Cataclysm (1980) User Reviews

Weird but rather fun horror/thriller flick..

[Lovechild_77 · 5/10 · 27 December 2005]

Cataclysm ranks among those weird el cheapo horror movies that boomed during the 70s and 80s when independent film-making had became common due to lower prices in movie equipments. Often with interesting stories these small movie productions tried to create cinematic moments which their small budget's barely could handle without leaving a bad taste afterwards. But, if you can look beyond the cheap impressions of these movies and understand their intentions and what they tried to achieve with a very small budget, you can appreciate the result anyway. As I use to say, as long as there is an honest intention, thought and an interesting story, movies like this one can be appreciated. It's easy to laugh about though, but one must know that these filmmakers often experimented with ideas that would probably not have seen the light if it was produced by Hollywood.

Anyhow, back to this movie. The story is quite simple actually. An old man hunts a young man who seems to have been in all kind of wars many years back in time, but this guy hasn't aged a bit since. We learn that this man is Satan or at least is a very powerful evil spirit. The old man lost his whole family in the WW2 where this evil fellow was a nazi commander. A policeman gets involved in the drama and continues the hunt after the old man dies mysteriously trying to attack the evil dude. The movie ends with the evil fellow escaping the hospital where he's been brought by a Christian woman who tries to kill him. It's pretty logical because only God can kill Satan and the evil will continue as long as God accepts this. What's more illogical is that these people tries to kill this evil man, albeit he's impossible to kill, failing one by one.

The movie itself offers a lot of wooden acting and only a few scares which actually isn't that scary. You rarely see any gruesome scenes and much of the horror is more like indications of horror. For example you see the evil man's goat leg which will have you to believe that he really is a demon or Satan himself. Things like that occurs all through the movie and it's probably because the budget was so low. So, would I recommend this rarely seen movie to anyone? Heck yeah! If you like strange horror movies, obscure occult stuff that isn't too over the top but makes you think a bit, then yeah look this one up. This review refers to the VHS release. I've seen this movie released on DVD under the name 'The Nightmare Never Ends'.

Add this one to you horror collection, in the obscure section that is!

Lousy, yes, but not without charm.

[Vafthrudnir · 5/10 · 11 May 2004]

Ah, Cataclysm, The Nightmare Never Ends... a turkey by any other name, Romeo, would gobble just as loudly. And this one's a Thanksgiving feast of epic proportions. It suffers from production values so low you have to go digging in the dirt to find them, from the sound (awful) to picture quality (atrocious) to the acting (Faith Clift saves the rest of the cast; by giving the single worst performance I have ever seen on screen, she almost makes the rest look merely mediocre by comparison). Entire scenes are washed out in a black muddle by some truly godforsaken camera-work, the dialogue is laughable... and so on, runneth the litany of complaints. But, I kinda liked it, and part of the reason I criticize so harshly is to prevent accusations of bad taste. That said, the most startling thing about this movie is that the committed horror fan (you know who you are) will find some truly unsettling moments, some real, honest-to-God creeps. They're few and far between, but they are there, and make the rest of the movie -- let's not say "good", that's a little overboard, but at least *fun*. It's quirky and surreal enough at times to see where a little talent and a vastly reworked script might have resulted in a rare gem. It had the potential to be more Session 9 than Plan 9, and if it failed, it will at least make you nostalgic for the good old days when terrible horror movies had miniscule budgets, rather than unforgivably large ones. (Anyone here see Ghost Ship? My condolences.) Part train wreck and part cubic zirconia in the rough, bad enough to hurt but not without its occasional spark, this is one that every fan of obscure horror needs to hunt down for that late-night viewing with a bag of chips and a six-pack.

A disjointed, poorly acted film, but creepy and bizzare.

[shrike22 · 3/10 · 29 April 2000]

I rented this film under the title of 'The Nightmare Never Ends'. On the surface this film appears to be pure amateur. The acting is quite horrendous on many occasions. The character of Weiss played Marc Lawrence is a Nazi hunter, who mumbles throughout the picture (that's until he's bumped off). Cameron Mitchell plays a detective who investigates Weiss's death. He starts to follow a rich playboy, played eerily by Richard Bristol. He begins to suspect that Olivier is responsible. Another subplot involves Charles Moll who plays a professor. He writes a book called 'God is Dead', which starts a controversy. Rich playboy, Olivier, approaches him. Bristol is basically the devil's representative on earth. A crazy monk approaches Moll's wife, played by Faith Clift (who could not act if her life depended on it). He warns her that her husband is being seduced by satan. People start dying left and right as they attempt to stop Olivier and his minions. Even though the film suffers from poor dubbing, synching (it feels like you're watching an old Hong Kong Kung Fu flick), the film has a sense of dread from beginning to end that grabbed me. It doesn't have a happy ending. And that's the way I like it.

a truly terrible movie in almost every way; a disaster, a Cataclysm if you will

[FieCrier · 1/10 · 3 October 2005]

I had originally seen this on video as The Nightmare Never Ends, and recently watched it on video as Satan's Supper. Evidently these two versions, and the version titled Cataclysm are all slightly different. Additionally, this movie was edited down to form one third of the wretched horror anthology Night Train to Terror.

