SoftInloveRox Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Red-Barracuda Holocaust 2000 is an Italian riff on The Omen but with late 70's fears of the dangers of nuclear power thrown into the mix for good measure. It's about a CEO of a multi-national corporation who wishes to build a new nuclear power plant in the Middle East. In some nearby caves he discovers ancient drawings of a demonic beast that resembles his projected power plant; an entity that is predicted in the Bible to signify the return of the Antichrist. A series of horrific accidents happen to people around him and it becomes evident that his son is the devil incarnate.The debt owed to The Omen is pretty clear in this one. Its brand of religious horror and creative death sequences is taken from that earlier film. Needless to say, it's not anywhere near the same level as The Omen series but it does have its moments. Quite impressively for an Italian horror film it has at its disposal a pretty big league actor in Kirk Douglas and he gives a pretty spirited performance. He is ably supported by Simon Ward, who plays his son. Ward can do 'cold' really well and its utilised well here in his role as the Antichrist. There are also some well-conceived individual moments, in particular a dream sequence where the nuclear power plant turns into a fearsome ten-headed hydra and rises from the sea. The creative death scenes are nowhere near as inspired as the ones from The Omen series but there are some good ones nevertheless, such as the helicopter decapitation.It does have to be said though that the film-makers are not above cheating the audience a little too much, such as the part where the mysterious girl who Douglas has an affair literally runs away from a Church in fear, leading us to think she must be in league with the devil. It turns out though that she is nothing of the kind so this whole scene is nothing more than a massive red herring that makes little sense. Overall the film isn't really plotted terribly well and that may account for the above silly audience manipulation but it also results in the film ending without a proper resolution. It almost feels like the end of the first part of a story as opposed to a proper finale; while the final scene itself was pretty ambiguous and I wasn't entirely sure what it meant to be honest.But criticisms aside, Holocaust 2000 is still an entertaining enough horror flick. It has enough of a budget to ensure that its ideas are brought to the screen with some effectiveness. So even if it doesn't deliver all that it could, it does enough to keep things interesting.

Woodyanders Amiable and determined wealthy agnostic industrialist Robert Caine (an excellent performance by Kirk Douglas) and his shrewd and ambitious son Angel (well played by Simon Ward) plan on building a nuclear power plant in the Holy Land. When various people associated with the project start meeting gruesome untimely ends, Roger realizes that he might be involved in an ancient biblical prophecy about the Anti-Christ and the end of the world. Director Alberto De Martino, who also co-wrote the ingenious and intriguing script with Stan Donati, whips up a very clever and inspired supernatural horror chiller that brilliantly realizes Old Testament prophecies through modern technology. Moreover, De Martino maintains a steady pace throughout, does a sound job of creating a tense and ominous atmosphere which becomes more increasingly spooky and unsettling as the story unfolds, and stages the gory murder set pieces with tremendous fluid style and flair (a memorably grisly decapitation by helicopter blade rates as the definite splatter highlight). In addition, we also get a wonderfully trippy apocalyptic nightmare sequence with a naked Douglas running on a beach and being warned by a crazed fanatic (a superbly intense portrayal by Massimo Foschi) about Armegeddon. Douglas holds the whole film together with his strong and commanding presence; he receives sturdy support from the gorgeous Agostina Belli as sweet and helpful reporter Sara Golan, Romolo Valli as helpful priest Charrier, Anthony Quayle as the pragmatic Professor Griffith, Alexander Knox as the respected Professor Ernst Meyer, and Spiros Focas as formidable adversary Harbin. Popping up in nifty bit parts are Virginnia McKenna as Robert's disapproving wife Eva, Adolfo Celli as asylum head Dr. Kerouac, and Geoffrey Keen as a sinister gynecologist. Erico Menczer's slick cinematography gives the picture an impressively polished and expansive look. Ennio Morricone's lush, moody, and shuddery full-scale orchestral score hits the shivery shot. Well worth seeing.

