants?).

Despite mutants and nuclear war and a stripper and her evil (and horny) boyfriend, Buchanan manages to make a film that seems about 20 minutes too long. The pacing is like lead and the film is so cheaply made that there really are never any thrills or excitement. While not among the very worst films I have seen, it's definitely close and only of interest to bad movie fans.

This film was recently released along with another Buchanan 'classic'--IT'S ALIVE. Both are excruciatingly terrible films, but somehow IT'S ALIVE manages to provide a small amount of entertainment--something IN THE YEAR 2889 never even comes close to doing.