PANIC IN YEAR ZERO
MOVIE REVIEW

My Books and Movies!

E.C. McMullen Jr.
RUMOR

RUMOR: People are dying to know the truth

PERPETUAL
BULLET

"'Some People' ... may be the standout story in the book."
- John Grant, Infinityplus

E.C. McMullen Jr.
WILLOW BLUE

"'Willow Blue' will burrow under your skin and stay there long after you've put the book down."
- Jeffrey Reddick, Creator of
FINAL DESTINATION

IN OTHER BOOKS
E.C. McMullen Jr.'s
short story
CEDO LOOKED LIKE PEOPLE
in the anthology
FEAR THE REAPER

"This Ray Bradbury-esque is one of the most memorable and one of the more original stories I've read in a long time."
- Steve Isaak,
Goodreads

HORROR 201:
The Silver Scream

Filmmaker's Guidebook
featuring
RAY BRADBURY,
JOHN CARPENTER,
WES CRAVEN,
TOM HOLLAND,
E.C. McMULLEN Jr.,
GEORGE A. ROMERO,
and many more.

Extensively quoted in

PHANTASM
EXHUMED
The Unauthorized Companion

SATAN'S 3-RING
CIRCUS OF HELL

Forward by
GAHAN WILSON &
FEO AMANTE.
With Comic Art by
ALEX PARDEE,
WILLIAM STOUT,
STEVE BISSETTE,
FRANK DIETZ,
JIM SMITH,
FRANK FORTE,
ERIC PIGORS,
MIKE SOSNOWSKI,
OMAHA PEREZ,
DAVID HARTMAN,
STEVEN MANNION,
JACOB HAIR,
and more!

And In
CINEMA
E.C. McMullen Jr.
Head Production Designer

MINE GAMES
(Starring:
JOSEPH CROSS,
BRIANA EVIGAN,
ALEX MERAZ,
ETHAN PECK)

Dept. head
Special Effects Make-Up
(SFX MUA)

A SIERRA NEVADA
GUNFIGHT
(MICHAEL MADSEN & JOHN SAVAGE).

Production Designer

UNIVERSAL DEAD
(DOUG JONES,
D.B. SWEENEY,
GARY GRAHAM)

Art Director

THE CRUSADER
(COLIN CUNNINGHAM,
GARY GRAHAM)

Review by
Kelly Parks

PANIC IN YEAR ZERO

- 1962
USA Release: July 5, 1962
American International Pictures / Universal
Rated: N/A

Nuclear War

Sure, we joke about it now but there was a time when people took it very seriously.

PANIC IN YEAR ZERO stars and was directed by Ray Milland (TERROR IN THE WAX MUSEUM, THE MAN WITH THE X-RAY EYES, THE THING WITH TWO HEADS, FROGS) and written by John Morton and Jay Simms (THE CREATION OF THE HUMANOIDS, THE KILLER SHREWS).

The story begins with Harry Baldwin (Ray Milland), his wife Ann (Jean Hagen: DEAD RINGER) and their teenage children Rick (Frankie Avalon: VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA, THE MILLION EYES OF SUMURU) and Karen (Mary Mitchel: SPIDER BABY, DEMENTIA 13) loading up the trailer for a camping trip. They head out of Los Angeles and are winding their way through the mountains when the bombs fall. They see the flashes and watch as mushroom clouds rise over Los Angeles. Ann is in denial but Harry understands the situation right away. The radio doesn't provide any information and a roadside phone booth, though functional, can't reach Los Angeles. Ann's mother is still back there.

They decide to try and get back to the city, a fool's errand to be sure. Traffic is massively going the other way as people flee the radiation but Ann is determined they rescue her mother.

The things Harry hears from a few survivors convinces him there's no chance of anyone being alive in L.A. He's a very pragmatic man and turns the car around, determined to head for the hills and ride things out there. "When civilization gets civilized again, I'll rejoin," he tells his wife and off they go.

Roadside cafes are stripped of food pretty fast so Harry takes a side road to a small town where the news hasn't arrived. He stocks up on supplies fast but not fast enough, forcing Harry and his steadfast son Rick to take action.

On their way to the wilderness they encounter price gouging, chaos and lawlessness. The latter in the form of Carl (Richard Bakalyan), Mickey (Rex Holman) and Andy (Neil Nephew aka Neil Burstyn). Three juvenile delinquent types who have several run ins with Harry's family.

The radio finally does report that a nuclear attack targeting major cities has occurred and the U.S. has responded in kind. Until order can be restored everyone is told that maintaining law and order is their responsibility.

This movie is bigger on being a "how to survive a nuclear disaster" guide than it is on being a dramatic story. It does have its moments, especially when Harry deals out some justice, but mostly its pretty predictable. The real attraction lies in what it is: a fairly realistic portrayal of the aftermath of a limited nuclear war in the early 1960's. The family avoids dealing with fallout by getting well away from the cities but they do have to deal with finding food and protecting themselves from those who take advantage of lawlessness.

And it also offers an excuse for the rare
POLITICAL SCIENCE MOMENT:
When you watch movies like this it's important to try and recapture the mindset of the era. Not just the cold war, but the fact that for most middle aged people in 1962, WWII was something they'd personally experienced. The idea that the world could erupt into war wasn't dim history for them – it was perfectly believable.

PANIC IN YEAR ZERO is historically fascinating and occasionally cool. It makes you glad President Reagan won the cold war*.

TRIVIA

*
What? You have doubts? In speeches going back to the late 1950's Ronald Reagan's position was that Communism was inherently weak (despite vast and valuable resources, the U.S.S.R. never recovered from the economic depression it suffered in the same year it turned to Communism) and that if we, as Capitalists, economically confronted Communism – rather than appeasing it – it would collapse. Then Reagan became President, did exactly what he said he'd do, and it collapsed.

Academics as a whole, holding top positions at Ivy League Universities, criticized Reagan on this matter in the strongest terms, and they were not only all wrong, but proven to be woefully uninformed on the matter, especially considering that they were considered the experts by all major U.S. news sources.

So there.

I give PANIC IN YEAR ZERO three shriek girls.