This Is Not a Test (1962) User Reviews

Don't listen to them.

[robbiereilly · 4/10 · 19 September 2007]

This is Not A Test is no masterpiece. But, it's not a bad movie either. In fact, I will argue that it's rather well made. 

It is essentially an elongated Twilight Zone episode combining elements of Martian in a Diner with The Shelter and Maple Street. 

Many here ridicule this film saying it's horribly done, bad acting, etc. This is wholly incorrect. Most self appointed experts on films commenting here and other places often complain in like deed and manner, using the same phrases and complaints. 

This film was shot, composed, scored, and sound recorded professionally, albeit with a lower budget than A pictures. 

This film was shot with skill. The sound is without any noticeable errors, drops, or sound asymmetry, with dialog, Foley, score, incidental music doing what they are supposed to do. Comparing this film to Ed Wood's is way off base. Wood's films are very poorly made (and lovable). 

Too many times, people trash old films making clichéd generalizations that it's 'crap' or 'shoestring budget' or has 'wooden acting' etc. I'd wager those who make such comments have never made a movie, or probably anything else creative in their lives, certainly not on a scale of a motion picture, even a lower budget one. Sorry, Youtube videos don't count. Such people, and we have a lot of them these days, find it easy to make such blanket statements. 

Ignore them. For it is the easiest thing in the world to ridicule something as if you are an authority, and it's the most foolish thing in the world to believe it. 

I'm not saying this film is great. It's classic B movie drive-in fare. But, that doesn't mean that skill wasn't involved, or that professionals didn't do their best with what they had to work with to put an entertaining picture on the big screen. I urge you, if you care, to just take any shot in the film, pick any one, or any scene, and look where the camera was placed, what angle, how is it composed? What can you see in the shot, does the camera move, and if so, is it smoothly done? How are the shots mixed? Does the variety of divergent shots create a feeling you can describe? How is the mixture of shots set up to build tension? Are close ups used? Long shots? Mid shots? Two shots? Overhead shots, low angles? Thru windows, around objects? Dolly shots? Crane shots? Moving vehicle shots? What shots were done in a studio? How many did it take to complete a scene?

How are the actors' eye lines? Do they match up, or are they looking in the wrong direction, wrong angle, wrong side of the frame? Do they move off their marks?

Did they flub their lines? How is the wardrobe? Do they look "wardrobed"? How about their hair? Does their hair change suddenly shot to shot, as is often the case when continuity is not managed well? 

How is the cutting? The editing? Does it make sense? Is it convincing that things are happening in real time, even though a 1 minute scene may have taken all night or one week or month of nights to shoot? Did the editor develop a rhythm within each scene, and an overall one for the entire story? Were sound bridges used, where actors' lines, or sound effects cross over visual cuts? Were many lines delivered off camera, so we can see reactions to the lines from the other players? 

How are the sound effects used? Are they convincing? Or out of sync? The crickets? Do they suddenly stop for no reason shot by shot, or are the sound effects consistently maintained? Is the police car radio convincing? How about the static from the other cars' radios? Door slams? Were they foleyed well? Do you see any mic booms? Light set ups? Can you even tell how they lit each scene, so we could see what we should see and not see what we shouldn't? There is no large lampposts, yet we believe we should see them. How is this violation of reality accomplished so the viewer doesn't have it ruin the illusion. 

The above is only the tip of the iceberg of what a filmmaker goes through for each second, each frame of film that is shot. Remember this is film, not video.

If you are the type of person who makes fun of B/W movies, old TV shows, music made before you were a teenager, then don't bother watching it. You've got greater issues to deal with and you need all the time you have left on earth to deal with them. 

If on the other hand you are one who has an open mind, and enjoys fun movies, then take a peak. You may like it. It may stay with you. You may surprise yourself. 

One of the worst things to ever happen to cinema, to old movies in particular (and all movies become old movies eventually) was Mystery Science Theater. Even though it was very funny, and a good concept - we often did the exact same thing in college way before MST did it, as did probably many of you out there - it cued many young people into thinking ALL old movies, ALL B movies should be made fun of. This was a dire mistake and has transformed into a tragedy. It has brought upon us an avalanche of cynical so-called experts who strive to elicit the end-all cut or put-down of such fare as This is Not A Test. 

The challenge in life is not to find things to ridicule, but rather to find the beauty in things others can't see, and maybe, with a little luck, show it to them. 

