Bezenby I'd only just heard of this one when it popped up on the Horror Channel, but knowing it was an Italian Omen rip-off I just had to watch it. It's got Kirk Douglas in it, and knowing how well he faired in the brilliant Master Touch, I had to see how things worked out for him in an Italian horror. After a title sequence full of real footage of starving and sick children (thanks, Alberto De Martino!), we find Kirk playing a businessman working on a project to build some sort of thermonuclear reactor in some unknown North African country. Before he starts blowing things up to level the ground, he finds a cave with the word IESUS written on it, but then blows it up anyway. So starts a change of events that manages to be slightly scary, daft, and hilarious all at the same time. Some guy turns up at a dinner party and tries to kill Kirk, but his son Angel grapples with the fella and his wife, who was against the project, gets a knife in the guts instead. You know how in the Omen folks who twigged what was going on ended up getting killed? Well, the happens here too. Kirk ends up visiting the stabby guy at an asylum which leads to a punch up between the inmates and the staff (brilliant), and then learns that the new Prime Minister of the country his project is in is against the project. Don't worry about him though, for he's about to lose the top of his head to a helicopter. Kirk has his own revelation between the image of a six-headed hydra and the six domes of his reactor which goes on for so long we were howling with laughter. Add to that the IESUS turning up as SUSEI and becoming a mathematical formula that relates to the medical records of a character and the film zooms off into ridiculous country. By this time folks are practically running up to Kirk and shouting "Stop the project! Antichrist! Six heads etc" while Kirk meets a priest who tells him that his second child is the antichrist, but is that his unborn child or his son Angel, who had a twin that died in the womb? Kirk eventually twigs after we see him have a dream where he's running around in the scud while the 'six heads – six reactors' thing starts again, which leads to another punch up in the loony bin (and someone getting their head caved in). Will evil win or will Kirk triumph? The film's cop out non-ending is a bit of a downer, but if you've seen any of Alberto De Martino's other films (like Blancheville Monster or Crime Boss) you'll know that Alberto is never in a hurry to get to the good stuff. This film was a good laugh, and beautiful to look at, but it was more funny than scary. You also get to see Kirk's arse, if that's your thing. Also - great Ennio Morricone soundtrack.

comeunmadrigale As a fan of European horror and cult cinema in general, I can tell that this in one of THE very best produced movies coming from Italy in the seventies. An incredible cast (Kirk Douglas, Agostina Belli, Simon Ward etc, Anthony Quayle; Massimo Foschi etc) doing their all. I've always been a fan of Kirk Douglas, and this is definitely one of his finest (and odd) roles. A wonderful and scary Italian horror classic that has to be seen. Far too underrated I'd say! Also - check for Massimo Foschi, who does an incredible job in this movie. Easily one of the best Italian actors from this period.Thanks for bringing us a masterpiece, Alberto!

Jonathon Dabell Holocaust 2000 represents two things. It is the director's attempt to cash in on the huge success of The Omen. It is also Kirk Douglas's attempt to get a wider, younger audience back on his side by flirting with the horror genre.The film is a mess, with Douglas playing the unsuspecting father whose business plans for a thermonuclear plant in the Middle East are enormously unpopular. His son, Simon Ward (a real Michael Caine lookalike in this film), is his closest ally when it comes to trying to build the plant, but what Douglas hasn't figured out is that his son is the embodiment of the AntiChrist, and that he only wants it built so that he can destroy mankind. Various people get killed (especially anyone who stands in the way of the plot) before Douglas figures it all out, but by then everyone thinks he is mad and he can't stop the completion of the plant. However, he does manage to escape and thus lives to fight another day.The film never pushes the audience out of their comfort zone. It poses no thought provoking questions, no ominous atmosphere, and no originality. The performances are surprisingly good considering that the material is so poor. A couple of the killings are well filmed, especially the colonel who is beheaded by a helicopter rotor blade, but some of them are a bit unconvincing. The film's one sex scene is quite erotic (surprisingly so considering the age gap between Douglas and his co-star Agostina Belli) but that hardly makes it worth watching. All in all, this is a missed opportunity.

emm The end is near! Citizens protest! Worldwide panic spreads across the globe! A nuclear holocaust threatens us all! The monstrous beast will rise from the ocean to consume all life! Earth will become a scorched wasteland!Who ought to care about why the hell this movie punctuates so much on the Apocalypse? The Italians certainly had been ashamed of making this film in the first place! Even our priests who run the churches would be in for a mass uproar about the falsity this delivers. But heck, this is the movies!Words cannot describe this sordid, terrible drama, acting more of a drunken Shakespearean play about nuclear fear than anything else. A poor planning in developing a good story and lousy writing makes this the perfect glass of sour milk. One of our best well-known movie stars, Kirk Douglas, has a few embarrassing performances, one of which is when he stands out naked in front of visions of rising monsters from the ocean. Also, it makes a failed attempt at showing off any suspenseful magic about the supernatural. Either it is Douglas who thinks the Great Flood has come, or just a coincidence of Mother Nature rising the ocean tide.The movie actually gets a further beating on trying to be a meaningless horror / splatter film, which wants to show off uselessly. HOLOCAUST 2000 is good if you want to see Kirk Douglas star in a movie so horrifying in its pitiful execution and directing skills. What does this movie want to be when it fouls up? A DOOMSDAY BOMB!