"They Came from the Hills, No Radiation Sickness." "Yep, Five More Good Ones."

Panic in Year Zero!, 1962. Three Stars.

I am crazy for sci-fi movies, and I am especially mad for apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic themes. I totally dug this movie!

Firstly, I love the use of Agency Open in the title screen! (I'm a graphic designer, and I am really into typefaces, and I currently have a crush on Agency, and particularly Agency Open!!). And I love the jazzy music used in the movie. The story line was interesting to me (of course), even though the execution wasn't the best. I like watching old sci-fi movies to see how the concepts and themes that are around today first originated, so I don't care if technology, special effects, script-writing abilities, acting talent, or visualization in general back then wasn't so hot. It's still cool!

The acting in this isn't very stellar. The character of the teenage girl, Karen, is tragically underwritten (but I like that she refers to the end of the civilization is "a drag," haha!), and the father character, Harry, is almost annoyingly excitable. I only realized that Frankie Avalon was in the movie once the credits rolled. The only thing I remember him in is Pee-Wee's Playhouse Christmas Special! I grew up in the 80's. My fam still gets together to watch is at least once a year, it rules!

So, I still enjoyed this movie. I might even watch it again at some point in my life. Very worth it for peeps who like the end-of-the-world genre to check it out.

An important thing I almost forgot to mention: The title of this movie is so cool!! Even though in the movie, the governments of the world seem to arbitrarily call their situation "Year Zero." But they probably realized how cool "Year Zero" sounds, and who can blame them for having similar logic as me, haha! Fun fact: Since watching this movie earlier today, I've had "Panic in Detroit" by David Bowie stuck in my head... Because the song and movie have almost the same titles and because I'm a nerd like that.