Night Train to Terror can be found on DVD. Nightmare Never Ends is on DVD in a "Troma Triple B-Header" box with two other movies.

I'm not sure how the versions all differ. Evidently Cataclysm begins with James and Claire Hanson going to Las Vegas, where Claire gets hypnotized and had visions of Nazis killing some musicians at a dinner other Nazis are having. I don't recall if Nightmare Never Ends began that way; Satan's Supper begins without the Vegas trip and with the Nazis, and Claire waking up from it as a nightmare.

A Jewish Nazi hunter sees Mr. Oliver on TV who looks like the head Nazi from Claire's dream. He gets a police detective played by Cameron Mitchell to take him to see the man in person. They must spend ten minutes with the Jewish guy insisting he's found his man, and Mitchell saying the man is too young to be the guy from the photo he was shown. The Nazi hunter is incredibly annoying, the worst sort of Jewish stereotype personified x100. He repeats himself incessantly, stuttering and gesturing like an idiot. Not that Mitchell is on the top of his form here either.

Of course, their bad acting has a lot of company in this movie. Moll is pretty dreadful as James Hanson, and Faith Clift playing his wife is like a lobotomized deer in headlights.

The guy playing Mr. Oliver is pretty awful too. He's evidently Satan himself. The monk who tries to warn Hanson is quite awful as well. A number of these people acted in other movies together, including a movie about Joseph Smith and Brigham Young! I can't imagine the horror! James Hanson has written a book "God is Dead" that took him four years. It's a runaway best seller, and he's even allowed time on TV to pitch his message, which is hardly new. Whole families appear to watch him.

For some reason, Mr. Oliver thinks Hanson would like to work for/serve him. Since an atheist no more believes in the devil than god (as Hanson in fact repeatedly says), this makes not a lick of sense.

The movie is terribly shot, terribly edited, terribly acted, and at the base of it all, terribly scripted. It is a worthless movie. I'm quite curious as to the story behind its making, how it wound up with three directors, and how there came to be so many versions of it.

Disjointed and uninteresting

[mikelcat · 3/10 · 22 February 2008]

This ''film'' is seemingly a collection of unrelated scenes strung together by three different directors who must have hated each other and the business of film-making . Faith Clift the lead actress looks and acts like a dead zombie who's been lobotomized and then drugged , Charles (Richard) Moll , with the ever changing wigs looks and sounds lost , Marc Lawerence in a dual role is horrible in both ''roles'' and finally Robert Bristol the prissy Satan rep on earth is about as scary as whipped cream . The nightmare however does end , but only after you've suffered a wasted 70 or so mins of this mess .Fans of bad films will enjoy this , it could also be used as an example of how not to make a film .

Satan's Little Helper

[junk-monkey · 1/10 · 31 May 2007]

This film has only one thing going for it and that is Faith Clift. I have not seen any of her other movies but she has entered my Pantheon of all time deliriously awful actors on the strength of this 'performance' alone. I have never before seen an actor get EVERY line of a movie wrong before. OK the script she has to deliver is pretty dire but every single word she utters is so misread it is brilliant. Almost expressionless she just points her piggy little nose in the general direction of someone else in the scene and delivers her lines as if she were reading them off idiot boards two words at a time. She's so gloriously inept she's worth the price of the admission alone. Incidentally, the old lady who says something unintelligible in the bookshop is also called Clift. Faith's mother doing a cameo? I would love to know the story behind the making of this film. Any movie that can get through (at least) three Directors and two Directors of Photography has more potential interest going on behind the camera than in front of it.

The editing was atrocious, some scenes were cut off mid word (the version I watched was called The Nightmare Never Ends in the Nightmare Worlds boxset - this movie has, apparently, been re-edited several times).

Some of the Music was pretty good, but as it was library tracks of Gustaf Holst's Planet Suite that's hardly surprising.

When all said and done a bit of a mess, but at least it's a bit different.