Good luck.

In historical context, it's worth seeing

[hpmc6 · 6/10 · 17 May 2008]

This was definitely a lower end 'B' movie, in terms of acting and production values. For a movie with such dramatic, relevant and plausible importance at the time it was made, it was surprisingly boring at times.

But it's worth seeing, because this really did almost happen in the year it was made, 1962. It's a time capsule, even if lower end, of such a drama made at the time, not interpreted decades later.

People who make fun of the paranoia of the cold war should remember this fact. The only thing that's really changed, is the perception. The possibility of nuclear war, is still with us.

Atomic-age film noir.

[gkallen7 · 6/10 · 22 October 2006]

People who are expecting a science-fiction plot will be much disappointed by this B&W suspense film, set entirely at a highway roadblock at night. The plot elements of a hard-boiled detective story (escaped murderer, faithless alcoholic wife trolling for danger) are fitted into the nuclear holocaust environment typical of the late 1950s and early 1960s America. The success of the Soviet Union's Sputnik in 1957 and the perceived threat of the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 form the framework of a story of little people whose lives are overtaken by events they cannot control. "Thirteen Days" (2000) would be a suitable "A" film to this low-budget "B" film in order to supply the background of tension missing to the contemporary viewer who comes upon this film with no forewarning.

Great Apocalyptic Bargain Basement Noir

[rufasff · 24 August 2003]

It may have helped that I stumbled on this by complete accident, but

this is the end of the world on a Coleman Fransis budget and it works

fine.

The story is taut and surprising; I liked the way the horrible

authority figure can never quite be dismissed, he might just save all

there lives. The ironies packed into its 72 minutes are all handled with

a light touch.

The cast seems inexperienced but mostly do just fine. Mike Green

would go on to play the boss in Albert Brook's great meltdown scene in

"Lost In America." Few know about this film, see it if you can. It stands nicely

along side "Miracle Mile." I wonder if history will ever make these

movies obsolete?

A 1960's Version of A Cold War Reality Show

[bfhatcher · 5/10 · 7 October 2007]

I disagree with the 'film expert's' analysis of this movie. This is a 1960's attempt to portray the social/psychological dynamics of people facing a nuclear war. It is meant to be chaotic and disjointed as the social structures, concepts of authority, relationships and the lives of people are torn apart by dread, stress and certain doom. The end of the movie is the capstone that explains it all as the bomb hits.

This is one in a long list of 'cold war' movies. It is amazing to observe the ideals portrayed by the writers living in the 1960's era in comparison to social structures in the latter half of the the first decade in the new millennium.

How to Build a Bomb Shelter

[Uriah43 · 5/10 · 7 November 2015]

While on duty in the early morning hours "Deputy Sheriff Dan Colter" (Seamon Glass) gets an order to take his patrol car and block all access to and from the nearby city. Having done that he then stops what few cars that happen to come by and orders everyone to get out of their vehicles and gather around him. He eventually informs them that a nuclear attack appears to be immanent and that they need to unload a semi-truck so that they can use it as an impromptu bomb shelter. While all of this is going on the individuals within the small group become more restless as time passes and certain individual personality traits become more pronounced. For example, one woman named "Cheryl Hudson" (Mary Morlas) is an alcoholic who constantly needs a drink to calm her nerves. Yet another woman by the name of "Karen Barnes" (Carol Kent) suddenly develops an attraction for the truck driver named "Al Weston" (Alan Austin) even though her husband, "Sam Barnes" (Norman Winston) is right there and can't help but notice. And the longer they wait the more dramatic it gets. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie I will just say that this film tended to capture the feeling of many Americans at this time of the Cold War. That said it's quite possible that some viewers who weren't alive during this particular period may not be able to relate to a film of this type. Even so, while it certainly isn't a great movie by any means, I didn't think it was necessarily that bad either and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

The Big Bang.

[rmax304823 · 5/10 · 11 March 2014]

One by one, a sheriff of Del Oro County pulls over three or four vehicles and their diverse occupants. There's a yellow alert in effect and the S sheriff (Glass) has been ordered to stop travelers in either direction. Missiles are on the way.

Someone earlier mentioned that it resembles an episode of "The Twilight Zone". It was an accurate observation, except that "The Twilight Zone" was generally better than this. Still, the same format is used as in, say, "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street" or the one about the Martian in the diner, only here the danger is not from outer space.

