GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

MartinHafer 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.

queun The best thing about this movie was also the best thing about Carnival of Souls. Namely that its lower budget led to hazily filmed, sometimes unclear and murky scenes. In both movies it made the mood creepier, while in the case of This is Not a Test it also gave it something of a documentary feel.One surprising thing about this movie was that it was filmed completely at night, which is an added expense and unusual for such a low budget movie.But to me the most surprising thing was the gratuitous animal cruelty. I'm not referring to the famous strangled puppy scene which took place off camera and was only implied, but to the chicken scene. When the psycho character comes back to discover the truck has left, he takes his anger out on some unfortunate chickens. Besides smashing wooden cages on the ground, releasing REAL chickens, he picks up at least two and smashes them to the ground like an angry child. I've watched the scene several times and they were real chickens. Okay, not earth shattering but an interesting look at something filmmakers will never do again.

winner55 To understand the importance of this film, and one or two others like it, please remember that at the time this film was made, the US government was still insisting that a simple wooden board could save one from the deadly effects of a nuclear blast. I still remember the drills in grammar school - in 1962 (2 years after this film was made), the drill was to duck under our desks. A year later, it was finally admitted that maybe a concrete wall would be needed, so we were filed out into the hall and sat on the floor with our arms over our heads - the placement of the arms were to weaken the effects of fall-out.This is not a great, or even good, film. It's cheap, it's underdirected, underacted, underlit, underdesigned in every way. And of course there's the unnecessary dash of pure exploitation - drunkenness, lust, bad attitude. And the cop is a hoot by any standards, although let us admit the courage of the writer to make him a complete fool as far as the A-Bomb and his untrustworthy government are concerned.But that, after all, is the real importance of the film. Only four years later, Barry Goldwater ran on the promise that he wouldn't hesitate to use the A-bomb - in Vietnam, Cuba, what the hell, Alabama, if the Civil Rights movement got violent."Nuke 'em, nuke 'em," we still hear the chant, from irresponsible lard-heads who have not the slightest idea how even one or two badly placed bombs would destroy their lives forever - presuming they survived.So, surprisingly - a historically important film, worth a glance.

Thorsten-Krings This is a fine example of a very well executed low or no budget movie. The topic: the end of the world. A cross section of society is stopped at a roadblock by the psycho sheriff from hell waiting for doom, i.e. nuclear missiles. The drama is set in real time so we basically witness the last 72 minutes of the world and the drama that unfolds between the people waiting or trying to find a way to survive. There are no shock effects, just emotions, drama and melodrama. However, the drama is gripping and very well written. It is amazing that a film that's set at a cross roads somewhere in the middle of nowhere with no special effects whatsoever can make such compelling viewing.