WHERE
HAVE ALL THE
PEOPLE GONE?

		Review by Kelly Parks
THANK YOU TIP JAR WHERE HAVE ALL THE PEOPLE GONE? - 1974 USA Release: October 8, 1974 Alpine Productions, Jozak Company, Metromedia Producers Corporation (MPC) Rated: N/A

Sometimes a really good idea gets executed in a really unfortunate way and is thereby lost forever. Well, lost forever, unless someone comes along and points it out and keeps that good idea in the collective unconscious. Yes, I guess that does make me a hero.

WHERE HAVE ALL THE PEOPLE GONE? was directed by John Llewellyn Moxey (THE CITY OF THE DEAD, THE NIGHT STALKER [TV], ) and written by Lewis John Carlino (THE MECHANIC, RESURRECTION) and Sandor Stern (THE AMITYVILLE HORROR [1979], PIN, AMITYVILLE: THE EVIL ESCAPES). The story begins with Steve Anders (Peter Graves: ADDAMS FAMILY VALUES, HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL [1999], MEN IN BLACK II), his wife Barbara (Jay W. MacIntosh: THE HAUNTING OF SEA CLIFF END [TV]) and their adult son David (George O’Hanlon, Jr.: SCHLOCK, THE EVIL) and adult daughter Deborah (Kathleen Quinlan: EVENT HORIZON, THE HILLS HAVE EYES [2006]) on vacation. Barbara leaves to continue her medical research but the rest of the family stays to do some caving.

It's while the family is in the cave that their friend Jim Clancy (Noble Willingham: THE HOWLING) sees the sky suddenly get much brighter for a few seconds. This odd event is immediately followed by an earthquake which sends Steve and his children running from the cave.

Jim gets sick, the radio is nothing but static and nobody responds to their CB radio, so the family decides to carry Jim to the nearest town, but within a day he dies and then his body disintegrates into dust. What the hell is going on?

Steve's son David is a physics major and it's clear he has his suspicions but he doesn't want to talk about it. The whole family is dedicated to reaching Malibu, California to find Barbara.

At first they find empty towns and piles of dust-covered clothes. But there are other survivors. Will they help, or will they have plans of their own?

I can't tell you that but I can provide a refreshing

!!!SCIENCE MOMENT!!!:
I can't say too much because the discovery of what happens is pivotal to the story. So what I will say is that the one event is a well known possible cause of the other and I have no problem with the science here. It's perfectly sound.

What's not so sound is the fact that this is a really cool story idea trapped in a low budget, cheesy made-for-TV movie. There are moments of heart-breaking drama mixed in with bad sound effects and black cats that jump out of nowhere. If I had the money I would seriously buy the rights to this story and re-make it into an awesome post-apocalyptic nightmare. But I'm reviewing the movie that is, not the movie I will make someday. That's why the best I can give WHERE HAVE ALL THE PEOPLE GONE? is three shriek girls.

This review copyright 2008 E.C.McMullen Jr.

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