dbdumonteil Some will dismiss it as some parboiled cross between "the omen" and "Rosemary's baby";but Alberto De Martino had become an expert in the subject of ripoff:Sergio Leone ("Centomila Dollari Per Ringo"),Dario Argento (" L'Assassino è Al Telefono") American gangsters in Roma (John Cassavetes in "Roma Come Chicago!!),James Bond ("Missione Speciale Lady Chaplin" "OK Connery" (sic)) .He even made "L'Anti Cristo" (1974) BEFORE "the omen"."Holocaust 2000" is an entertaining nay very entertaining ripoff.It even includes good ideas such as the nuclear power plant and the Apocalypse Beast or the mathematic riddle 2V231 (2 times square root of 231).Whereas the demon in "the omen" moved in the political field ,the new Antichrist wants to destroy man which has already invented his doom with his own weapons :the nukes .The anti-nukes demonstrations on the street were common in those years ;so the movie contains a 'message' of easily digestible proportions ;great care is taken with the screenplay and the actors CAN act ,which is not always true with this cheap cinema:Kirk Douglas is very professional,but the standout is unquestionably Simon Ward as Angel: he succeeds in being disturbing without losing his Buddah smile and his cold look gives the jitters ;he 's truly got an angel face.

MARIO GAUCI There's no question about it: Italian film-makers used to make the most enjoyable crap – and this one is a prime example. Whenever a Hollywood movie became a runaway box office success, the Italians would waste no time in making their own carbon copy of it and, in this field, director Alberto De Martino was one of the top "go to" guys in the country; having recently made his own "pasta" versions of THE GODFATHER (1972) and THE EXORCIST (1973) – in THE COUNSELLOR (1973) and THE ANTICHRIST (1974) respectively – it was natural for him to be entrusted with concocting an Italianized clone of THE OMEN (1976). As it happens, this was an Italo-British co-production (as that impressively star-studded cast can attest) and the end result is, as I said, far more enjoyable than a half-arsed imitation has any right to be.The film's ageing American star, Kirk Douglas (in the first of 4 horror/sci-fi outings he did in quick succession – the others being Brian De Palma's disappointing THE FURY [1978], the maligned-but-fair SATURN 3 [1980] and THE FINAL COUNTDOWN [1980], which I haven't watched in ages), does have one up on Gregory Peck from THE OMEN in that he gets to share a nude love scene with leading lady Agostina Belli! The rest of the cast, unsurprisingly, is a mix of established Brits and Italians: Geoffrey Keen, Alexander Knox (as the requisite professor who unravels the diabolical scheme and who's given a memorably subtle death scene), Virginia McKenna (like in the subsequent BLOOD LINK [1982], also from De Martino, she's killed off during the opening scenes!), Anthony Quayle, Simon Ward (effectively cast as a cold-blooded Antichrist), as well as Adolfo Celi and Romolo Valli (playing the equally indispensable and ill-fated priest).The plot comes up with an ingenious modernization of the Apocalypse prophecies, illustrating a plausible analogy between mythical and modern monsters. Among the film's most notable sequences is Douglas' surreal nightmare (in which he's stranded stark naked in the desert, witnesses the demons rising from the sea and is haunted by the presence of a religious fanatic in a Diabolik-like outfit!) and one where a Middle Eastern political leader – opposed to industrial progress – gets the top of his head chopped off by a helicopter blade (thus anticipating the more celebrated moment in George A. Romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD [1978]). Once again, Ennio Morricone's score may sound overly-familiar (given that he composed THE ANTICHRIST and also EXORCIST II – THE HERETIC [1977])…but there's no denying that it serves the taut proceedings admirably.Ultimately, though, the film results in not being at all scary: for one thing, the Antichrist has no direct relation to the 'accidental' deaths of those who stand in his way; also, he's left pretty much to his own devices (with no diabolical helpers as in THE OMEN), yet, nobody ever seems to question his decisions. Besides, there's no explanation as to just how Ward became "the chosen" (one of the titles by which the film's also known, as seen in an alternate opening sequence included on the DivX copy I watched) – in THE OMEN, at least, it was a case of babies exchanged at birth! Other narrative flaws: why is the Agostina Belli character afraid of entering a church – considering that the child she's carrying turns out not to be the Antichrist after all (as Douglas himself had feared)?; the second scene in the psycho ward (with the religious fanatic going berserk and inciting his fellow inmates to kill Douglas) is baffling and somewhat redundant – since the latter has, by this time, become aware of Ward's true intentions! The film concludes rather abruptly with the fairly ludicrous – and pretentious – suggestion of a new 'Holy Family'; I much preferred the alternate ending also found on the (once again) problematic DivX copy I have, after missing out on this title more than I care to remember on Italian TV over the years: while admittedly conventional, at least, we're shown Douglas willing to keep up the fight the only way he knows how – through violence. Finally, I have to wonder what's holding up the film's release on DVD; it doesn't seem to be available in any region and, while no classic, it's eminently watchable – apart from being, definitely, a commercially viable item (especially for fans of "Euro-Cult")...