[poolandrews · 4/10 · 5 March 2005]

Nobel prize winning novelist James Hanson (Richard Moll as Charles Moll) & his wife Claire (Faith Clift) who is a Doctor and has been suffering from nightmares lately, both set off for a holiday in Las Vegas. While watching some in house entertainment at a casino Claire is hypnotised by an English clairvoyant named Cecil Howard. Claire suffers a vivid hallucination about a sadistic SS officer named Olivier (Robert Bristol) in a Nazi concentration camp. After the show Claire talks with Howard and invites him to supper. Soon after she leaves Howard is killed by what appears to be a red light (don't ask). Meanwhile a old Jewish man named Abraham Weiss (Marc Lawrence) who is a Nazi hunter spots Olivier on a T.V. programme and recognises him as the man he has been after for years. Weiss immediately tells his story to bitter, overworked police officer Lieutenant Sterne (Cameron Mitchell) who lives just across the hall from him. Sterne agrees to look into Weiss's claims but eventually admits there is nothing he can do, especially after Weiss gives him some newspaper cuttings from 1944 which appear to show Olivier but since the paper is over 30 years old and Olivier would now be in his 60' or 70's and the guy on T.V. is still in his 20's & therefore Weiss's story is psychically impossible. That night Weiss is found dead in a parking lot. Lt. Sterne decides to take a personal interest and investigate even further. Claire is starting to lose her mind. Her husband James is about to publish a book called 'God is dead' in which James claims God does not and never has existed. Claire as a stout Catholic is deeply against the book and tries to convince James not to publish it. Olivier, who runs a cult of Satan worshippers, feels James would be a good person to have on board and attempts to convince James to join him and his organisation. A guy with a beard named Papini (Maurice Grandmaison) tries to warn James about Olivier, Satan and his book denouncing God. Various people die including Claire's nephew Jim (Klint Stevenson), Claire decides that she alone must put an end to Olivier and Satan himself. Claire and Jim's girlfriend Ann (Christie Wagner) conduct a bizarre plan that Claire believes will destroy Olivier for good, but will it succeed?

According to the IMDb's credit list Cataclysm was directed by three separate people, Phillip Marshak, Tom McGowan & Gregg C. Tallas as Greg Tallas. I am not sure if this information is correct but I don't think I've ever heard of a film directed by three different people and maybe that's why it turned out to be a bit of a jumbled up mess. The script by Philip Yordan tries something different and for that it should get at least an extra point. Even though at the end of the day it's still a mess with the story all over the place. Things just happen for little reason, characters aren't that likable and the dialogue in certain scenes isn't up to much. The story becomes occasionally confusing and unfocused. The script comes across as heavy handed at times with it's religious overtones and story arc. Almost as if Yordan wanted to make a thought provoking horror film with a message, obviously it fails, badly. Cataclysm starts out very interesting and draws the viewer in by not revealing too much, too soon. Unfortunately this decision to try and make the plot more mysterious back fires during the middle third as it gets somewhat boring waiting for something to happen but then things explode into a gore drenched finale. The acting is OK for this type of low budget nonsense, except Cift who seems to speak her lines really slowly compared to everyone else. And it's always nice to see genre veteran Cameron Mitchell. Some characters appear dubbed throughout. There is very little, in fact none, blood or gore in the film until the last 10 minutes or so when the red stuff is splashed everywhere. In this sequence there is some real surgery footage in a blood soaked over the top climax to round the film off. I think the film itself was shot on location rather than studio's and has a generally good feel throughout, the production values were much better than I expected. While not brilliant by any stretch of the imagination the photography, editing, special effects, continuity and music are all reasonable enough and I've sat through a lot worse. I'm sure a lot of people will automatically call this film crap as it's an easy target but for those of us who like this sort of off-beat grade-z low budget horror film from days gone by than this one may interest you and is probably worth tracking down. Just because it dares to try something a little different if for no other reason, it doesn't always succeed but at least those involved tried. Overall I'm glad I watched it, certainly not the best film in the world but then did anyone really expect it to be?

A miracle of bad taste......

[palioura · 1/10 · 2 June 2000]

I`ve rented this film from my local video store under the title "Shiver".Until that moment I could never believe that it could exist such a bad movie.All the ingredients of the movie`s recipe are extremelly bad.The actors are playing terribly,the story is ridiculous,the technical part is awful and directing is unexistable.I am sure that I`ve never seen in my life worse movie than this and I am very curious how Philip Yordan ,a brilliant writer had participated in this. As I saw in credits the directors were three.Probably is required a special talent to make a combination of so many bad things.A miracle of bad taste!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Devil Is Loose Again!

