;

Panic in Year Zero!

1962

Action / Horror / Sci-Fi / Thriller

9
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 70% · 10 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 63% · 500 ratings
IMDb Rating 6.6/10 10 5205 5.2K

nuclear war atomic bomb dystopia post-apocalyptic future nuclear radiation nuclear fallout

Plot summary

While on a fishing trip, Harry Baldwin and his family hear an explosion and realize that Los Angeles has been leveled by a nuclear attack. Looters and killers are everywhere. Escaping to the hills with his family, he sets about the business of surviving in a world where, he knows, the old ideals of humanity will be the first casualties.

Director

Ray Milland Photo
Ray Milland

Top cast

Paul Gleason Photo
Paul Gleason as First Gas Station Owner
Jean Hagen Photo
Jean Hagen as Ann Baldwin
Richard Bakalyan Photo
Richard Bakalyan as Carl
Ray Milland Photo
Ray Milland as Harry Baldwin
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
785.73 MB
1280*544
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles
23.976 fps
1 hr 33 min
Seeds 2
1.41 GB
1920*816
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles
23.976 fps
1 hr 33 min
Seeds 12

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by AlsExGal 7 / 10

well structured meditation on human behavior during a cataclysmic event

Shot in nice moody black-and-white CinemaScope, starring Ray Milland, Jean Hagen (a far cry from Lina Lamont here!), and Frankie Avalon getting the chance to do a serious role. Interestingly it was also directed by Ray Milland, and is a fairly accomplished little cinematic parable, again dealing with the threat, and here the after-effects, of atomic warfare.Milland and his family set off on a weekend camping/fishing trip and a flash in the distance they think at first is lightning turns out to be an atomic mushroom cloud over Los Angeles. The rest of the film they attempt to survive and maintain some resemblance of civilized behavior while rationalizing their lapses into violence against the panic-stricken populace, looters, and opportunists who suddenly appear. It might easily have been handled as the exploitation film promised by the trailer (it's an American International production, after all), but is actually a very thoughtful and well-structured meditation on how people might react in the event of the massive nuclear attack everyone was fearing at the time.
Reviewed by

Reviewed by Bob-45 8 / 10

SURPRISINGLY EFFECTIVE...AND FRANKIE AVALON CAN ACT!

Los Angeles family vacation is interrupted by nuclear war. Now they must escape into the mountains to avoid the radiation, the panic, and the rapists.

Despite the insipid nuclear holocaust effects (looks more like a thunderstorm), this is a surprisingly effective movie. Milland elicits effective performances from each and every member of his cast (Frankie Avalon has never been better). The menace, humiliation and sheer terror of rape has never been more poignantly depicted on the screen, and all without nudity. A minor classic.

Read more IMDb reviews

1 Comment

Be the first to leave a comment