Prophecies of Nostradamus

1974 "Catastrophe 1999"
6.3| 1h54m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 13 July 1974 Released
Producted By: Toho Eizo Co.
Country: Japan
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

Professor Nishiyama, after studying and interpreting the prophecies of Nostradamus, realizes that the end of the world is at hand. Unfortunately, nobody listens to him until it is too late. As the effects of mankind's tampering of the earth - radioactive smog clouds, hideously mutated animals, destruction of the ozone layer - rage out of control, the world leaders hurtle blindly toward the final confrontation. The film sparked controversy in Japan and was subsequently pulled out of circulation, with no official video release of the uncut film.

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Reviews

Matrixston Wow! Such a good movie.
Portia Hilton Blistering performances.
Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.
Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.
sogoishi The largely inferior American bastardization is a genuine travesty. I recently saw the original 114 minute Japanese language version on glorious widescreen. I must say this film packs a serious wallop. Unlike the US version which goes for the throat in the first ten minutes, this version takes time to properly develop it's characters and set up the mood. The film opens up in feudal Japan with a descendent of Nishiyama (Tetsuro Tamba)being persecuted for bringing the writings of Nostradamus into the country. His father was also persecuted during WWII as he predicts the rise of Hitler. The opening credits are chilling, one of the best intros I have ever seen in a movie. The music by Isao Tomita is one of the best film scores ever produced. I hope Toho ends the studio ban. This year marks its 30th anniversary and it's been banned for over 20 years. What are they so afraid of? Their are plenty of films over there more offensive to sensitivities than this film. This is a very different kind of Toho film and the US version obscures it. There's graphic violence, brief nudity and the handling of its subject matter is unflinching. Many of the scenes presented in the US version that appear nonsensical, pointless and mediocre are all explained here. The actors do a fine acting job (Seven Samurai and Godzilla's Takashi Shimura makes an appearance as a doctor) and Kaoru Yumi is a real hottie. The director Toshio Masuda and screenwriter Yoshimistu Banno (the Godzilla vs Hedora director) do a splendid job balancing beauty and the grotesque. this film is SUPERIOR to all other disaster films because it has heart, spirit and a brutal go-for-the-throat approach. The filmmakers were fearless making this. Lastly, Teruyoshi Nakano's special effects are superb to say the least, but admittingly some scenes dont work (the giant bats and the little girl jumping incredible heights). The traffic jam explosion scene is amazing. There's some stock Footage from The Submersion of Japan and The Last War, though. A subtitled print has to exist somewhere. I really hope classic media does a wonderful job on the DVD release.
Chung Mo Having seen this in Japanese on the big screen back in the early eighties and later on TV, I can say that it's pretty strange no matter what the US dub did to it. The best I can say however is the film is very entertaining in a bad movie way.The audience I saw it with at the Japan Society here in New York City laughed at a lot of the film and this included a number of Japanese. The strangeness of the film starts with the weird inclusion of Nostradamus as a way to explain the social commentary the film makers were clearly trying to get across. Why it didn't occur to them that Nostradamus would just turn the whole shebang into a big fantasy farce is only clear when you see the bizarreness that follows. Entire traffic jams blowing up from one car crash. New Guinea wildlife mutants. Motor cycle gangs gone suicidal and driving off cliffs. Japanese mobs rioting for rice. Scientific / paranormal explanations going hand in hand. A final apocalypse sequence that lasts for 15 minutes but is entirely made up as if the movie has become a documentary. The acting is very over the top sometimes and other times it's very, very restrained. There's a few "Speed Racer" type reaction shots that don't play well on live humans here in the US.There's a lot of SFX footage pulled from other Toho productions, The Submersion of Japan (Tidal Wave) and The Last War (1961!) being the obvious ones. However, the movie is so visually disjointed by the end that it doesn't really make a difference. It's interesting to compare this to other Japanese fantasy films of the same era that toss modern-day Japan into chaos. It seems that the consensus was the Japanese would loose their self-control and become a violent mob.The music is good in an unusual way and the pacing of the film is enough to keep you watching even though it's sheer idiocy (for a good cause, though).
Maciste_Brother People don't watch Last Days of Planet Earth (American title) with the right mindset. It's a surreal, absurdist experience. It's a movie that works in the subconscious. What you see is not what you're suppose to feel or get. In other words, it's not only about the end of the world but much more. On face value, the film doesn't seem to make any sense but in your subconscious, it makes sense. Only after watching the whole film and mulling over it a day or two, that the film's real intent will creep in your mind and hit you, whether you like it or not (and most people don't like what it says about them or society, and so they're very negative towards it).Nosutoradamusu no daiyogen is a masterpiece! A one of kind film experience. And the music score is one of the best I've ever heard.
emm We can expect more IMDb user coverage on LAST DAYS OF PLANET EARTH, and tons more that fall into the "schlock" category. And for a good reason! This one is about as bad as, say PLAN 9, and may just be the worst science fiction production imported from Japan. Why science fiction? Is it because Earth is under peril from natural and man-made disasters that is described in the prophecies of Nostradamus? This is a classic example of a plot used heavily in these movies, minus the seer's words. In fact, you can always expect ANYTHING to happen, making EVERYTHING go wrong in the plot without a trace. It all ends up as an in-depth documentary that focuses on the stages of mankind's existence in the final days, spoken by an overpaid voice actor who needs his lips glued with Mucilage. Read the Weekly World News and you'll soon find out that feeding on fear is such a silly idea after all. Anybody else want to comment?