Hellfire Video Club: LAST HUMANS ON EARTH??

Geoff Murphy, 1985, New Zealand

Maybe the ultimate post-apocalyptic lone-man-on-earth flick. Where better than the lush open landscapes of New Zealand to spend your final lonely days?

When depressed scientist Zac wakes suddenly one morning at exactly 6.12am, he finds everyone and everything (animals and all) mysteriously absent. Could it be something to do with the mysterious ‘project flashlight’ global energy grid he has been working as a part of? Will he ever find anyone else alive? If he does, will he still be sane enough to speak to them?

For a film where a decent chunk of the run time focusses on just one character, ‘The Quiet Earth’ gets its pacing spot on. The meandering vibe and melancholy but humorous tone hits the right note, and it’s cerebral without ever getting too dry. Something of an NZ classic.

Jim McBride, 1971, USA

Glen and Randa are amongst a few survivors of a ravaged earth, living in a make-shift commune, learning about the world as it was via the few random artefacts which have somehow survived the blast. Eventually they set off on a quest to find ‘Metropolis’, which they believe to be an advanced civilisation, rather than a made-up story from a comic book. Oops.

Very much a hippie-era take on a post-apocalypse ‘survivors’ scenario. Our lead pair are either wondrous innocents, or daft-as-a-brush irritants, depending on your tolerance I suppose. Complete with an amiably loose structure, copious nudity (enough to earn the dreaded ‘X’ rating in its day), and a choice soundtrack of atonal analogue synth gloop.

…and if you think being the last survivor(s) on earth might be boring as well as lonely, here are a couple of honorary choices, for those like us who can’t resist the slow moving stupor induced by grade Z, zoned out weirdness.

Ciro Ippolito (aka ‘Sam Cromwell’), 1980, Italy

This Italian cheapie tried to pass itself off as a genuine sequel to the original ‘Alien’ when it was released back in 1980. Needless to say, it bears little resemblance to Ridley Scott’s classic, as it mainly concerns a bunch of potholers clambering around in a cave in near darkness (you often get a very literal sense of this when there is nothing on the screen AT ALL for surprisingly lengthy periods — I think due to cheap photography rather than any kind of experimental impulse). Had to include it here though for its climax, where the survivors emerge from their subterranean ordeal only to find all human life vanished. Cue a few surprisingly effective (for such a cheap, pre CGI movie) shots of the empty city. This made a big impression on me as a kid. It’s doubtful it’ll do the same for any sane adults (especially given I’ve just revealed the ‘surprise’), but what the heck. It did (and still does) it for me. Sort of.

Eligio Herrero, 1983, Spain

Taking place without dialogue, this utterly ridiculous Spanish zonk fest takes the ‘final survivors’ theme to its logical conclusion. Meaning we get 3 ‘human animals’ (two men, one woman) seemingly reduced to grunting and gurning primitives after the bomb, running amok on blasted, black sand landscapes (Canary Isles, looking the part), getting attacked by crabs, fighting, fucking (lots of sex), befriending a dog, a dog befriending them (ahem), and in one inexplicable scene, busting air guitar moves on top of a mountain. Soundtrack consists of endless wind and random noises. The whole vibe is gonzo, and transgressive, meaning at times you are concerned for what’s coming next (in between dozing off that is). Obscure as they come (I think maybe it was released once on VHS, in Australia). Hmmmm. This is what we live for.

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