"Day The World Ended" -1955.

Tagline: "ATTACKED!...By a creature from Hell!" Hell hath no fury like radioactive contamination.
Alternative: "The screen's new high in naked shrieking terror!". Hey! Would somebody please tell the Shrieking Terror to put on some clothes?"

For once, the poster is fairly accurate to the movie. (I KNOW!) We don't get to see the cities burning, because that kind of thing costs big bucks, and let's face it, Corman wouldn't even spring for the first "The"...just "Day The World Ended". What's the matter Roger? Blew your budget on makeup?

Plot: After what we are to assume is a world-wide kablooie of nuclear weapons, five survivors make their way to the home of a survivalist, Jim, and his beautiful daughter, Louise:

our hero, Rick,

a radiated man he has carried with him, Radeck,






an old prospector, Pete (and his mule who has no lines in the whole movie),

 a gangster, Tony (of course), and his moll, a former stripper named Ruby.



Jim, the owner of the house isn't too happy at the thought of now having to split rations intended for two seven ways, but Louise appeals to him and he agrees. Then the real fun begins! Radeck ends up pulling through, in spite of being heavily radiated. But now he has a craving for irradiated meat. Like, still alive, irradiated meat.

He makes his way out into areas the survivors can't go to ohm-nom-nom on various glowing animals. But he's not alone out there

and has to come back to the house, where it's safe, to sleep. He may look like Moe from The Three Stooges, but he's way creepier. ("Oh, a wise guy, eh?") Now if we could just get a "Woop woop woop woop" from Jim.

Meanwhile, Tony thinks he can muscle his way to the head of the line and has to get his ass handed to him (repeatedly).

Eventually, Rick is given a pistol by Jim, who now trusts him. Ruby and Tony drift apart, as sometimes happens between a thug and a pole dancer, and Tony takes a shine to Louise. That's bad, because he's a sleaze and Louise would rather eat a bowl of glass shards. She doesn't actually say that, but you can just tell. Pete and the mule are just there for comic relief, in case you care. I didn't, but you might. Meanwhile, a hideous three-eyed-radiation-type-monster-thingy

gets a hankerin' for Louise (I thought she was cute, too, and I bet I had a better chance than ol' three eyes there). For reasons that are eventually revealed, the tri-focaled dude can't go where there isn't radiation. Naturally, Rick and Louise end up together and Tony's pissed about it. Jim hates Tony but can't convince anyone to shoot him. Basically, it's just a big mess. Like "The Bachelorette" only interesting. Radeck (Moe) gets weirder and weirder. The three-eyed monster thingy catches up to him at the end and gives him a neck massage not to be forgotten.

Then Ruby catches Tony attempting a bit of illegal love with Louise and tries to stab him. That doesn't go well for Ruby and she tries cliff-diving...without the water.

Down to five, if you're keeping score. Next Ol' Pete decides since his mule is dead (oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you....the mule gets eaten) he may as well off himself and climbs up the hill into the radioactive cloud. Jim tries to stop him, but ends up getting sick himself. Down to three. Well, three and a half. Jim's sick, but still hanging in there. Tony sees his chance and snatches Jim's pistol away from him, (ooh, real tough, Tony...you can take an old guy with radiation poisoning) not knowing Jim has another under his pillow on the couch. Meanwhile, Louise gets snatched up by the Three-Eyed Monster Thingy

and Rick is sent to fetch her. And he forgot to bring his coat! "Now look, it's going to rain and you'll get all wet while you're battling radioactive monsters! You'll catch your death of cold!" It's okay, though, because we discover the monster doesn't mind a full clip of rifle bullets, but plain ol' water kills him! As it also kills all other presumably radioactive monster-type-thingies. On their way back to the house, Tony aims Jim's (first) pistol at Rick and Louise and is justly rewarded with three bullets from Jim's (second) pistol. Jim then promptly dies, having fulfilled his contractual obligation in this film. This frees up the happy couple to go forth in the freshly laundered world and procreate. Ewww....gross.

Things I learned from this movie: 1- it's at least 10 times more interesting than "The Wasp Woman", 2- it was re-made...word for word....in 1967 as "In The Year 2889"...nobody knows why,

3- hillsides rich with lead deposits are the ideal place to build a house, 4- hydrogen bombs can create three-eyed, armour-plated monkeys,

 5- there are apparently no radioactive vegetarians, 6- here's the scene: you ask your daughter to have babies with a man she barely knows in order to help re-populate the Earth after a nuclear war, she hesitates and you say "Wassa matter, baby?"....are you related to the guy from "Attack Of The Killer Shrews"?, 7- Tony, how many times does Rick have to kick your ass?, 8- at 49 minutes, you get to see Tony help Pete look for his ass,

9- 55 minutes: is it "Toss A Dead Stripper Off A Cliff" Tuesday already?, 10- why do monsters in B-movies insist on carrying hot young woman around everywhere?....c'mon! You're a monster! Make her walk!, 11- radiation can give you telekinetic powers...and armour, 12- why can no one else hear that annoying noise?

Rating: four Three-Eyed Monster Thingies out of five. Or, Fourty "Wasp Women" out of five.

Bonus facts: That's a young Mike Connors as Tony The Douche Bag. You might remember him as "Mannix" on TV if you're old enough.

Paul Birch, "Jim", was in quite a few B-movie greats, like "Not Of This Earth" and "Queen Of Outer Space" opposite Zsa Zsa Gabor.

Richard Denning, "Rick", was in even more. Like "The Black Scorpion", "Naked Paradise", "Girls In Prison",

"The Creature With The Atom Brain" (not the Punk Rock band) and (my favourite) "The Creature From The Black Lagoon".

Speaking of The Creature, Lori Nelson, "Louise" was in "Revenge Of The Creature".

 Adele Jergens, "Ruby", played two different characters named "Boots" during her film career. That's "B-O-O-T-S", not boobs, by the way.

............................that's it.