I clicked on this and briefly thought I'd accidentally clicked on a Tom Cruise film - Andrew Katers performance in this film has many Cruise traits and he also delivers a pretty sound performance. Brian Krause - one of my favourite actors alas only has a small role - and for the most part the other actors are well chosen throughout. Special effects are good in places and bad in others so try not to be too critical - though the Earth leaving a solar system really wouldn't make the journey intact - so definitely suspend disbelief while watching this. It's pretty okay as these type of films go and, while the solution to their plight has been done in Star Trek a couple of times, it's still fairly original. Worth a watch on a lonely night.
26 Reviews
Objective review mode - engage
Mikelikesnotlikes19 April 2017
Warning: Spoilers
The title alone is enough warning that you are entering B-film territory. And that's OK, I like to be forewarned rather than tricked.
I watch B-grade films for original content values. This film had one redeeming aspect in that respect, and yet I found the premise explanation very confusing.
Earthtastrophe is a classic example of film-makers and actors honing their crafts. Everyone needs to get experience somewhere and this film is destined to become a forgettable part of the journey for the people involved.
If you look very hard, there's stuff to appreciate here and there. But, concentrating on technical features means you aren't really going to enjoy the ride. It is difficult to get immersed, a key ingredient directors should be feeding to any audience.
The acting is poor and is ham-strung by poor writing. Once again I see nonsensical actions taking place that could have been scripted much more logically. Logic doesn't have to cost any money. Clever writing can save money.
The CGI is pretty bad. There are some really lazy moments of copy/paste effects (and I'm not even an expert - it was that glaring). The sentient electric smoke snakes made no sense at all. It was almost as if the CGI dude was just idling away his time being creative one day - the producer saw it and thought he'd jam it in there.
The lead character was highly unbelievable and got more and more unbelievable as the movie drew to a close. In the end he was a mix of Rambo and James Bond; instant expert with gun and karate.
Watch this contrived and forgettable movie as if you are 12 years old and you might be able to forgive yourself later.
I watch B-grade films for original content values. This film had one redeeming aspect in that respect, and yet I found the premise explanation very confusing.
Earthtastrophe is a classic example of film-makers and actors honing their crafts. Everyone needs to get experience somewhere and this film is destined to become a forgettable part of the journey for the people involved.
If you look very hard, there's stuff to appreciate here and there. But, concentrating on technical features means you aren't really going to enjoy the ride. It is difficult to get immersed, a key ingredient directors should be feeding to any audience.
The acting is poor and is ham-strung by poor writing. Once again I see nonsensical actions taking place that could have been scripted much more logically. Logic doesn't have to cost any money. Clever writing can save money.
The CGI is pretty bad. There are some really lazy moments of copy/paste effects (and I'm not even an expert - it was that glaring). The sentient electric smoke snakes made no sense at all. It was almost as if the CGI dude was just idling away his time being creative one day - the producer saw it and thought he'd jam it in there.
The lead character was highly unbelievable and got more and more unbelievable as the movie drew to a close. In the end he was a mix of Rambo and James Bond; instant expert with gun and karate.
Watch this contrived and forgettable movie as if you are 12 years old and you might be able to forgive yourself later.
This could have been awesome
r-muller2319 April 2017
Warning: Spoilers
First off, I started watching the movie because of the one good review here on IMDb (of the two reviews so far). I wonder how the movie would have turned out if the producer would have be able to contract the actual Tom Cruise instead of a wooden-faced look alike. And of couse when the "special effects" in the movie would not have been done by a talentless 8-year old. Seriously, it's like in some scenes there is someone using paint to draw lines supposingly lightning, in real time. And some formless blobs for clouds. Which indoors seem to actively hunt people, very weird.
To be honest, the premise of the movie could have been worked out so that this movie would have been a blockbuster. But probably a non existent budget had to lead to a very very mediocre post apocalypic sci fi in which you see the complete plot coming from a mile away. The end result is something like a few students in a film academy could have made (and gotten a D for their trouble). I would pay good money to have the Coen brothers, James Cameron or Ridley Scott do a remake of this.
As it is, go sit down without expectations, if you really love sci fi it is not a complete waste of time. I cannot give it more credit than that.
To be honest, the premise of the movie could have been worked out so that this movie would have been a blockbuster. But probably a non existent budget had to lead to a very very mediocre post apocalypic sci fi in which you see the complete plot coming from a mile away. The end result is something like a few students in a film academy could have made (and gotten a D for their trouble). I would pay good money to have the Coen brothers, James Cameron or Ridley Scott do a remake of this.
As it is, go sit down without expectations, if you really love sci fi it is not a complete waste of time. I cannot give it more credit than that.
