Professor Andrew Boran (Kirk Scott) is a research scientist for NASA. One night he picks up strange radio signals that are coming from outer space but seem to originate from Earth. The message says, “Large Earth Disruption”. The message is repeated several times. Andrew is confused by both the message and where it came from. Andrew tries to talk to his boss, Mr. Collins (Dean Jagger) but Collins is more interested in a lecture tour that he wants Andrew to do. An earthquake happens.
Another message is sent and another disaster, this time it turns out to be a volcano eruption. Not getting any help from his boss, Andrew decides to investigate the unusual signals himself. The signals seem to come from two possible locations. Andrew and his wife, Sylvia (Sue Lyon) drive to the first location. What they find is a convent. They wander around but see nothing out of the ordinary. Back in the car they head for the second place where Andrew believes the messages may be coming from.
Investigating the second possible source for the messages turns out to be a government underground bunker used as a communication facility. Running the facility is a man named Beckerman (Lew Ayres). Andrew and Beckerman know each other from communications they’ve had in the past. Realizing that the messages are actually coming from the convent, Andrew and Sylvia return. At the convent they meet Father Pergado (Christopher Lee). Again, they see nothing unusual.
When Andrew returns to his office, he picks up another message. This time the message sent into space is about him and his wife. Once again, they return to the convent. This time they find that Father Pergado and the nuns are not who they appear to be. Andrew and Sylvia come face to face with beings from another world. Beings that need Andrew to help them return to their own planet before the Earth is destroyed by its own seismic disturbances.
“End of the World” was released in 1977 and was directed by John Hayes. It is an American science fiction movie.
The movie is kind of slow and often incoherent. It is mostly a series of conversations between Andrew and Sylvia. Other than the opening sequence where the diner owner gets fried, there’s only one really big explosion in the movie. The rest of the time it’s just the two main characters stumbling around looking for clues and getting mostly nowhere. It’s not horrible, but it is tedious.
Strangely, the movie doesn’t really explore the actual end of the world events. All you see is some stock footage of disasters. Why the Earth is destroying itself is not covered. The destruction of Earth is not the plot but more of a plot devise.
Christopher Lee is in the film, but not a lot. When he does show up, he is the highlight.