[wes-connors · 6/10 · 16 June 2008]

"The investigation into the mysterious death of an aging Nazi war criminal hunter brings a surprising revelation to the cop working on the case. It appears the old man was actually following an individual with ties to the Nazis, who seems to have not aged in appearance in spite of the passage of over 30 (sic) years. The policeman and some other individuals decide to track down the mysterious individual to find out his horrifying secret," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

The appropriately named Faith Clift (as Dr. Claire Hansen) and atheist writer husband Richard "Charles" Moll (as James Hanson) go to sinful Las Vegas to see the shows and promote Mr. Moll's book "God Is Dead". Ms. Clift is troubled by nightmarish dreams about Nazis. Meanwhile, Marc Lawrence (as Abraham Weiss), a blathering Jew, has traced Nazi war criminal Robert Bristol (as Mr. Olivier) to Vegas; and, he reports the finding to police lieutenant Cameron Mitchell (as Sterne). At first, Mr. Mitchell won't believe old Mr. Lawrence, because young Mr. Bristol hasn't aged in 35 years.

"Cataclysm" (aka "Satan's Supper" aka "The Nightmare Never Ends") is a classic "so-bad-it's-good" film. Although others try, nobody in the cast can best Clift's supremely awful performance; her effort is astonishing. Also, watch Mitchell ("High Chaparral") defeat Moll ("Night Court") for best artificial hair. Bristol is delightfully devilish; it's too bad he, Maurice Grandmaison (as Papini), Klint Stevenson (as Jim), and Christie Wagner (as Ann) have so few screen credits; their characterizations are perfect.

Films like this hardly ever have good endings; admittedly, it's truly difficult to appropriately end a story as bad as this one -- but writer Philip Yordan and company come up with a real winner; it may make you want to click your heels… or hooves, as the case may be. See it with an open heart, or liver

woefully bad on every level with some truly effective moments!

[Maciste_Brother · 3/10 · 30 January 2010]

What can be said about THE NIGHTMARE NEVER ENDS? Well, it's NOT a quality film. Everything about it is bad: acting, dialogue, script, cast, cinematography, etc, are all way below average. It's a truly wretched film of cataclysmic proportions. For instance, take the dialogue: Cameron Mitchell says at one point, "I see swastikas swimming in my oatmeal!' which had me rolling on the floor. It's my new all time favorite line of dialogue. In another scene, a vigilante sorts named Papini wants the Nazi war criminal killed. He's been stalking a doctor (played by Faith Clift) and wants her to kill the criminal. One day, Papini storms in her office without her permission and asks her why she didn't kill him when she had the chance. So how does she answer? "I'm a doctor, I cannot kill." That's it. No anger or anything. It's priceless. Faith Clift is the worst actress of all time.

With that being said, the film is totally unforgettable, not just because it's so wonderfully bad but because there are some truly effective moments in it. Yes, even with its staggeringly inept quality there are several moments that elicit real horror or shock. More so than any horror film made these days. The state of horror films today is truly sad when a disaster like this is more effective than 90% of all horrors films made today.

The effective moments come out of nowhere: when someone takes his shoe off...didn't expect that! A nightmare inducing scene; the nightmare sequences are so bizarre and weirdly shot that they're oddly effective; the discotheque is...eh, weird. It makes me more uncomfortable than anything else in the film; the actor who plays the Nazi war criminal is just weird; and last but not least the ending which has to be seen to be believed. My jaw was on the floor.

Needless to say even with those effective moments the film is still crap. Well worth watching if you're a fan of obscure horror flicks or "so bad it's good" movies. Everyone else should abstain.

This much-maligned film is worth a closer look

[bross-1 · 9/10 · 30 July 2001]

I have read other people's reviews of The Nightmare Never Ends, finding the general consensus to be negative. It's true that the acting, directing and editing are below average, even for a horror film (a genre not primarily concerned with reaping cinematic accolades). Despite these deficiencies, there is an engrossing story being told here, one with originality, intelligence and believe it or not, plausibility. The movie concerns the ever popular debate of God's existence (and, conversely, the Devil's). There are characters who have the deepest faith imaginable (ranging from war survivors and little old ladies in bookstores to catholic surgeons and self-indulgent cultists), and those who dismiss divinity as an antiquated notion in light of all that science, police work and human cruelty has shown us. Two men are at the center of this philosophical battle, a sensationalist author out to ruffle America's right-wing feathers and a mysterious, spoiled rich kid who is of interest to cops, young girls and historians alike.

