Stars:
Randy Quaid, Nastassja Kinski, Bobby Edner, Debra Christoferson, Lee DeBroux,
Neil Vipond, Kathryn Fiore, David Getz, Harry Groener, and Harry Groener
Writers:
Max Enscoe and Anne de Young
Based
On A Story By: Brian King
Director:
Terence Gross
Feature
length: 90 minutes
Extras:
Creature EFX Commentary By Stan Winston and Shane Mahan, Featurette, Photo
Galleries, Filmographies, and Trailers
Languages:
English Dolby Digital 5.1 and English Dolby Surround 2.0
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and French, Spanish, Portuguese, Thai,
Chinese, and Korean Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Amaray Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 28
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Surround Sound
Year
of DVD Release: 2002
Home
Video Distributor: Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: R
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
“The
Day The World Ended” like the rest of the “Creature Features” series of
DVD-Videos that feature effects by Stan Winston Studios and are inspired by
classic 50’s B-films of the same name, however this film from the point of
view of the initial idea might have more in common with “Forbidden Planet.”
Nastassja Kinski is a school psychologist who comes to a small country town
where the cold town folks who fear an orphaned boy and almost ritually abuse
him. There is a terrible secret that is about to set loose a creature from
another world out to avenge the boy’s mother. Randy Quaid does a great job
along with Nastassja Kinski, but the star of the film is the enigmatic monster
that is the Stan Winston Studios’ best looking creation to ever emerge from
their creative minds.
Like
the other titles in the series, “The Day The World Ended” is presented in a
choice of a full screen (1.33:1) presentation and an anamorphic widescreen
(1.85:1) aspect ratio. The transfer on both appear to contain a lot of source
grain to a point where I think the full screen version actually looks better
than the widescreen version. There appeared to be little difference between the
English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround and English Dolby Surround Soundtracks. That
is not to say that the soundtracks are bad, because they are both quite full
sounding. I just did not realize for the first ten minutes I was listening to
the surround soundtrack instead of the 5.1 soundtrack so that is what made me
more aware in this case. English Captions and Closed Captions for the hearing
impaired and French, Spanish, Portuguese, Thai, Chinese, and Korean Language
Subtitles are also encoded on to the dual layered DVD as options. The Creature
EFX Commentary by Stan Winston and Shane Mahan is entertaining, but a little
subdued. I wish Winston would do more commentaries since one can just tell that
this is a man who is living out the dream of being a filmmaker through the
imagination of his inner child, which in this case is one that loves genre
films.
There
is a 3 ½ -minute behind-the-scenes featurette coupled with four still galleries
made up of sketches, behind-the-scenes photos from within Stan Winston Studios
and the production along with color and back and white stills from the film.
Filmographies for Stan Winston, Randy Quaid, and Nastassja Kinski and trailers
for the “Creature Features” series of films on DVD, the remake of “The
Blob,” and the remake of “Night Of The Living Dead” wrap up the extra
features on this DVD release. The menus are animated with motion transitions to
standard interactive still frames that are all easy to navigate.
“The
Day The World Ended: Creature Features” will debut on DVD-Video on Tuesday,
August 20, 2002 from Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2002 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.