I realize the budget was low but the viewer's sympathy doesn't serve to improve the movie any. The dozen or so stranded motorists are familiar types. There's a half-drunken woman whose facial contortions behind the wheel equal Jim Carrey's. Her boyfriend lives in North Beach, in San Francisco. You can tell he's a Beatnik because he wears an open collar with his suit and uses expressions like "Dig it?" There's a chicken farmer who is a folksy grandpa, and his innocent young granddaughter. That would be Aubrey Martin. She's not only about the best performer in the cast but a knockout as well, in a thoroughly conventional but thoroughly satisfying way.

The sheriff orders everyone around as they prepare for the coming blast. We all look to authority in times of emergencies, I guess, but this guy is tall, bulky, has a chin like Dick Tracey, and has the acting talent of Mickey Spillane, whom he resembles.

There are the expectable events. The cowardly rich guy shoots himself. The well-groomed Beatnik refuses to take anything seriously.

There are also some quirky goings on. There is a supernumerary, a hitch-hiker, a murderer who covets his suitcase. We never find out what's the deal on the suitcase. He disappears from the story after destroying several crates of live chickens. There is no appendage to the credits claiming that "no chickens were harmed in the making of this film". Well, what the hell. They'd have all been broiled anyway.

Two elements of character development stand out. One is that the sheriff becomes more authoritarian and far less likable as his power seems to possess him. He and some passengers have sealed themselves in the trailer of an eighteen-wheeler, hoping it will protect them from the bomb. The rich wife has an ugly little poodle. The sheriff and the poodle stare at one another for a long moment, and then the sheriff grabs the little dog and strangles it because it's breathing too much air. But we're permitted to doubt that any poodles were harmed in the making of this film.

Another unexpected touch is the friendship that develops between the rich man's blond wife and an ordinary, working-class truck driver. She visits him on his lookout post and the friendship becomes intimate. I don't know how rich blonds react physically to impending death, but I can't imagine how the driver, knowing he's likely to be dead in fifteen minutes, is able to perform the duties associated with a spontaneous coupling in the bushes. The friendship, though, is rather nicely handled.

But it's a mediocre film. The dialog has little going for it. The editing leaves out some important events. How did the chicken farmer and his two companions get away from the truck, and why? And did any of them survive? And what on earth is inside that psychotic's suitcase? Does ANYONE live through the attack? There are some things man was never meant to know.

Explosive 1962 sleeper, the year of the Cuban Missile Crisis, when this fictional film almost became a reality

[sol-kay · 7/10 · 28 June 2004]

*****SPOILERS**** Futuristic-type movie made back in 1962 about an impending USSR nuclear missile attack on America and how it effected a number of motorists and a deputy sheriff stranded in the dark and cold California desert.

We see the people start to panic as the hour minute and second of doom gets closer and closer and how all civility as well as the respect for law and order starts to fall apart. The movie for a while takes on an almost soap opera-like quality as some of the people there, Karen and Al, begin to have an affair at the expense of Karen's husband Sam which leads him to get very depressed and later to kill himself.

There is also Clint who's an escaped psycho murder who hitched a ride with Al, on his tractor-trailer, who takes off when Sheriff Colter tries to talk to him. Clint ends up hiding in the desert brush popping up in the movie every now and them. Clint seems to be there for no other reason but to show the audience that he's still around when the world comes to an end.

By far the most interesting person in the movie "This is not a test" was Sheriff Colter who we see changed from a cool and in charge type of guy to an paranoid lunatic. Sheriff gets every one into Al's tractor-trailer and stuffs the air vents with mud to keep the radioactive air out after the inevitable nuclear blast. Which was really dumb on his part since without air, radioactive or otherwise, you can't survive.

Colter also goes nuts when he spotted Karen's little dog, for a moment Colter was looking at the poor mutt like he wanted to eat it, and crazily grabs and kills it by twisting it's head off why? According to Colter the dog was using up the air inside the truck. Colter becomes almost as dangerous as the coming nuclear blast is to the people who had the sad misfortune to be stuck with him as he loses his grip on things more the anyone, with the possible exception of Clint, else of the movie.

