Cataclysm
Cataclysm
| 01 January 1980 (USA)
Cataclysm Trailers

Police detective, Mitchell, investigating the death of a victim of a Nazi concentration camp discovers a nightclubbing playboy who has strange powers over women and is seemingly ageless.

Reviews
WillSushyMedia

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

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Sameer Callahan

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

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Gary

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

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Edwin

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

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Zbigniew_Krycsiwiki

Another title I was first introduced to as part of Night Train To Terror, this film, on its own, doesn't stand up as well as far as unintended humour, or just being a good movie. Released under a variety of different titles: Cataclysm, Satan's Supper, and The Nightmare Never Ends, none of which have anything to do with the film itself. This review based on the 88-minutes long version titled The Nightmare Never Ends. In the first scene, Claire Hanson, wakes up startled after dreaming of volcanic lava, then decides to go for a scenic drive with hubby, James Hansen (Richard Moll). Moll's character is a sort of hybrid of Anton LeVay and Freidrich Nietzsche, who is promoting a book titled 'God is Dead', with ridiculous dyed grey sideburns, his voice occasionally badly dubbed, and wearing an ill-fitted suit (although, being 6'8" tall, one supposes it is difficult to find suits which really fit well) Whilst under hypnosis, Claire Hanson recalls Nazi parties from the 1930s. An old man believes that a young man is the same Nazi who killed his family 35 years earlier, in 1944. The old man isn't believed by the police and goes after him himself, and is then killed by some fanged demon who blows a hole in his chest. Investigation of his murder leads nowhere, but the end of the set is clearly visible in this scene, as are the camera's own dolly tracks. The body is autopsied by Claire Hanson, who continues having nightmares and see demons, and it is revealed that the young man is Satan, who has remained eternally young and killed people for centuries. Here, the devil looks like the guy from KC And The Sunshine Band, with feathered hair and painted-on eyebrows that take up half of his forehead. His goal is not made clear in this confusing and dramatically awkward film, awkward in that Moll's lead character is killed off 25 minutes before the end of the movie. Also odd is that some of the best effects seemed to have been edited out and included in the anthology Night Train To Terror. Occasionally interesting set designs and lighting, but that can't compensate for such a weird story, with such an awful ending.

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Paul Andrews

Nobel prize winning novelist James Hanson (Richard Moll as Charles Moll) & his wife Claire (Faith Clift) who is a Doctor and has been suffering from nightmares lately, both set off for a holiday in Las Vegas. While watching some in house entertainment at a casino Claire is hypnotised by an English clairvoyant named Cecil Howard. Claire suffers a vivid hallucination about a sadistic SS officer named Olivier (Robert Bristol) in a Nazi concentration camp. After the show Claire talks with Howard and invites him to supper. Soon after she leaves Howard is killed by what appears to be a red light (don't ask). Meanwhile a old Jewish man named Abraham Weiss (Marc Lawrence) who is a Nazi hunter spots Olivier on a T.V. programme and recognises him as the man he has been after for years. Weiss immediately tells his story to bitter, overworked police officer Lieutenant Sterne (Cameron Mitchell) who lives just across the hall from him. Sterne agrees to look into Weiss's claims but eventually admits there is nothing he can do, especially after Weiss gives him some newspaper cuttings from 1944 which appear to show Olivier but since the paper is over 30 years old and Olivier would now be in his 60' or 70's and the guy on T.V. is still in his 20's & therefore Weiss's story is psychically impossible. That night Weiss is found dead in a parking lot. Lt. Sterne decides to take a personal interest and investigate even further. Claire is starting to lose her mind. Her husband James is about to publish a book called 'God is dead' in which James claims God does not and never has existed. Claire as a stout Catholic is deeply against the book and tries to convince James not to publish it. Olivier, who runs a cult of Satan worshippers, feels James would be a good person to have on board and attempts to convince James to join him and his organisation. A guy with a beard named Papini (Maurice Grandmaison) tries to warn James about Olivier, Satan and his book denouncing God. Various people die including Claire's nephew Jim (Klint Stevenson), Claire decides that she alone must put an end to Olivier and Satan himself. Claire and Jim's girlfriend Ann (Christie Wagner) conduct a bizarre plan that Claire believes will destroy Olivier for good, but will it succeed?According to the IMDb's credit list Cataclysm was directed by three separate people, Phillip Marshak, Tom McGowan & Gregg C. Tallas as Greg Tallas. I am not sure if this information is correct but I don't think I've ever heard of a film directed by three different people and maybe that's why it turned out to be a bit of a jumbled up mess. The script by Philip Yordan tries something different and for that it should get at least an extra point. Even though at the end of the day it's still a mess with the story all over the place. Things just happen for little reason, characters aren't that likable and the dialogue in certain scenes isn't up to much. The story becomes occasionally confusing and unfocused. The script comes across as heavy handed at times with it's religious overtones and story arc. Almost as if Yordan wanted to make a thought provoking horror film with a message, obviously it fails, badly. Cataclysm starts out very interesting and draws the viewer in by not revealing too much, too soon. Unfortunately this decision to try and make the plot more mysterious back fires during the middle third as it gets somewhat boring waiting for something to happen but then things explode into a gore drenched finale. The acting is OK for this type of low budget nonsense, except Cift who seems to speak her lines really slowly compared to everyone else. And it's always nice to see genre veteran Cameron Mitchell. Some characters appear dubbed throughout. There is very little, in fact none, blood or gore in the film until the last 10 minutes or so when the red stuff is splashed everywhere. In this sequence there is some real surgery footage in a blood soaked over the top climax to round the film off. I think the film itself was shot on location rather than studio's and has a generally good feel throughout, the production values were much better than I expected. While not brilliant by any stretch of the imagination the photography, editing, special effects, continuity and music are all reasonable enough and I've sat through a lot worse. I'm sure a lot of people will automatically call this film crap as it's an easy target but for those of us who like this sort of off-beat grade-z low budget horror film from days gone by than this one may interest you and is probably worth tracking down. Just because it dares to try something a little different if for no other reason, it doesn't always succeed but at least those involved tried. Overall I'm glad I watched it, certainly not the best film in the world but then did anyone really expect it to be?

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callanvass

BAD BAD BAD flick is low grade all the way it has terrible acting wretched dialog although Cameron Mitchell usually a GREAT character actor is wasted here it's not his fault though because he has to deal with a LOUSY script still i had some moderate fun with this i enjoyed the campy performance by Richard Moll and it was fairly watchable but this is just too low budget and amaeturishly made to work it does have a couple of impressive and creepy scenes though where Moll and Robert Bristol meet but the effects are terrible and it does have a few gory moments and a cool finale but killing Cameron Mitchell was a mistake he was the only amiable character here others were non amiable and a weak lead actress who screams too much and has to mutter weak dialog so overall NOT WORTH IT! * out of 5 i rented this under Satan's Supper

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HumanoidOfFlesh

"Cataclysm"(1980)is one of the strangest and most disjointed horror movies ever made.The film offers plenty of creepy atmosphere,but overall story is very confusing.The acting is pretty bad,but it's nice to see a horror veteran Cameron Mitchell as a detective.There is also a little bit of gore,but not too much.So if you're a fan of bizarre Satanic horror movies give this one a look.Recommended.My rating:7 out of 10.

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