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
Mabel Munoz Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?
Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.
Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.
Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
talisencrw When I was a teenager, though I wasn't really big on sitcoms (if I watched TV, I primarily enjoyed crime/police/detective stories), I must admit I loved the occasional episode of 'Night Court', though by no means did I watch it enthusiastically or with any regularity. My favourite actor in it was Richard Moll, who had that unique presence of a Richard Kiel, yet was better both in charisma and comic timing.A few months ago, I saw a crappy horror portmanteau from the 80's ('Night Train to Terror'), of which directors' Marshak, McGowan and Tallas' segment, 'The Case of Claire Hansen', was by far the most interesting and best realized (thanks to 'Hollie Horror' for the info!), yet in the panoramic jetsam of my mind, in watching 3+ films a day, I wondered why I was getting this strange sense of deja vu. It was neat to see the entire work. Moll's face and voice were very familiar, yet he had a full head of hair (he was bald in 'Night Court', for those who don't remember), and his name was listed as 'Charles Moll' in the credits, so I was a tad confused--perhaps it was a brother?--but it ended up being the same person.The film itself plays upon the same chord as horrific greats from its preceding decade, such as 'The Exorcist', 'The Omen' and 'The Amityville Horror', in which the classic conflict of good vs. evil is fought, and demons from the underworld are its root cause. For a no-budget film, it has a decent sense of atmosphere and mood, interesting actors and cinematography, and a really outstanding climactic scene. The special effects are uneven: Sometimes they are decent, yet sometimes laughingly bad--probably due to having THREE directors involved--usually NOT a good omen for a film, if simply one story is being presented (too many cooks DO spoil the broth, at least cinematically). One exceedingly bad aspect was Faith Clift as the female protagonist, Claire Hansen. Though for her age she was beautiful, her monotone voice was dreadful.I recommend the film wholeheartedly and with no reservations, if you like horror films and want a good time some evening for 94 minutes.
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.
luvpanicatthedisco1982 I first saw this film in the condensed version in Night Train To Terror. I'm a b-movie junkie anyway, but I was especially captivated w/ this particular segment so I immediately began searching for the full length version. I was not disappointed! The setting of this film is so freakin' creepy and Robert Bristol is absolutely fiendish and sexy! Too bad he dropped off the radar after this movie. Yes, I know the special effects are quite cheesy (clay-mation, anybody?) but it still has such a distinct and creepy feel to it and the villain himself is creepy in a curiously seductive way. And when he takes his shoe off!! Let's just say I cringed and shuddered and it takes a lot for me to do that. But aside from the villain the other characters are pretty bland and I find it hard to sympathize w/ any of them except for the poor old man who survived the Holocaust, and Olivier, years before. This movie lacks much plot and good acting but it still holds it's own as a low budget horror movie that's so bad it's good! There are plenty out there, but this one I hold closer to my heart than others.
Hitchcoc This film has good intentions. There is something lacking, but I't hard to put one's finger on it. This tells the tale of a Satanic figure who passes through time by recreating himself. An Nobel author, played by Richard Moll, Bull from "Night Court" of all people, has written a kind of Scientology book about God being dead. It has received much attention and he becomes of interest to the Satanic figure. The movie starts out with a Nazi hunter engaging the police to help him capture the man who was responsible for the deaths of his family members during the Holocaust. The thing that is always in the way is that if Satan is so powerful, why does he need to do much of anything. If there are people who threaten him (which they obviously can't), why doesn't he just kill them outright. I know he is searching for souls and all that, but his invulnerability makes him relatively uninteresting in this film. He does some things that don't make much sense in the world of the film. The ending is kind of fun, I guess.