Better than Sleeping Pill for Insomnia
claudio_carvalho5 December 2017
"Earthtastrophe" is another overrated Z-movie in IMDb that is a disaster from the beginning to the end. The messy story does not have character development and the viewer has no idea of who is who and does not care for any character. The special effects, the acting and the dialogues are very poor. But the worst is terrible screenplay, with annoying and repetitive flashbacks and no clear explanation of what is exactly happening. In the end, "Earthtastrophe" is better than sleeping pill for insomnia. My vote is two.
Title (Brazil): "Earthtastrophe"
Title (Brazil): "Earthtastrophe"
Catastrophic survival
TheLittleSongbird14 April 2019
Have said many times about not having a bias against modest/low budget films. There have been films that are hindered by budget but still manage to be halfway decent or more because other elements are done reasonably well at least. Budget hindrances for me are not, or shouldn't be, an excuse for anything to be low quality or amateurish, when a film or such doesn't try that's when it is rated low and negatively reviewed.
'Earthtastrophe' though is not one of those films that doesn't try, although a lot of elements are badly executed there are degrees of effort which is why it hasn't been rated any lower. If anything, 'Earthtastrophe' is instead an example of a film that tries too hard and bites off more than it could chew. It has a great and very ambitious idea for a story, but sadly didn't have the budget, resources or the right people to pull it off. There was a lot of potential in the film that wasn't completely wasted but wasn't lived up to.
There is not an awful lot that 'Earthtastrophe' does right sadly and there is a lot wrong, but there are fleeting "okay" moments/elements. The best, or least bad, thing about the film is the photography, which wasn't incoherent and didn't look too drab, not great but have seen worse.
Scenery was pretty nice and had some atmosphere, and the music was listenable and fitted better than the music featured in most disaster films.
Conversely, the special effects are less than special and that's being kind, they are poorly modelled and fail to blend with everything else, plus some are used gratuitously. The actors struggle to do anything interesting with their characters and give performances that either sees them giving too much that it becomes hammy or are stiff and going through the motions. To be fair though the characters are sketchily, to put it lightly, written and severely underdeveloped, with personalities that range between annoyingly shallow or completely dull. Unclear motivations and illogical decision making (bugbears of mine in film) are other reasons why one can't care for any of the characters. The direction is pretty leaden.
Furthermore, the script never sounds natural and further suffers from being vague to the point of being incomprehensible, especially in trying to figure out who is who and what is what, and very repetitive. Do agree that the flashbacks did irritate, there were too many of them and generally they added very little. The story was an ambitious one, but it ended up feeling over-ambitious because the storytelling here was anaemic at best and even more confused and vague as the script, with too many things left unclear and the structure being a jumpy mess. There is no tension or suspense and the fun and energy is completely sucked out, down to everything being taken too seriously and a cripplingly dull pace.
In summary, have seen worse disaster films but over-ambition, severely underdeveloped and muddled writing and storytelling, an over-seriousness and lack of fun really let it down. 3/10
'Earthtastrophe' though is not one of those films that doesn't try, although a lot of elements are badly executed there are degrees of effort which is why it hasn't been rated any lower. If anything, 'Earthtastrophe' is instead an example of a film that tries too hard and bites off more than it could chew. It has a great and very ambitious idea for a story, but sadly didn't have the budget, resources or the right people to pull it off. There was a lot of potential in the film that wasn't completely wasted but wasn't lived up to.
There is not an awful lot that 'Earthtastrophe' does right sadly and there is a lot wrong, but there are fleeting "okay" moments/elements. The best, or least bad, thing about the film is the photography, which wasn't incoherent and didn't look too drab, not great but have seen worse.
Scenery was pretty nice and had some atmosphere, and the music was listenable and fitted better than the music featured in most disaster films.
Conversely, the special effects are less than special and that's being kind, they are poorly modelled and fail to blend with everything else, plus some are used gratuitously. The actors struggle to do anything interesting with their characters and give performances that either sees them giving too much that it becomes hammy or are stiff and going through the motions. To be fair though the characters are sketchily, to put it lightly, written and severely underdeveloped, with personalities that range between annoyingly shallow or completely dull. Unclear motivations and illogical decision making (bugbears of mine in film) are other reasons why one can't care for any of the characters. The direction is pretty leaden.
Furthermore, the script never sounds natural and further suffers from being vague to the point of being incomprehensible, especially in trying to figure out who is who and what is what, and very repetitive. Do agree that the flashbacks did irritate, there were too many of them and generally they added very little. The story was an ambitious one, but it ended up feeling over-ambitious because the storytelling here was anaemic at best and even more confused and vague as the script, with too many things left unclear and the structure being a jumpy mess. There is no tension or suspense and the fun and energy is completely sucked out, down to everything being taken too seriously and a cripplingly dull pace.
