Creation of the Damned (1974) User Reviews

Surprisingly good post-nuke drama (6 - 10)

[andybob-3 · 6/10 · 19 February 2007]

A husband and wife along with their son and another couple find themselves stuck in a rather sophisticated underground bomb shelter after a nuclear war, with there only contact with the outside world being a somewhat temperamental short-wave radio. But an affair between the son and the wife of their friend, along with boredom, drug abuse and diminishing supplies cause tempers to flare and things slowly descend in to desperation.

Although very low budget and almost entirely taking place in the shelter, this film struck me as oddly affective and kept me involved all the way through. 6 out of 10, relatively well written with the characters being for the most part interesting and well acted.

Amazing and slow-moving Spanish Sci-Fi , crammed with thrills , chills and some unsettling scenes

[ma-cortes · 5/10 · 30 June 2022]

North America, in the near future . Two married couples (Craig Hill, Teresa Gimpera , Fernando Hilbeck , Patty Shepard) and a teen (Pedro Maria Sanchez) live in a rather sophisticated , luxurious underground flat that is actually an anti-atomic shelter. The world has been devastated by a nuclear war and the hopeless group waits for the radioactivity to disappear. They cannot leave the complex and they live in an usual state of vigilance . The misfit bunch is constantly in situation of control , as they are besieged by the contaminated environment . The quintet uses to entertain themselves , playing , talking or performing erotic games and while communicating with other survivors over the CB radio , and eventually succumbing to panic . But the food supplies are running out and they are physically suffering and urgently need medicines , so that the younger son leaves the secure area . Time... The not too distant future. Place... The USA. Problem... Nuclear war. Effect... A society with no rules

Spanish Sci-Fi/horror film set in a destroyed world with full of thrills , suspense , chills and creepy plot with twists and turns . "El refugio del miedo (1974)" or ¨Refuge of Fear¨ (United States) or ¨Survivors of the Last Race¨ (United Kingdom) deals with a group of distressed people , formed by five survivors of an apocalyptical war , all of them are living into a lush underground apartment. There's excessive overtalking and a character studio from a desperate group of people , revolving around a husband and wife along with their son and another couple ; all of them find themselves unfortunately stuck underground bomb shelter after a nuclear war , then tension , disputes and violence begin bursting here and there . ¨El refugio del miedo (1974)¨ weaves a fantastic story , about a motley group of five people searching for whatever thing necessary for his survival . As they live desperately isolated in an installation , the group is finely performed by a good cast , such as the American resident in Spain , vetran Craig Hill , who in real life married Teresa Gimpera , Patty Shepard , Fernando Hilbeck and an ex-child prodigy : Pedro Mari Sánchez . This scary , bizarre film contains thriller , tense , intense drama , mystery , plot twists and shocks , including decent scares with tense terror sequences especially in its final part , in a creepy as well as surprising denouement . A low budget Spanish production with a timeline that spans through a few days , it is a thriller that begins introducing the varied characters and goes on through until an unexpected final . Suffers from some sputtering about a quarter of the way in , the sputtering came from an unique scenario , away from atmospheric set pieces and toward a very sad story line , one which suffers from some slow-moving scenes and claustrophobic scenarios . Interesting screenplay by director José Ulloa himself revolving the mental disintegration of a diverse group and the various amazing surprises they find . The motion picture is acceptable , although sometimes deliberate pacing and packs a lot of turns ; however , being entertaining for continuous suspense and intrigue , as well as shady atmosphere . This average picture is exciting and some moment brilliant, and the players are quite reliable . Ghastly movie builds taut by showing virtually well staged set pieces , appropriately sinister settings , enjoyable soundtrack and gloomy cinematography , though a perfect remastering is necessary . Few disagree that the film is professionally mounted , the performances solid , and that it respectfully carries on the tradition and borrowing several elements of Spanish "horror" films . This film belongs to Scifi sub-genre about the dystopian existence of people after a nuclear or viral disaster , such as : ¨The Last Man on Earth¨, ¨Omega man¨, ¨La Hora Fria¨ or ¨The Dark Hour¨ , ¨28 Days Later¨ , ¨28 weeks later¨ , ¨I am Legend¨, among others .

The motion picture produced in limited but enough budget by J. A. Pérez Giner from Profilms (deemed to be the Spanish Hammer Film) , being regular but professionally written and directed by José Ulloa. He was a fine craftsman , a professional Second Unit Director or Assistant Director and getting to shoot five passable films , such as : ¨Andalucía chica¨, ¨La amante ingenua¨ , ¨Juventud sin freno¨ , ¨Veinte pasos para la muerte¨ and this ¨El refugio del miedo¨. Rating : 5/10 . So-so but passable , but only for Spanish movies aficionados .

Very Unusual and hard to find Nuclear Holocaust Film

[czar-10 · 16 June 2001]

What happens when 2 ordinary couples, find themselves caught inside a bomb shelter as nuclear destruction ravages their civilization. Their emotions, once suppressed, explode in the sweaty confined quarters, and they begin to viciously attack each other. At last the final barriers between civilized man and the animals are ripped apart. This film has lots of gore and decomposed bodies of people who did not survive the nuclear attack, a very grim Nuclear holocaust filmed in Spain. Very Hard to find I watched under the video title Refuge of fear.

The most endless end-of-the-world sci-fi stinker you never want to see

[Woodyanders · 1/10 · 19 January 2006]

Cute, doe-eyed, adorable brunette sprite Patty Shepard (the extremely cuddly star of such enjoyably low-rent Spanish fright features as "Crypt of the Living Dead" and "The Witches' Mountain") as the sultry, vampy, kittenish Carol, Pedro Maria Sanchez as her wimpy, passive limp dishrag husband Arthur, Craig Hill as sternly disciplined, grimly determined survivalist military hard-case Robert, Teresa Gimpera as Robert's emotional, histrionic wife Margie, and Fernando Hilbeck as Robert and Margie's bashful, optimistic, and imaginative son Chris, plus a Siamese cat, hole up in an underground shelter to avoid radioactive fall-out after a nuclear war occurs in this slow, talky, tiresomely pretentious, and gruelingly drab end-of-the-world snorefest. The quintet proceed to eat, fret, whine, play pool, throw tantrums, bicker, communicate with other survivors over the CB radio, and succumb to panic. Eventually several ridiculous complications transpire. Carol does a most arousing striptease. The cat dies mysteriously. Chris has sex with Carol and impregnates her. Arthur fatally overdoses on pills. Chris goes topside, receives a lethal dose of radiation, and keels over dead. Margie stabs herself to death with a knitting needle. Carol shoots Robert dead. Carol goes topside to face an uncertain future. All these hysterically overwrought moments are admittedly dopey and unintentionally riotous, but the definite "you gotta be kiddin' me!" preposterous howler highlight happens when the bratty, temperamental Carol shows up for supper in a yellow decontamination suit after being admonished for parading around the bunker while clad in only skimpy underwear! Everything vies for Best of the Worst (Dis)honors in this incredibly horrible hoot: Jose Ulloa's stolid, lifeless direction (Ulloa also co-wrote the stale, long-winded script), the interminably sluggish pace, Juan Pineda's deafeningly shrill, droning score, the tin-eared dialogue ("We are going to have to fight to stay alive"), the drippy acting (even the usually perky Patty seems heavily medicated), Antonio Millan's oppressively dark, constricted, and claustrophobic cinematography, the eye-wateringly ugly set design, and especially the dreadful, irritatingly anti-climactic conclusion are all uniformly the pits. Yet somehow the pic's pervasive pitifulness manages to acquire a certain laughable, lovably lunkheaded crapoid appeal.