Although this may seem to retread familiar ground, and was churned out at the same time all the other religious thrillers were vying for a spot on the marquee, The Nightmare Never Ends possesses excellent dialogue (if one can look past the poor deliveries by most of the players!), a well-paced script, and plot intricacies that are research supported. Barring some garish disco-era music, clothing and decor, this is a movie that ages well, perhaps even getting better and more relevant as time passes, due to the emphasis on media-assisted hype in the film (television, newspapers, and books are integral, not incidental, to drawing the characters tightly together). Although The Nightmare Never Ends is a supernatural tale, there is a great deal of pertinent social commentary. It proudly, almost haughtily, provides its own stance on the God/Devil debate in a scene of breathtaking glamour and triumph. It makes us as viewers consider where we are headed in this western world, this modern world of excess, indulgence and brutality, where we need a God more than ever. One final note to Internet Movie Database readers: I must take the time to make a few comments about Robert Bristol, who plays Olivier. I was awe-struck by his sensual beauty and magnetism in his performance. Not only did his acting ability transcend that of his co-stars, his screen presence was sublime. He has the grace of an angel, and that face was like something out of a dream. Why this movie didn't catapult him to stardom or at least pin-up status evades me.

Submitted by Penny Dreadful, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

A decent and fun no-budget demonic chiller from yesteryear!

[talisencrw · 6/10 · 11 April 2016]

When I was a teenager, though I wasn't really big on sitcoms (if I watched TV, I primarily enjoyed crime/police/detective stories), I must admit I loved the occasional episode of 'Night Court', though by no means did I watch it enthusiastically or with any regularity. My favourite actor in it was Richard Moll, who had that unique presence of a Richard Kiel, yet was better both in charisma and comic timing.

A few months ago, I saw a crappy horror portmanteau from the 80's ('Night Train to Terror'), of which directors' Marshak, McGowan and Tallas' segment, 'The Case of Claire Hansen', was by far the most interesting and best realized (thanks to 'Hollie Horror' for the info!), yet in the panoramic jetsam of my mind, in watching 3+ films a day, I wondered why I was getting this strange sense of deja vu. It was neat to see the entire work. Moll's face and voice were very familiar, yet he had a full head of hair (he was bald in 'Night Court', for those who don't remember), and his name was listed as 'Charles Moll' in the credits, so I was a tad confused--perhaps it was a brother?--but it ended up being the same person.

The film itself plays upon the same chord as horrific greats from its preceding decade, such as 'The Exorcist', 'The Omen' and 'The Amityville Horror', in which the classic conflict of good vs. evil is fought, and demons from the underworld are its root cause. For a no-budget film, it has a decent sense of atmosphere and mood, interesting actors and cinematography, and a really outstanding climactic scene. The special effects are uneven: Sometimes they are decent, yet sometimes laughingly bad--probably due to having THREE directors involved--usually NOT a good omen for a film, if simply one story is being presented (too many cooks DO spoil the broth, at least cinematically). One exceedingly bad aspect was Faith Clift as the female protagonist, Claire Hansen. Though for her age she was beautiful, her monotone voice was dreadful.

I recommend the film wholeheartedly and with no reservations, if you like horror films and want a good time some evening for 94 minutes.

Raw but Suspenseful

[Hitchcoc · 5/10 · 8 March 2007]

This film has good intentions. There is something lacking, but I't hard to put one's finger on it. This tells the tale of a Satanic figure who passes through time by recreating himself. An Nobel author, played by Richard Moll, Bull from "Night Court" of all people, has written a kind of Scientology book about God being dead. It has received much attention and he becomes of interest to the Satanic figure. The movie starts out with a Nazi hunter engaging the police to help him capture the man who was responsible for the deaths of his family members during the Holocaust. The thing that is always in the way is that if Satan is so powerful, why does he need to do much of anything. If there are people who threaten him (which they obviously can't), why doesn't he just kill them outright. I know he is searching for souls and all that, but his invulnerability makes him relatively uninteresting in this film. He does some things that don't make much sense in the world of the film. The ending is kind of fun, I guess.

Scien..........................tific

[hbeeinc · 2/10 · 6 September 2014]

OMG! This is just...Jesus...where to start?

Take horrible actors, a horrible script and a horribly simplistic theology and you have Cataclysm. To call the performance's wooden is to call a redwood "kinetic". It was the 80's so maybe everybody was on 'ludes.

A devout Catholic surgeon, Claire, marries a Noble Prize winning atheist, James, who writes a book called "God is Dead." This arouses the interest of Satan (or Olivier as he's called here). Papini, a monk and Hagrid stand-in, runs around trying to stop James from being recruited by Satan.

Sparkling dialog commences:

Papini: I took the place of your priest! I told you to kill Olivier! Why didn't you do it?! Claire: I can't kill anyone. I'm a doctor!