In summary, have seen worse disaster films but over-ambition, severely underdeveloped and muddled writing and storytelling, an over-seriousness and lack of fun really let it down. 3/10
Amateur hour all round
Leofwine_draca30 September 2019
Warning: Spoilers
EARTHTASTROPHE is another indie-looking disaster movie filmed on virtually no budget and with lots of amateurish nonsense filling up the running time. I mean, the films in this genre being made by the SyFy Channel and Asylum a decade ago were cheesy and often bad, but at least they were recognisable as 'proper' films. Not so this one, which is embarrassingly poor, just a couple of characters running around and chatting about off-screen plot events which the budget can't possibly hope to portray. It's trite and unbelievable, amateur hour all round.
Bad but...
drgrozozo26 October 2017
This movie is bad, but I expected that going in. I'd say its biggest problem is poor character development, basically you don't care for anyone. Its great strength is the refreshing tho maybe a bit overly ambitious story-line which puts much larger productions to shame. Not sure if it's all Ashley O'Neil's contribution but will check her other work.
CGI is, as expected, amateurish, and there are some smaller problems with acting (or maybe director instructing actors) but nothing really horrendous like in similar budget movies. Everyone from the crew should be proud and continue bringing us new projects.
CGI is, as expected, amateurish, and there are some smaller problems with acting (or maybe director instructing actors) but nothing really horrendous like in similar budget movies. Everyone from the crew should be proud and continue bringing us new projects.
I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but ...
bforbrett26 August 2021
Please don't make another movie, ever.
This ranks as the second worst movie I've watched. 1 star for the acting, hobbled by a ridiculous plot. Effects from the Commodore 64 era of computing power. Just terrible all round really.
This ranks as the second worst movie I've watched. 1 star for the acting, hobbled by a ridiculous plot. Effects from the Commodore 64 era of computing power. Just terrible all round really.
Not worth 4.7 stars
sexi_chik26 April 2021
Another Sci Fi improbability put to film
alian-1808112 September 2021
Warning: Spoilers
People who make and act in films like this should be sent to jail . The fact that the Earth could move so fast through a Worm Hole would see it rip apart or at least the inhabitants killed by the shear force . That's always the sticking point with me is that no research is done . But that aside the acting and Non special effects were laughable . Trying to do a Tom Cruse acting class was at best ludicrous and dead pan . Too many mistakes in the plot and one minute you saw a city in ruins then the next it was intact in the background . People who were acting in the dying scenes were weird too . Also the lead part was one minute a wimp who could not fight and was knocked out numerous times and the next he was a Bruce Lee specialist . Tried to give it a 2 or 3 but just couldn't.
Better than most science fiction movies
song_of_rainbow13 May 2020
Really can not understand why some people gave this movie a bad review. Especially when some "I'm some awesome that I come out stupid" reviewer says "nothing really horrendous", "everyone in the crew should be proud" "it's great strength is the refreshing.. story-line" and gives it a two. I'm guessing because he doesn't like the "character development" and he didn't "care for anyone". Guess what, I watched the same movie and liked the main characters a whole lot. There is plenty of action both related to the characters and to the terrible situation they ended up in. Maybe someone fell asleep? It may not be a work of art, but definitely worth watching. Way better than most disaster movies. And, if you are into science fiction, quite logical. A good, exciting movie that deserves better. Stuffy "experts" notwithstanding.
Actually pretty good
asage195 February 2021
I love cheesy disaster movies, and found this one to be not so-bad-it's-good, but better than I expected.
It's good enough for me to wish it had been better, mind you. I think it maybe needed some more money thrown at it. At any rate, they did well with what they had.
It has decent acting, even some pretty good acting. The special effects range from not-so-great, to quite convincing.
It's full of interesting ideas, and things that I haven't seen in other movies, including blockbuster 'Hollywood' type movies.
Not a waste of time!
The bin bags were the best part
ndlanding24 November 2021
Absolutely pathetic movie, although it made me laugh/cringe a few times.
For me, the way they knotted black bin bags to car door-handles, bannisters. Etc. Was truly the best feature. Those windows with the destruction drawn in with a sharpie were also classic!
Apart from that, it was just laughavle and pathetic. No saving graces, at all.
For me, the way they knotted black bin bags to car door-handles, bannisters. Etc. Was truly the best feature. Those windows with the destruction drawn in with a sharpie were also classic!
Apart from that, it was just laughavle and pathetic. No saving graces, at all.
Terrible For Many Reasons
blue14118 April 2017
Warning: Spoilers
It would have been a good movie. However the plot was slow and the reason for the goings on and what it was all about were foggy, and hard if not impossible to understand. It may sound trivial and superficial, but I go to the movies not just to see the movie, but also to look at the actors faces and bodies. I do not think men with stubble and a semi beard are attractive. On that score alone, after 15 minutes I stopped watching this movie. I want eye candy=the men, as well as action and plot. Looking at what could have been attractive faces hidden by hair does not cut it. if people want to look at mountain hairy men, this is the movie for them.Stop the beards and grizzle on men's faces, and I might watch the movie and consider buying something the ads are selling. Waste of time.
