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Christopher Allport, David Clennon, David Rasche, Ebbe Roe Smith, Ed Flanders, Kathryn Walker, Robert Kay, Roberta Maxwell, Rosalind Cash, Roxanne Hart
Do you want to hear an embarrassing confession? I don’t like disaster movies because they actually scare me. Remember when it was a fad in the 80s to make TV movies about nuclear war? Yeah, I didn’t watch any of them. But I found Special Bulletin recently, and because I’m a sucker for a good mockumentary, I decided to face my fears and watch it.
As it turns out, I’m glad I did, although I’m not sure if I could ever watch it again. This is the story of a radical anti-nuke group who hold Charleston, S.C. hostage with, irony alert, a homemade nuclear bomb in an effort to force the government to disarm all 900 nuclear weapons in Charleston. Because it is a drama, even though (or maybe especially because) the crazy terrorists actually think they’re on a positive mission, things don’t turn out well for anyone. And I’m not sure when I’ve been so emotionally devastated by a movie. I’m talking Terms of Endearment level ugly crying out of me. Who knew that sometimes TV movies aren’t cheesetastic? Sometimes they even win Emmys.
Filled with great “that guy” actors, including Sledge Hammer, the love interest from Highlander the movie, and even a cameo by Michael Madsen as a man on the street being interviewed, Special Bulletin is really worth your time in a way that much of what I review here is not. If you have an interest in the way our government deals with terrorism, or in the way the news media can become a character in the real-life dramas they’re supposed to be giving an unbiased report about, you need to see this.
While, despite any disclaimers, several people in Charleston did call the authorities during the original broadcast to see if the film was real, it is interesting to note that Special Bulletin did not cause near the level of panic that Ghostwatch did when it played on British TV. Are we more afraid of ghosts than of bombs? I can tell you that for me, particularly in the aftermath of seeing this movie, it’s a bomb that I’m looking over my shoulder for tonight. This is not a horror movie, but it is horrific. Still, I recommend it for when you find yourself in a serious mood.
Oh, and be forewarned: if you comment to tell me that nothing of value would be lost if someone annihilated the coast of South Carolina, I will delete your comment. Thanks in advance for not doing that.
mistylayne said:
I’m a fan of disaster movies BECAUSE they scare me more than anything else. I look upon them as a way to prepare myself for future scenarios. As such, I will definitely check this out.
Wednesday's Child said:
It’s better than the average disaster movie in that it doesn’t follow the formula of showing different people all affected by the event who then meet up to fight for their lives. It remains committed to the fake news reporting, which is fascinating.
theipc said:
you two should check out The Divide… it’s probably one of the most intense movies I have seen in 4 eva. (it’s a post nuclear bombing of New York dealie). You might have missed my send up of it because it came on the post of “Earth Day”…
Wednesday's Child said:
I’m going over to read your review of it, thanks for the recommendation.
theipc said:
lemme know whatcha think ~
TheBruce said:
Maybe I’ll sound stupid here, but reading the nuclear arms premise reminds me of THE DAY AFTER and THREADS. I have no idea if they’re similar at all, in any capacity because I’ve never seen this one. But you’ve got me interested enough to give it a go.
Wednesday's Child said:
The Day After was part of that cycle of TV nuclear scare movies I was talking about, yeah. I think Threads was too.
E.F. Contentment (@EFContentment) said:
Weird thing is that disaster movies freak me out too — and yet, I watch them. It’s a masochistic thing, I guess. Back in grade school, I was particularly freaked out by movies involving nuclear annihilation and sure enough, I searched out/watched all those joints like The Day After, Miracle Mile, Testament, and thanks to TBS, Special Bulletin as well (you see, TBS used to show a lot of cool stuff and not just Tyler Perry’s Tyler Perry featuring Tyler Perry reruns). Maybe it was a Face Your Fear kind-of thing, I don’t know. Anyway, haven’t seen this one since Bush 1 was in office, so I don’t know how dated it is now, but I do remember it feeling way too real at the time.
I’m not a fan of the “no loss” joke about cities being destroyed, either. I know it’s a joke, but my crappy sense of humor can only go so far. I get it, your city is so awesome and progressive and better than everyone else and where I live is a vapid plastic shithole, so HAW HAW HAW if it fell into the ocean and everyone died (I live near Los Angeles, which yes, can be an anger-inducing place to deal with, but c’mon, enough already). What can I say, I can be an overly-sensitive cat about some things.
Wednesday's Child said:
I’m super sensitive about being southern, which is odd, because I’m the first to say “I’m surrounded by fricking idiots!” I just don’t want to hear other people saying it!
But about the movie, I think it holds up well. The only thing, and I should have said this in the article, is that I imagine it worked better when the excellent cast of “that guy” actors was a relatively unknown cast.