The Day Time Ended

Director - John "Bud" Cardos (Mutant, Skeleton Closet)

Starring - Jim Davis (The Magical World of Disney, Project U.F.O.), Bentley Mitchum (Sometimes They Come Back, DevilDolls), and Dorothy Malone (Good Luck, Miss Wykoff, The Man Who Wouldn't Die)

Release Date - 1979

Genre - Sci-Fi

Tagline - "A mind-bending vortex of terror"

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     It took some time but I'm able to finally wrap up my Full Moon marathon.  After my vacation I wanted to check out a handful of Full Moon movies I had never seen before that was sent my way for review.  I started with Prehysteria, which was a childhood favorite of mine, before moving on to the sleazy sci-fi film Slave Girls from Beyond Infinity and the Moon Beam children's film Pet Shop.  I stopped to review a few other movies that was somewhat time sensitive before finishing up my marathon with the sci-fi film The Day Time Ended.  I had never seen this one before but the trailer looked amazing.  Thank you Full Moon for sending this one over!

     The film follows a family that live in a futuristic modern home in the middle of the desert.  They find themselves visited by aliens and soon get stuck in a time vortex allowing long extinct creatures to terrorize them.

     I was really looking forward to checking this out but since you've already seen my score for the film then you know I didn't enjoy myself.  I liked the effects and the film's concept but the delivery is so dull.  I can count on one hand the movies that I've fell asleep watching and this is one of them.  Hell, I wasn't even tired.  I guess my brain felt that it wasn't being stimulated enough and shut down to conserve energy.  The acting in this one isn't bad but I wasn't feeling it.  The cast seem confused as to what reaction they should be going for and their interactions with one another feels like a church skit.  The dialogue is very forced and their reactions create several unintentionally funny scenarios when the film is trying to pull in a serious tone.  The cast feels distant and clearly lacking direction.  The story for this one has so much fucking potential but fails to pull it all together into an unforgettable film.  The way the film was pieced together makes for long drawn out scenes with little to no story development followed by scenes important to the story but done so in such a lackluster way that the viewer has a hard time paying attention to it.  There is no energy to the film and the slow pace makes it difficult to finish in one sitting.  Finally, this film looks amazing.  I love the Harryhausen inspired effects along with the very outdated but fun visuals.  No blood or gore but if you like classic stop motion puppets then you will be in for a treat...if you can stay awake long enough.  Overall, The Day Time Ended has some entertaining moments but the bad far outweighs the good.  The blu does look leagues better than the previous DVD release so fans of Full Moon will need it for their collections but it's hard to recommend it to someone as a first time watch.