The Day the World Ended

{{Infobox television

| image = DVD cover of the movie The Day the World Ended.jpg

| image_size = 220

| image_alt =

| caption = DVD cover

| genre =

| creator =

| based_on =

| writer =

| screenplay = Max Enscoe
Annie deYoung

| story = Brian King

| director = Terence Gross

| starring = Nastassja Kinski
Randy Quaid
Bobby Edner

| narrated =

| theme_music_composer = Charles Bernstein

| country = United States

| language = English

| num_episodes =

| producer = Lou Arkoff
Colleen Camp
Stan Winston

| editor = Stephen Mark

| cinematography = Mark Vargo

| runtime = 91 minutes

| company = Creature Features Productions

| budget =

| network = Cinemax

| released = {{Start date|2001|11|23}}

}}

The Day the World Ended is a 2001 American science fiction/horror television film and is the fourth in the Creature Features series broadcast on Cinemax. It stars Nastassja Kinski, Randy Quaid, and Bobby Edner.

While not being a direct remake of the 1955 film with a similar title (Day the World Ended), it utilizes the original film by showing segments on a TV seen within the story and showing that the VHS video box cover as part of the child's interest in aliens. Some scenes were filmed in Wrightwood, California.

Plot

This film finds an alien, who is misunderstood, bent on hunting down and devouring people. A school psychologist, Dr Jennifer Stillman (Nastassja Kinski) investigates the death of a student's mother and finds that the boy (Bobby Edner) believes he is the son of the being. His earthling father (Randy Quaid) is also a doctor, who has the boy in his care and holds that it is all in the boy's imagination.

Cast

Nastassja Kinski as Dr. Jennifer Stillman
Randy Quaid as Dr. Michael McCann
Bobby Edner as Ben Miller/McCann
Harry Groener as Sheriff Ken
Lee de Broux as Cook Harlan (as Lee DeBroux)
Stephen Tobolowsky as Principal Ed Turner
Debra Christofferson as Nurse Della Divelbuss
Nik Dressbach as Buzzcut
Brandon de Paul as Frankie Carter
Kate Fuglei as Waitress Carlita
Neil Vipond as The Judge
Brian Steele as The Creature
David Getz as Deputy #1
Kathryn Fiore as Maggie Miller
David Doty as Nice Guy
Samantha Sansonetti as Crosswalk Child #1

Production

Produced by Stan Winston, Colleen Camp and Samuel Z. Arkoff's son, Lou Arkoff, as a series of cable TV movies which remade many movies originally by American International Pictures, although this film has little in similarity to the original, Day the World Ended, other than its title, and some clips from the first film seen on a TV and the VHS video box cover of the film as part of the child's interest in aliens.{{cite web | url=https://www.moriareviews.com/sciencefiction/day-the-world-ended-2001.htm | title=The Day the World Ended (2001) | date=27 November 2001 }} another reason Stan Winston remade this film was he'd had worked with AIP in their last years providing special effects for The Bat People (1974) and to start a toy line which included action figures from the film.{{cite web|url=http://cinefantastiqueonline.com/2008/06/16/interview-stan-winstons-creates-creature-features/|title=Stan Winston's Creature Features|author=Biodrowski, Steve|date=June 2001|website=Cinefantastique|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081012172005/http://cinefantastiqueonline.com/2008/06/16/interview-stan-winstons-creates-creature-features/|archive-date=October 12, 2008|access-date=2008-06-18}}{{cite web |last=Biodrowski |first=Steve |title=Archive Interview: Stan Winston's Creature Features |url=http://cinefantastiqueonline.com/2008/06/interview-stan-winstons-creates-creature-features/|website=Cinefantastique Online |date=June 16, 2008 |publisher=Steve Biodrowski|accessdate=13 July 2015 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150714030757/http://cinefantastiqueonline.com/2008/06/interview-stan-winstons-creates-creature-features/ |archivedate=July 14, 2015}}

Release

The film was released on Cinemax on November 23, 2001.

Reception

One review said, "It may be far from what Nastassja Kinski is capable of, but DAY THE WORLD ENDED is a fine film in its own right. Genuinely creepy and a real find for people who can't decide between psychological terror and popcorn-munching exploitation.".{{cite web |last1=Davis |first1=Scott |title=The Day the World Ended |url=https://www.horrorexpress.com/moviereview/day-the-world-ended-(2001) |website=Horror Express |accessdate=19 June 2020}} Moria gave the movie 2 out of 5 stars, finding the movie the dullest of the Creature Feature Series.{{Cite web|url=https://www.moriareviews.com/sciencefiction/day-the-world-ended-2001.htm|title=The Day the World Ended (2001)|date=27 November 2001}}