And yet, at the end of the movie, there's Claire who, after trying to run over Satan with a car (whuh??) throws him in the trunk, takes him back to the hospital and, as he thrashes about on the operating table, proceeds in an OCD fashion, to cut out his heart so..........she can put it in the microwave. I say "OCD" because the woman who helps her get Satan into the OR suddenly begins stabbing Satan and is summarily slapped for doing so. Protocals in the OR MUST BE FOLLOWED or they mean nothing.

Neither does this movie.

I also bring a message from the Führer: your movie is messed up!

[Coventry · 4/10 · 17 January 2020]

First off, don't watch this film alone! Don't make the same mistake I did, and be sure to watch "Cataclysm" in the company of at least one good buddy, or preferably a whole group of friends. Not because the film is so petrifying, obviously, but for the complete opposite reason. "Cataclysm" is so dumb, so incoherent and generally "so-bad-it's-good", that it'll make guaranteed entertainment for a bunch of like-minded horror lovers! All the necessary ingredients are there, trust me: horribly bad acting performances, totally absurd storylines and plot twists, cheesy early 80s make-up effects, a washed-up Cameron Mitchell, nonsensical dialogues ("I've been staring at these walls so much that I begin to see swastikas in my oatmeal"), Nazi-orgy flashbacks, wooden disco-dancing moves, and the reincarnation of Satan himself in the shape of an Udo Kier look-alike with a very gay haircut. I had seen bits and pieces of "Cataclysm" before, as they got edited into "Night Train to Terror" for some reason, but the full-length version is definitely worth seeking out. Oh, and it's available on YouTube! What are you waiting for? WhatsApp your friends!

Satanic Nazis?

[Zbigniew_Krycsiwiki · 3/10 · 26 June 2013]

Another title I was first introduced to as part of Night Train To Terror, this film, on its own, doesn't stand up as well as far as unintended humour, or just being a good movie. Released under a variety of different titles: Cataclysm, Satan's Supper, and The Nightmare Never Ends, none of which have anything to do with the film itself. This review based on the 88-minutes long version titled The Nightmare Never Ends.

In the first scene, Claire Hanson, wakes up startled after dreaming of volcanic lava, then decides to go for a scenic drive with hubby, James Hansen (Richard Moll). Moll's character is a sort of hybrid of Anton LeVay and Freidrich Nietzsche, who is promoting a book titled 'God is Dead', with ridiculous dyed grey sideburns, his voice occasionally badly dubbed, and wearing an ill-fitted suit (although, being 6'8" tall, one supposes it is difficult to find suits which really fit well)

Whilst under hypnosis, Claire Hanson recalls Nazi parties from the 1930s.

An old man believes that a young man is the same Nazi who killed his family 35 years earlier, in 1944. The old man isn't believed by the police and goes after him himself, and is then killed by some fanged demon who blows a hole in his chest. Investigation of his murder leads nowhere, but the end of the set is clearly visible in this scene, as are the camera's own dolly tracks. The body is autopsied by Claire Hanson, who continues having nightmares and see demons, and it is revealed that the young man is Satan, who has remained eternally young and killed people for centuries. Here, the devil looks like the guy from KC And The Sunshine Band, with feathered hair and painted-on eyebrows that take up half of his forehead. His goal is not made clear in this confusing and dramatically awkward film, awkward in that Moll's lead character is killed off 25 minutes before the end of the movie. Also odd is that some of the best effects seemed to have been edited out and included in the anthology Night Train To Terror.

Occasionally interesting set designs and lighting, but that can't compensate for such a weird story, with such an awful ending.

Odd and disjointed stinker

[mwidunn · 4/10 · 1 December 2005]

Found this at the grocery store on a 2 movie DVD for a buck! Almost no one in this stinker can act, especially Faith Clift. Noticed there were 3 directors! Explains a lot. This was filmed at the beginning of the 1980's; so, a couple of scenes are filmed in an "evil" disco which seems to be owned by Olivier, a demon/devil/servant of the devil . . . who knows what he is? Never was quite clear about what this film was about. A few good scares and camera shots. Richard Moll appears to have significant greying on his temples in some scenes, and jet black hair in others. Some out-of-date references to energy conservation: so 70's. The whole "God is dead" thing was so 1960's--and, certainly a dead issue by 1980. Series of inexplicable scenes; never explained or tied into anything else. Did I mention Faith Clift couldn't act? The film has something to do with Satan's wish to recruit her character's husband, while a number of people get in the way. Knuckleheads. But, other scenes make it appear that the devil is after Faith herself. What do you expect for 50 cents?