So bad that it's funny
cereyese9 November 2021
I was mesmerized by the main characters' wig during the first minutes of the film. It probably auditioned by itself during the movie's casting. The special effects are so unbelievably bad, they belong in 1984. I love bad science fiction movies.... But this one is a little bit too much, I couldn't focus on the plot due to bad acting and overall way too low budget ambiance.
One of the worse movies ever made
jasnuevo1 October 2021
This movie have nothing good in my opinion. Title is awful, acting is quite bad, story plot makes no sense and calling it a sci-fi movie it is simply an insult to true sci-fi movies. It wonders me how it is possible to get money, actors... to make movies as bad as this one. Hopefully I will forget it soon.
Typical made-for-TV catastrophe film
idierkschnieder6 December 2019
Hoping to find a hidden gem, I was unfortunately bitterly disappointed. This just follows the typical story line of about every catastrophe film made exclusively for TV out there, apart from that parts of it are even more hare-brained and have more plot holes than usual.
The film features a few decent actors from the 'I've seen him/her before' category but mainly the acting is just as bad as the story. The leads are generally disappointing, especially Tonya Kay who apparently has watched the Sharknado movies preparing for this role so she could channel Tara Reid. Some of the minor roles are decently acted but hardly worthy of any awards (not even a Golden Raspberry).
Okay for trash fans and if you have absolutely nothing else to watch and want to give your brain a rest, otherwise no real reason to watch this.
Cheeseie movie
pwhitelaw6129 March 2022
I like to watch all these really bad movies just to kill time. Had to do something during lockdown
Earth being pulled through a wormhole is ridiculous.
Bad cast bad writing really bad effects, perfect to kill a couple of hours.
Bad cast bad writing really bad effects, perfect to kill a couple of hours.
Horrible script
bakerj78 May 2021
Only watch this if you find yourself stuck in a global pandemic horror flick. The key to enjoying low budget SyFy flicks is low expectation. This film is ruined by a horrible script with no plot, far worse than usual. The cast is stacked with veterans of low budget films, all very good at their craft and deserving better opportunities. Sfx are par for the genre. Directing, cine, sets, etc are all good. I was only able to finish it cuz of the good acting.
Another bad disaster film
LetsReviewThat2630 October 2023
We know what the made for dvd disaster movies of today are like. And though low budgets are not always bad. Sometimes they Are better ones than high budget movies. But with earthtastrophe it sadly didn't work. I wouldn't to like it and it seemed promising as we get Colin at a new year's party and suddenly a hole opens in the sky everything goes white and we skip a year into the future and now a dishelved looking Colin and a bunch of other survivors must get through things before they are sent back to the real world again. It's bad and I just felt it was flat. The acting was weak and the script needed something more. Overall though it was something to watch but I don't think this movie lived up to an almost hype.
Wow! Best End of the world movie ever
hannah-1369623 May 2020
Does Tom Cruise have a brother? Watch this & you will see. Theres a phenomenon or black hole in the sky. What starts off a regular night ends up a nightmare with flash backs & having memories of the future. How is that possible? Watch and see. Facinating sci-fi adventure with amazing graphics & yes it might happen. Start your bunker...
Pleasantly Surprised
separationcs18 February 2021
I have no problem with low-budget movies. I have worked on them and know the heart and soul that gets put into them (most of them, there are some that are obvious money laundering ventures) and this movie has heart.
Great plot; very unique and thought provoking. Everyone that worked on this should be proud - except for the make-up artist that did the hair and beard growth at the beginning for the protagonist! LOL yikes.
I recommend this for a rainy day when you want to see a movie stripped of big budget glamour.
Great plot; very unique and thought provoking. Everyone that worked on this should be proud - except for the make-up artist that did the hair and beard growth at the beginning for the protagonist! LOL yikes.
I recommend this for a rainy day when you want to see a movie stripped of big budget glamour.
Top Notch Movie Keeps You Guessing
kevinfirish14 January 2018
Decent movie
sferringo-974604 September 2021
Great movie!
vicky_renee27 April 2022
This was actually a great movie!
Please do not listen to the bad reviews.
To this day I still can't comprehend who these people are that give bad reviews on decent movies. It's like they can't just enjoy them for what they are. It reminds me of people that are never happy with anything and complain about every little thing.
It's definitely worth watching!
Please do not listen to the bad reviews.
To this day I still can't comprehend who these people are that give bad reviews on decent movies. It's like they can't just enjoy them for what they are. It reminds me of people that are never happy with anything and complain about every little thing.
It's definitely worth watching!
See also
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