VAMPIRO’S VIDEO VAULT presents...
Satanists! Mad Monks! Hypnotists! Discos! And Nazis?
THE NIGHTMARE NEVER ENDS (1980)
(a.k.a. CATACLYSM)
An exclusive TheHorrorDrunx.com article
by
EL VAMPIRO
Following the popularity of big studio Horror movies like ROSEMARY’S BABY (1968), THE EXORCIST (1973) and THE OMEN (1976) came a flood of what can only be termed "Smart Satan" movies. Some were better than others, but this film which came toward the end of the cycle had an exploitation weirdness all it’s own. It gets even weirder when you realize it was written by the same screenwriter that had scribed the big studio, big budget religious epic KING OF KINGS (1961). I guess instead of being lumped into the "Smart Satan" movies, THE NIGHTMARE NEVER ENDS might be a better fit in the "Dumb-onic Devil" category.
First released in theaters as CATACLYSM in 1980, the alternate title THE NIGHTMARE NEVER ENDS only seemed to pop up later when the movie somehow slipped into the public domain and was released on home video by several different companies. So that is the title you will most probably find it under on DVD or tv. It also used the title SATAN’S SUPPER some places.
THE STORY (without spoilers): A writer (Richard Moll from tv’s NIGHT COURT and the 1986 Horror movie HOUSE, billed here as Charles Moll) releases a book called "God Is Dead". His wife, a devout Christian starts having flashbacks of demons and Nazi’s. A famous Jewish Nazi-hunter recognizes a former S.S. officer that hasn’t aged a day and hangs out in discos. Satanist’s and demons start to kill people. Crazy defrocked Monks start stalking people. Strange secrets are revealed. Then actor Cameron Mitchell as a police detective tries to make sense of it all.
If it sounds like an exploitation movie mess, it is. Surprising from Philip Yordan, who wrote screenplays for the religious epic KING OF KINGS (1961), HOUDINI (1953 starring Tony Curtis), EL CID (1961 starring Charlton Heston) and even horror classic DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS (1962 using the writing alias Bernard Gordon). If I was Philip Yordan I’d have used an alias for this movie and taken credit for DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS.
Part of the reason for the patched together mess is revealed when you realize that for some reason the movie had three directors! That is one director for each of its three titles...
1. Tom McGowan, who also directed episodes of THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISNEY
2. Gregg Tallas, who also directed PREHISTORIC WOMEN (1950)
3. Phillip Marshak, who also directed the X-Rated DRACULA SUCKS (1979)
Talk about three directors with drastically different styles! Disney to Porn in one movie! No wonder this movie is so full of weirdo jump cuts!
Major parts of this movie were also edited into another mess called NIGHT TRAIN TO TERROR (1985 a.k.a. SHIVER) a horror anthology patch-job about God and Satan riding on a train discussing human lives and which will get their souls. Footage from another film called CARNIVAL OF FOOLS (1983) and the unfinished SCREAM YOUR HEAD OFF are also edited into NIGHT TRAIN TO TERROR.
It looks like writer Philip Yordan took a few bad turns and fell into some bad company since his KING OF KINGS days.
Oh, before I forget, the end credits of THE NIGHTMARE NEVER ENDS list the film as shot in La Jolla and San Diego California as well as Salt Lake City, Utah. That is one city for each director and each title. But wait a minute, there was also footage shot in Las Vegas Nevada in this film, and that town isn’t credited. Aww, the heck with it! What a mess!
If you want to blame someone, just blame yourself... Because in the SPECIAL THANKS credit at the end it says "And all those who are not listed here". So that includes you and I and our great Aunt Tilly... We are all included in that catch all credit! So if someone ever asks you if you have any movie credits, you can say you got special thanks in the credits of THE NIGHTMARE NEVER ENDS and make up any damn lie you want for the reason why. Personally though, I wouldn’t want this movie on my list of credits for some reason. Neither would Philip Yordan if he was still alive to protest it.
This movie is interesting, in its own watching-a-train-wreck way, but you would NOT want to buy it on DVD for your collection by any means. If anything, if you HAVE to see it, NetFlix it or rent it. Just don’t rent the TROMA version, because that company doesn’t deserve your money and should be boycotted. Troma releases every public domain film they can lay their hands on, and several other films that aren’t public domain that they don’t even have the rights to. I don't know what you call that, but what it is and what I and severa film makers they've ripped off (and The Federal Bureau of Investigation aka The F.B.I.) call it is FILM PIRACY and BOOTLEGGING. That is one of the lowest things you can do to other artists. So fuck TROMA amd "Uncle" Lloyd Kaufman. We don’t support companies that rip off film makers, even if that film is as much of a mixed-up mess as THE NIGHTMARE NEVER ENDS a.k.a. CATACLYSM.
Poor Philip Yordan. You know a movie is really truly bad when I don't bother to find and include photos from it.
"My name is Vampiro and I am a Horror Drunx"
EL VAMPIRO
TheHorrorDrunx.com Staff Writer
Parts Unknown
January 2010
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