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“No Blade Of Grass” (1970) – The End of Love

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They ain’t kidding with the bit about “the end of Love”. This is a very violent, depressing environmental horror tale from the early 1970’s which sets the downbeat vibe with the title sequence showing a parched desert floor with the anguished silhouettes of contorted human figures laboring across it. We then see a montage of car exhaust pipes and factory chimneys spewing out ugly exhaust, polluted waterways and landscapes, and scenes of overcrowded, congested cities. (The title sequence from “Soylent Green”, another grim portrait of a futuristic nightmare society, nicked this montage.) It doesn’t help matters that folkie Roger Whittaker chortles the movie theme song and chronicles the ills of a polluted, dying Earth. Hence, “The End of Love”.

“No Blade of Grass” looks at the extreme measures taken by world governments to combat a deadly virus and its aftermath. Wheat, grass and grain are destroyed which leads to global famine conditions. Millions die. When society starts to collapse, martial law and the extermination of dissenters ensues. A family leaves a stricken London and ventures toward a rural Eden but a hellscape awaits instead.

It is shocking to consider that this movie was made over 50 years ago and conditions of pollution and overpopulation were considered a serious worldwide threat even then. Fast forward to 2023 and we are clearly past the point of no return. The environmental maladies have now surged to unscalable levels. Maybe if we had put more serious effort into dealing with the situation back then we wouldn’t be in quite the mess we are now. Nah! There is always time enough for everything. Famous last words.

(See also “Panic in the Year Zero”)

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Building A Better Biological Bug And Then It All Went Wrong – “The Stand” (1994)

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There were news items circling around where the plot from Steven King’s “The Stand” has been compared to the current global pandemic featuring the irrepressible COVID-19. King denied that there were really any similarities. As we progress through this mess, more details emerge as to the origin of the coronavirus. Did it begin in one of the “wet markets” in Wuhan, China, where a varied selection of animals are sold for consumption? It has also been mentioned that there are a couple of virology labs close by the wet markets where tests were being made on bats for who knows what reason and that a doctor involved may have been infected and took the virus and spread it amongst the general public. That theory alone would make it similar in concept to King’s “Stand” beginning. Maybe one day, we will learn about the true origins of our real life virus problems. For now, take an exhilarating trip with “The Stand” miniseries from 1994. This opening clip from the miniseries, directed by Mick Garris, which shows how an influenza strain escapes from a DOD laboratory and infects the world is really good stuff. Equally killer is the usage of Blue Oyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear The Reaper” as the soundtrack. AWESOME!!!!

action adventure, science fiction, science fiction films, suspense

“Andromeda Strain’s” Virus Arrives From Space (1971)

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With our world’s current battle with COVID-19 on everyone’s mind, a lot of folks are looking back on similar storylines that occurred in works of fiction. I know there are a lot of examples but I will discuss “The Andromeda Strain” (1971), a big-budgeted science fiction film from the Seventies based upon the novel by Michael Crichton. It explored an alien virus piggybacking on a speck of meteor that ends up embedded in a space-borne satellite. The satellite crashes down near a small desert town. The natives naturally are curious about the object and examine it but not before getting exposure to the out of this world life form. The results are disastrous and deadly. After the entire town is found to be dead, a secret government biological research division goes into action and isolates the organism in a vast, underground laboratory complex. It is now up to the “experts” to prevent the bacterial strain from mutating and spreading across the globe. There are some interesting futuristic (at the time) devices and special effects used in this movie. It still holds its charm for me and is very suspenseful in spots but can be a little tedious at times as the four main protagonists go about their tests and experiments to scientifically make sense of this unknown, threatening quantity and try to find a means to eliminate it.

We don’t know how long our present pandemic will last or if the worst of it is behind us but we can certainly agree that it would be best if life did not imitate art after seeing any of the nightmare scenarios detailed in these pandemic themed works of art.