The nightmare is watching this film

[Chase_Witherspoon · 2/10 · 8 June 2013]

Devout Catholic (Clift) is thrust into a good vs evil battle of biblical proportions when her husband (Moll) publishes a controversial tome denying the existence of God, resulting in the Devil incarnate (Bristol) seizing the moment to rise against mankind. I've seen this film re-worked into the "Night Train to Terror" anthology, and that preview-style showcase is more than sufficient to convey the gist; in fact, seeing the entire movie adds virtually nothing at all new.

Poorly constructed, each scene just seems to happen, without the connective tissue explaining its context, often just a random event without proper explanation (continuity is also dubious). Mitchell, Lawrence (who play detectives) and Moll provide some familiar comfort, but their presence can't redeem this farce from its own fiery pit of hell. Epic screen-writer Philip Yordan's wife Faith Clift is a total non-actress, her delivery of the dialogue so stunted and unnatural, it almost seems incredulous she could have appeared in other films (though on closer inspection, most attribute husband Yordan a producer credit).

I won't label it awful (some of the set design and make-up effects are okay, and there's a neat little twist at the end), but it's painfully close to being an unwatchable turkey.

Pretty strange.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 7/10 · 18 October 2003]

"Cataclysm"(1980)is one of the strangest and most disjointed horror movies ever made.The film offers plenty of creepy atmosphere,but overall story is very confusing.The acting is pretty bad,but it's nice to see a horror veteran Cameron Mitchell as a detective.There is also a little bit of gore,but not too much.So if you're a fan of bizarre Satanic horror movies give this one a look.Recommended.My rating:7 out of 10.

Lazy production critically injures alluring concept.

[EyeAskance · 22 May 2003]

An aging Jewish man calls upon a detective to investigate the mystery of an unscrupulous Dorian Gray-style scoundrel who, despite his youthful appearance, may be a notorious Nazi war criminal.

In addressing this film, I must begin by saying that it will not be well received by most viewers. If, however, you possess a willingness to extend impunity to poverty-row cinema, then you might find a blink or two of mildly amusing frippery in this dicey little three-dollar-bill.

That this flick was committed to cheap, ashen filmstock is an immediate indicator that this was an empty-pockets production. Quite simply stated, there's a discernable messiness to the entire mechanical wheel of the film, yet it does manages to catalyze a shadowy, spectral veneer, and inject a few moments of trashy David Lynchian surrealism.

A page ripped straight from the manual on how to quash a perfectly good prospect. 4/10.

Whew...rough

[BandSAboutMovies · 2/10 · 22 October 2017]

Have you ever seen Night Train to Terror and wondered — what would one of that film's portmanteau sequences be like if they were expanded to an entire movie? Good news! Well, maybe. Your wishes have come true.

The final story of Night Train, "The Case of Claire Hansen", was really a film called The Nightmare Never Ends (alternatively known as Cataclysm and Satan's Supper). It boasts three directors. Amazingly, it was written by Philip Yordan, who not only won the Academy Award for Broken Lance in 1954, but also provided a front for blacklisted Hollywood writers (he was Bernard Gordon's front for The Day of the Triffids)!

This is my favorite of all kinds of movies — a film I discover at 5 AM when the rest of the world is asleep and wonder if it can really be true and if I am not still asleep. To say that this is a batshit insane film is to do a disservice to the phrase batshit insane. I feel ill-prepared to share it's wonder with you, but I'm sure going to try.

There are two stories going on here:

Nobel Prize-winning author James Hansen (Richard Moll of TV's Night Court and House) and his devoutly Catholic wife Claire (who is a surgeon, which totally comes into play later) decide to go to Vegas to both celebrate James' new book and to get away from Claire's nightmares. Wondering what James won the Nobel Prize for? He wrote a book that proved that God is dead. Now, he's planning a TV special to tell the whole story to the whole world (he's preaching the bad news!). Well, alright. And that Claire — seems that she's been dreaming about volcanoes. They decide to go see a magician, who puts Claire into a trance in seconds.

That's when we learn the real secret of what has been bothering Claire — Nazis! She dreams of a handsome young officer who kills a room of other officers and an all-female string orchestra. After the show, Claire invites him to dinner after he tells her that a demon is after her. He never makes it — he is killed and a 666 tattoo is left on his scalp.

Remember when I said there was a second story?