Pretty effective for a low-budget movie with a cast of unknowns that doesn't cop-out in the end as you would have expected it too. It's good to see that it's available on DVD for people to view it and see just what kind of fear and terror of a nuclear war that was on the minds of so many Americans back then in 1962 the year that a real nuclear war almost broke out during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Interesting but, in same genre, "Split Second" much better all around.

[banker-4 · 3/10 · 11 October 2008]

If you find this atomic bomb era film interesting or informative of the duck and cover time period I would heartily recommend that you view "Split Second" by Dick Powell. It has an RKO budget and Hollywood B stars such as Richard Egan, Stephen McNally, Alexis Smith, Jan Sterling and Keith Andes. It has much better acting, writing and production values. In each of these films people of various social and moral backgrounds are placed in tense situations in close confinement, that is a pressure cooker situation. Both this film and "Split Second" are informative of the real fear of atomic warfare that was in the back of our minds in the 50' and 60's.

Roadblock on the Highway to Hell

[Blamer · 7/10 · 26 November 2000]

A group of motorists traveling a remote mountain road are stopped at a roadblock by a no-nonsense highway patrolman, who is looking for an escaped felon. Suddenly, over the cop's radio comes the news that enemy ICBMs are on the way. Of course, society -- represented in microcosm by the small group -- freaks out, trying to come to grips with the fact that they are trapped between a rock and a hard place, with almost certain death only minutes away. This very low-budget Cold War flick is actually fairly effective and is played plausibly, with decent performances turned in by the virtually unknown cast. Tautly suspenseful, and well worth tracking down.

Chicken Little Warning

[wes-connors · 5/10 · 22 June 2008]

"A California deputy sheriff sets up a roadblock on a mountain highway leading to a city. He begins to stop motorists to inform them of some terrible news; a missile containing an atomic bomb is headed towards the city. The motorists and the deputy struggle with deciding on either finding shelter inside the back of a truck, for possible survival, or whether to go to the mountaintop to face the impending doom," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

An interesting lower budget doomsday feature, "This Is Not a Test" suffers through flawed, uninteresting characterizations. Moreover, subtleties and symbolism are too far buried in the mix to matter. There is barely a hint that "good" characters "Peter" and "June" could form an "Adam" and "Eve", should the film's promise be fulfilled. The "Discount World" truck, and the other means of transportation may, or may not, mean anything in particular.

The more interesting characters' psychoses are underdeveloped: dictatorial cop Seamon Glass (as Dan Colter) really needed some back-story; and alleged rapist/murderer Ron Starr (as Clint)'s back-story is completely wasted. Probably, Mr. Starr's character was falsely accused; and, the script makes no use of the possibility something interesting is being transported in his suitcase. Don't miss Starr's "chicken truck" meltdown scene, if you watch; he makes "Clint" the best role in the movie.

There are no giant monsters here

[dbborroughs · 8/10 · 4 July 2004]

Melodramatic for certain, but who would have thought that anyone would have made a film about the implications of an attack on the US by nuclear weapons in 1962? Certainly its amazing that there are no monsters lurking about, unless you count us as monsters.

The plot is simple, a sheriff is ordered to stop people on a lonely road late one night. The blockade is set up because the country is under attack and they don't want people running into the cities as everyone is trying to get out. What happens after everyone is stopped is what makes up the bulk of this movie.

As I said at the top its a bit melodramatic, we get the usual cross section of humanity all running past the same point in the road. However despite the melodrama things always remain interesting. We want to know what happens next because we care about most of the characters. Its their interplay that makes the movie work and be as watchable as it is. And what happens is certainly not what you expect from a "Hollywood" film.

Highly recommended. 8 out of 10.

Accurate portrayal of paranoia in 1962

[shepardjessica · 7/10 · 23 June 2004]

I remember seeing this film as a kid on late-night television and have searched for it for years (not remembering the title). Actually, it takes place very near to where I live, but anyway, this is NOT an exploitation film in the usual sense. Certainly a low-budget effort with varying degrees of amateur acting and strong portrayals, you do feel the smothering mood of impending doom for these folks. The casting of Seamon Glass (remember him in DELIVERANCE?) was essential to the reality of this tale since he doesn't seem to be acting at all. A perfect late-night tale of confusion and fear with a perfect ending.

They must have filmed this in four or five days. Who was right in the end? I miss these old black and white low-budget efforts. They formed their own reality when they weren't making fun of serious topics as in this case. Definitely a 7. It's on DVD. Check it out.

