Post-nuclear-war dramas centering on a small group of survivors now constitute an entire genre in science-fiction films. All of them, in some way or another, can be traced back to this seminal film from 1951 in which five people deal with the possibility they are the only human beings left alive on the planet. While most of the later movies exploited this possibility for B-movie thrills, Five adopts a quiet, contemplative tone which some may find dull but which thoughtful viewers are more likely to find, for want of a better word, haunting. There is something about this movie which gets under the skin and which lurks in the corners of the mind long after it's over.
Upon arrival to Venus, cosmonauts find furious volcanoes and sundry prehistoric beasts in Klushantev's film, based on a novel by the Soviet sci-fi writer Aleksandr Kazantsev. Footage has been recycled in three Corman productions Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet, Queen of Blood, and Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (the directorial debut of Peter Bogdanovich). 83mi
The pic is set in the aftermath of an apocalyptic event that forces people into extreme isolation. A father (Moyer) and son (Van Acker), who have been living off grid for 20 years, encounter an outsider (Silverstone) who threatens to destroy the utopia they’ve built.