Mr. Weiss is super old and out of it, but totally recognizes a Nazi when he sees one. Pretty and rich Olivier is being interviewed during the intermission of the New York Ballet and he looks exactly like the Nazi officer who killed Weiss' parents at Auschwitz (and he's also the Nazi from Claire's dream). Weiss is a Nazi hunter, believe it or not, and he calls in his neighbor Lieutenant Stern (Cameron Mitchell, who has been in more movies than there have been movies, but let's call out Blood and Black Lace as one of the best of his films). They go to the ballet and follow Olivier to his extravagant mansion, all the while Stern tries to convince the old man that this cannot be the man who tormented his childhood. Weiss grabs his Luger and goes to kill Olivier, but an unseen demon kills him and leaves a 666 on his body.

Read more at http://bit.ly/2yHqE9E

Strangely compelling horror

[Furet · 10/10 · 6 January 2002]

This is NOT the best movie you'll see in your life, nevertheless, horror fans should find some interesting elements in there that are worth their time. The action may be somewhat slow-paced at times, but, from the opening scene ( the Nazi dream ), the dark and bizarre setting keeps the viewer immersed and makes up for the lack of gore that one would expect with such a title as Satan's Supper. From the mumbling old Jew to the annoyingly bigoted Claire, most of the characters possess an intriguing side that is well-developed enough to give the plot a certain complexity. Especially the fiendish Mr. Olivier. Robert Bristol's performance is probably one of the most charismatic and incarnate acting you'll ever come across in such a low-budget flick. The ending alone is worth waiting an hour and a half to get to. Even though it is not really unexpected, it's original and, most important of all, not happy. There is also a surprising social comment behind the story, mostly about religion and the 2nd World War ( justice, suffering, atrocities... ). Therefore, throughout the movie, a lot of seemingly pointless elements remain unexplained or hazy, forcing the viewer to question the meaning of many scenes. It could have been more subtle, but still, these elements altogether prevent Satan's Supper from falling under the "horrid directionless crap" category and make it a not-so-obvious horror movie that fans of the genre will appreciate.

Heavy on atmosphere, light on budget, with a few surprising performances

[vonnoosh · 7/10 · 10 July 2020]

Cataclysm or The Nightmare Never Ends has become a favorite low budget movie. I'm generally not interested in devil or demon movies but this has some things going for it that I enjoy, mainly the acting.

It is great seeing Richard Moll play someone who isn't a monster or a stereotypical big dumb guy role. Moll plays an intellectual who seeks to disprove the existence of God. Long time character actor, Marc Lawrence plays two roles. He is the nazi hunter in the beginning and Lt Sterne's partner. Sterne is played by skilled character actor, Cameron Mitchell who is no stranger to low budget horror fans. There performances anchor this movie. Generally the acting is undercut by the dubbed dialogue. Faith Clift's dubbing makes her sound extremely flat.

A few of these same actors appeared in Savage Journey aka Brigham with the same scriptwriter and maybe director. Both were shot in part or all in Utah. Birgham was filmed in the 70s and more commonly released in the early 80s as Savage Journey. That is a low budget movie about early mormon settlements. Quite the departure from this type of movie and another surprising performance by Moll in that film. He got typecasted so often since that seeing him play against how he would be typed is a pleasant surprise.

The movie conveys very heavy atmosphere and the director smartly avoided special effects until the end anyway. I suspect the ending was deliberately made to be as gory as possible to make up for the lack of blood and gore throughout the movie. What happens in each death is mostly explained after the fact but rarely shown.

If you don't think much about low budget movies or if you are the type to hold the same 1 to 10 standard for low budget movies as for major hollywood blockbusters, then you really will hate this. Personally, low budget movies are on a separate scale because low budget is its own genre in my view and has different limitations that don't make them all bad in their own category.

Pooh

[jacobjohntaylor1 · 1/10 · 17 October 2018]

I have seen a lot crap movie in my time. This is not has bad has The Godfather or the Seed of Chucky but it is close to being that bad. This is an awful movie. It has an awful ending. It also has awful acting. It has an awful story line.

Where is the dog!??!

[act123 · 29 October 2000]

Satan's Supper is quite possibly the most bizarre and awful movie I have ever seen. I discovered it in the store where i used to work and immediately purchased it for $2.00. I haven't looked back!! I love the classic line, "The devil. He's loose again." I marvel at the stellar performances of the irate apartment keeper, the Rasputin guy, the voodoo dude, and how COULD we forget the heart-wrenching performance of the senile Jewish guy? but what i can't figure out is, where the hell is the barking dog? i don't know where they got the (one of many) title(s) of "Satan's Supper," because there's no eating scene in the entire movie. But bravo to Bull for his mind-bending performance as the Atheist With Forever-Changing Toupée.

this is my very favourite horror movie EVER!!!!