Ambitious

[boblipton · 5/10 · 8 April 2021]

On a feeder road out in the country, police officer Seamon Glass stops cars and trucks. CONELRAD has reported that nuclear missiles are on the way.

It's Cold War Angst at its logical conclusion, and this cheap movie is the usual mixture of good intentions, good technical handling, particularly by cinematographer Brick Marquard, an erratic script, poor sound recording and mediocre line readings. It's shot at night on the road in Los Angeles County, and the other set is the interior of a truck. People behave poorly, understandably enough, and I have a clear sense that some sort of subtext about cooperating in the face of doom is a good thing.... but there is no follow though.

The cast, judging by their credits elsewhere, was a good one, but utterly unknown at the time. Clearly this was a foot in the door to the industry for them. Some of them had substantial careers, like Michael Greene, who died in 2020 at age 86, with well over a hundred screen credits. Others, like Norman Winston, never worked in front of the camera again.

Best Atomic Age Drama

[ivan-22 · 31 August 2000]

Here is what I wrote in my 1983 diary:

A very good low-budget movie about the nuclear holocaust. People are stranded in the desert awaiting impending doom. What I liked about it is that it takes no sides, and doesn't end conventionally. The critics didn't think much of it, but I find it more effective than "Dr. Strangelove" which takes war too lightly.

Low budget suits this subject perfectly, because sparse and austere treatment is appropriate for such a momentous subject.

It puzzles me that all three writers never worked before OR SINCE. What became of them?

Not a Masterpiece

[mrbb-1 · 5/10 · 26 April 2020]

If you're seeking classic science fiction look elsewhere. The film has mostly sub-par acting and a mediocre script. Its one redeeming factor is that it reflects the nuclear paranoia of the time. I vividly remember my mother repeatedly and hysterically exclaiming "we're going to war" during President Kennedy's address to the nation during the Cuban missile crisis. The frequent air raid drills, "duck and cover" and home bomb shelters were all government propaganda to assure a nervous populace that we could actually survive a nuclear missile strike. So the movie serves as an interesting historical marker, but it's only worth watching once every 50 years.

Practically unwatchable....it's THAT bad.

[planktonrules · 2/10 · 29 July 2010]

The film is about a group of people who are forced together due to circumstances. When news of some sort of imminent nuclear attack is received, the police officer receiving the news is told to keep order and that martial law has been declared. The film is mostly about how everyone reacts to this situation and the story idea is a bit claustrophobic--with everyone forced to stay put and hope for the best.

"This is Not a Test" is an incredibly dull low-budget film--so dull that I had to fight to keep watching it. It's a shame, really, as the story idea wasn't bad at all--but unfortunately the production values were poor uniformly. The writing was terrible and dull. The acting was terrible and dull. The direction was terrible and dull. There was nothing that showed any sense of inspiration at all.

A Bomb Literally and Figuratively

[oldblackandwhite · 1/10 · 1 July 2010]

This may not have been the worst movie I have ever encountered but is pretty close to the worst I have ever watched to the end. If it had gone on for 74 minutes instead of only 73, I doubt I would have made it. This is Not a Test had almost no redeeming qualities -- unfocused direction, mostly amateurish acting, excruciatingly awful dialog, undistinguished cinematography, stereotyped characters and the cheapest of the cheap production values. One is left wondering if most of the actors paid to be in the movie. Their inept performances range from wild-eyed overacting to walking dead, deadpan delivery. Only Aubrey Martin as the irritating old chicken rancher's granddaughter showed any spark of talent. She was lively, but restrained, and very pretty. It is surprising her career never seems to have taken off.

Written to exploit the well-warranted fears of nuclear war in the early 1960's, the story has a diverse group of motorists stranded on a mountaintop and being bullied about by a brutal deputy sheriff while awaiting an incoming atomic missile. It showed some promise, and could have turned out okay with some fine-tuning, better dialog, careful direction, competent acting, and decent production values. Unfortunately, it got none of these.

The worst reviews I have read of this movie have not plumbed the depths of it awfulness. If it is an atomic war movie you are in the mood for, I would recommend Panic In Year Zero. If you are afflicted with insomnia and this movie is the only alternative to tossing and turning in bed, I would heartily recommend the tossing and turning.

This is not a bad yarn..

