Raises more questions than it answers
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — The Day the World Ended
pundit-1 — 20 years ago(June 03, 2005 07:13 PM)
Why the producers of this film chose to name this with the title they
did is a mystery. This is not a post apocalyptic thriller nor is it
about the end of the world in any way. A typical low budget low quality
thriller about a young boy who comes to believe that he is the
offspring of an alien creature that is terrorizing a small town in
Nevada. He uncovers suppressed memories of his mother who was killed by
the frightened townsfolk. She however turns out to be a rather pretty
human female and not anything like the alien creature. Which raises
some obvious questions. First how does this pretty human female end up
meeting and making love to an alien being in order to produce a rather
human looking kid,who has no resemblance at all to the extraterrestrial
daddy? Also what is not explained is the real reason why the townsfolk
killed the boy's mother. Supposedly the boy's mother like him had some
psychic powers but that alone cannot explain why the narrow minded
townsfolk went after and killed her. If this was a small European village back in the 17th century then it could be explained away that they thought she was some kind of a witch.
This is not exactly your intelligent cerebrally stimulating movie, but at least the acting of
RAndy Quaid and the beautiful Natassia Kinski saves the film from being
a total flop. -
Jason9x9 — 20 years ago(July 07, 2005 06:23 PM)
I don't think the mother actually had any psychic power I think she was just covering for the son. Like when she said before they killed her something like "You have to stop doing this, don't hurt them again" I got the feeling that she wasn't just talking about burning them in the diner. She may not have been his real mother, he could have been an alien like she says, or some government experiment she hid away there (she looked even more out of place than the therapist) Who knows?
And then as far as the alien goes, it may have been a product of his power just like the adopted father said. It sure did look a lot like the one in the movie he watched, and his memories had come back to some extent right before it appeared, so it could have been a product of his subconscious desire for revenge.
Nothing was made terribly clear in the film, I guess and when I saw it the title was "Creature Features: The Day the World Ended", which makes me wonder if maybe they mixed the title up with some other Creature Features or something and didn't bother to change it. -
joecoolucf — 20 years ago(August 11, 2005 01:38 PM)
Actually, the reason for the title of the movie, as well as some of the other answers were made quite clear
Why did his mom make it with an alien? she didn't Much like an old Twilight Zone, the boy had great powers and willed the alien into existence from his mind. However, he doesn't realize his powers. One night, he is watching an old alien movie titled "the Day the World Ended" - this explains the title, as well as the alien.
Notice the "alien" only kills those that killed his mother and then later vaporizes into thin air.
While the story was a little weak, there was some thoght required. The title was only referenced twice, and quickly, so it was easy to miss.