Doomsday Machine (1972)

Doomsday Machine (1972) – China has built a machine to destroy the Earth!

Doomsday Machine (1972) – Spies discover that the Red Chinese have built a “doomsday machine” capable of destroying the surface of the Earth, and that they plan to use it within a matter of days. Meanwhile, Project Astra, a manned U.S. space mission to Venus, is in its final hours before launch when it is taken over by the military and nearly half of its all-male crew is replaced by women. The reason for this becomes apparent when, shortly after Astra leaves orbit, the Earth is completely destroyed in a global cataclysm! Is the human race doomed? What dangers and wonders await the crew of the Astra on their journey to Venus?

This is a movie that has something of a multiple split personality, it has a very authentic 1950’s B-movie Sci-fi feel flowing through the narrative, a lovely vibrant kaleidoscopic 1960’s visual look to it and finally something of a 1970’s style voice-over and credit sequence. It is all in all, an enjoyable but at the same time a rather confusing and fragmented experience. And yet, And yet…..it still makes for a largely enjoyable cinematic experience. Yes there will be some that say that the final segment, which is quite obviously the lazy and somewhat botched attempt to add an ending (yes ‘Roll ‘Em’, I’m looking at you, matey) dilutes what up to that point had been a confident exercise in character development (albeit, b-movie character development). And yes, some of those people will also point out to a plethora of inconsistencies and illogical sequences throughout the film. However for me, these problems don’t retract from the experience of watching a movie like The Doomsday machine, on the contrary, they add to the experience. – 5D The Fifth Dimension

Director: Harry Hope
Starring: Bobby Van, Ruta Lee, Mala Powers