[Chase_Witherspoon · 6/10 · 28 December 2014]

Nothing especially original in this doomsday flick, except it's taut, manages the momentum well, and does a fine job on a limited budget. Seamon Glass (Deliverance) plays a gruff, brawny highway patrolman assigned the unenviable duty of preventing motorists from entering what is likely to become the target of an Atom-bomb attack. When he and the assorted bunch of motorists stopped at his checkpoint discover they are within the prospective radioactive zone, they set-about futile attempts at survival in the cargo hold of a semi-trailer. Predictably, tensions mount as the attack grows more imminent.

Low-key, no frills production has plenty of atmosphere highlighted by Glass's no- nonsense portrayal of the harassed cop whose heavy-handedness makes for turbulent relations with those who's welfare he's assigned to protect. There's infidelity, an escaped murderer, the old sage spouting metaphors of wisdom, and while most are just clichés, director Gadette handles the sub-plots with economy, serving only as pauses from the narrative, nothing too deep to distract the attention.

The cast is fairly obscure; notwithstanding Glass, Norman Bartold has a prominent role as a whining cuckold husband (credited as Norman Winston for some reason), and Ralph Manza appears briefly late in the film as one of a mob of crazed looters. Quite a decent yarn.

Ain't no city there no more. Everybody's gone nuts.

[mark.waltz · 2/10 · 31 August 2016]

A truly wretched, amateurish piece of exploitation rubbish, this is a horribly acted "what if" tale of the crisis of being in the middle of nowhere when stone faced police officer Seamon Glass stops a bunch of drivers out in the middle of the night, forcing them to stay put and not telling them why. It eventually cones out that their world is about to face a nuclear invasion, although where they are and who is doing the attacking is never revealed. Assortments of various strange people (is there any other kind who drives at 4 am?) are gathered together, forced to congregate in a steel truck in hopes of not being instantly liquidated. While the thought of such an attack is frightening, this reeks of idiocy, and the actors (especially Glass) are beneath small town community theater talent. There's unnecessary violence towards animals, a drunken female driver, a psycho on the loose (who isn't the cop) and a stray band of looters. This ranks as one of the worst anti-war drama I've seen and has nothing to recommend. Coming from a studio called GPA, if that stands for "Grade Point Average", they would get an "F" and absolutely no diploma.

Brings the 50s 'end of the world' era to a logical conclusion

[kevinolzak · 6/10 · 16 April 2014]

1962's "This Is Not a Test" is a rarely seen end of the world melodrama, a fitting and logical conclusion to a decade's worth of such science fiction endeavors. Director Arch Oboler began the sub genre with his 1951 feature "Five," more highbrow efforts such as "The World, the Flesh, and the Devil" and "On the Beach" sharing the screen with more exploitive titles like "Day the World Ended" and "Last Woman on Earth," both from director Roger Corman. By 1962, Ray Milland directed and starred in his own take on the subject, "Panic in Year Zero!" followed by this tiny budgeted effort, which appears to have bypassed any theatrical distribution and gone straight to television (the last word on the 50s era 'end of the world'). It's 4:00 AM, and Deputy Sheriff Dan Colter (Seamon Glass) is assigned to create a road block, stopping traffic somewhere in the Sierra Nevadas. His curt instructions to all the passersby is simply to pull over and wait, and it soon becomes clear that a state of emergency has arisen. Once the red alert is sounded and martial law declared, the sheriff's behavior grows more erratic and unpredictable, keeping events at a good pace and reasonably believable (the story takes place in real time, roughly 72 minutes). Despite the clichéd characterizations expected from such a film, the little known cast does very well indeed, marking this forgotten programmer as a growing cult item. There are a few familiar TV faces among the performers, particularly Thayer Roberts as the elderly farmer, comedic scene stealer Ralph Manza (in rare serious mode), and Michael Greene, making his screen debut as the jive talking Joe (he would star in 1973's "The Clones," another cult film).

A must see...

[rivendell1 · 1/10 · 22 January 2006]

Ladies and Gentleman, I give you what may be the worst movie of all time. If surviving an atomic blast means having to spend two weeks locked in a trailer truck with these crazed, dysfunctional and in at least one instance, mentally retarded, social misfits I'd prefer the radiation. A film so rambling and incoherent, so amazingly bad it may emerge as a cinematic classic. In the class of Plan 9 from Outer Space and Futz! and a definite contender for the greatest waste of film stock in Hollywood history, at least up to any Pauly Shore movie. Acting, directing and writing so horrendous that it almost cracked the screen on my television set. Get a load of Ralph Manza though in one of his first rolls. He must have been blackmailed and desperate to take on this whopper. A must see for all film students.

