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When Harry Baldwin (Ray Milland, The Lost Weekend) takes his family on a fishing trip, their holiday is brutally interrupted as a catastrophic atomic war breaks out, destroying their suburban Los Angeles home. What remains of the United Nations announces on the radio that society has broken down, and the Baldwins realise that they must quickly learn how to navigate this new ‘year zero’, and do whatever it takes in order to survive. Milland stars alongside teen idol Frankie Avalon as well as directing this bleak and visceral apocalypse thriller, described as ‘the most expressive on-the-ground nightmare of the cold-war era’ (Village Voice).

LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES

Mastered in HD from the 35mm fine grain positive by MGM

Uncompressed mono PCM audio

Audio commentary by critic Richard Harland Smith (2016)

New interview with Kim Newman (2024)

Ray Milland archival interview (1972)

Atomic Shock! - An interview with filmmaker Joe Dante (2016, 9 mins)

Trailer

Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

Reversible sleeve featuring designs based on original posters

Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by film critic Christina Newland
Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings

I thought this was fine, but didn't really live up to my expectations. The performances are indeed great, and I love Milland's very earnest performance of a family man who sort of breaks down and breaks his own moral code in order to protect his family. And the film has a lot of resonance for today's political climate, as things start to go south, so many people become a hustler you don't know who you can trust. Where the film loses me is at the end I'm left feeling...that's it? The film seems to unflinchingly stand by Milland's decisions, and even if he made mistakes along the way, it validates his conduct sort of without question. The lack of ambiguity in the ending really rubbed me the wrong way.

Drucker wrote: Fri Jan 09, 2026 2:43 pm Where the film loses me is at the end I'm left feeling...that's it? The film seems to unflinchingly stand by Milland's decisions, and even if he made mistakes along the way, it validates his conduct sort of without question. The lack of ambiguity in the ending really rubbed me the wrong way.

If Milland had significant control of the project as director-star, it may have reflected his own self-righteous conservatism. In his 1974 autobiography he describes his horror at discovering his dentist was gay (somehow he noticed him in drag at a GLF convention). "Needless to say, he's not my dentist anymore. But I watch the new one I've got very carefully. I mean, a thing like that can really shake you..."