Unfortunately, this is still the way people panic

[drystyx · 9/10 · 31 December 2010]

This is more of a stage play than a blockbuster movie, and has the elements of drama that make it rise.

It deals with a policeman, or a deputy as he calls himself, armed with shotgun and pistol, performing his duty at a road block. Blindly, he carries out his orders, and seems to be part of a system, but we gradually find he is a tyrant who is making up his own system.

It turns out that the road block is because of an impending nuclear strike, and the setting is well over 25 miles away from the city and strategic military centers, but also smack dab in the center of them.

The other characters come across as clichés to the naive, but they aren't. In fact, neither is the officer. Unfortunately, this is still the way people panic, trying to appear sensible, but in fact like chickens with their heads cut off. Those who laugh the most at the silliness mark themselves as most likely to crack themselves. Only by facing the reality of Fear can someone hope to be as sensible as the trio who actually have a chance of escaping a horrid fate.

SPOILER HERE: Three characters, local people, soon realize the mania of the cop and devise their own survival plan. Two of them obviously survive the ending, and even in 1962 it was obvious they survived. This steps on a lot of people's toes, because these two don't fall into the mode of what modern hate mongering audiences like to see survive, but sorry, those are the facts. This comes across as a very intriguing drama. And the characters only seem far fetched to those who've never been in danger. They are frighteningly realistic. Even the events aren't that far fetched today. This is a highly underrated piece. And the lesson to learn isn't so much how to have a chance to survive disaster (although that is shown also), but how to survive the lunacy of those who have authority.

Quite enjoyable no-budget doomsday/nuclear apocalypse thriller!

[talisencrw · 7/10 · 10 April 2016]

It has always intrigued me how cinema reflects its times--nothing demonstrates that to me more passionately than the doomsday scenario of nuclear apocalypse in movies, particularly during the times of extreme political crisis between the USA and then-USSR in both the 60's and 80's.

'This Is Not a Test' was director Fredric Gadette's lone work as director, producer and scriptwriter, and he's able to make, with a small set, a truck, a few cars, 17 no-name actors and a dog, an intriguing and moderately suspenseful genre entry. He utilizes a few nice gimmicks to make it more enjoyable--a murderer on the loose, a couple who should have divorced probably a decade ago, a lost rifle--some hilarious parts (what good is canned grapefruit juice if you don't have a can opener, and what 'discount world' sells mink coats?), and all tolled, it's a fine, low-budget 73 minutes that make me honestly wish Mr. Gadette had made a lot more movies.

(Cinephiles, this is readily available for a fine price in Mill Creek's 50-film set called 'Nightmare Worlds'. Don't say I didn't tell ya!) =)

Dull Monotones Make For A Dull Film

[Theo Robertson · 5/10 · 4 July 2013]

Sheriff Dan Colter is a highway patrolman conducts a roadblock on a desolate stretch of rural America . Several cars stop then Colter hears over the radio that the country is under attack from a nuclear strike

There's a good idea in here somewhere . You had to have lived through the cold war of the late 20th Century when tensions between East and West often seemed at breaking point . Dramas featuring nuclear paranoia were never entertaining but they were always memorable . Someone of my generation often has no difficulty of saying the 1984 docudrama THREADS was the scariest thing they ever saw on television and burnt its imagery across a young memory . In short nuclear paranoia dramas are memorable but this drama called THIS IS NOT A TEST is very obscure

It's easy to see why . It has one small setting , a small cast and doesn't concern itself with scope . In short it's a psycho-drama but for something like this to work the acting and writing must be perfect or at least very good if it's to stay in the mind and while the ending is suitably downbeat most of the assets of the patchy screenplay are let down by the cast

That said the characters are sketchily drawn . You have the elderly grandfather and his granddaughter , the rich and booze soaked philistine couple , a fugitive who is conveniently wanted for murder etc . None of the characters seem more than one note and the cast do not help in the slightest who are very wooden especially Seamon Glass as Colter who constantly talks in a dull monotone which is frankly distracting and considering he's effectively the lead character does tend to pull the film down