Red-Barracuda A multi-national space mission including astronauts from the UK, the USA and the Soviet Union venture into space but they experience technical problems resulting in the mission being aborted, but unfortunately this is just the first in a chain reaction of events which results in catastrophic disasters back on Earth, including scores of asteroids, earthquakes and extreme weather.The Day the Sky Exploded is fairly notable for being the first Italian sci-fi movie. Having said that, this is a fairly limited claim to fame given science fiction wouldn't exactly go on to become one of the movie sub-genres that the pasta masters are most well remembered for. This one is fairly ahead of its time in some respects though and quite ambitious for its time. It also is unusual in that it showed Americans and Russians working happily together at the height of the Cold War. So, it has some interesting things about it for sure but on the whole it was pretty forgettable stuff unfortunately. Interestingly, it was also photographed by the great future directing legend Mario Bava; to be honest, the version I saw this was a public domain pan-and-scan copy in which it was difficult to really tell if it had great cinematography or not sadly.

Hitchcoc This dubbed Italian film is based on an interesting premise, but then it is so dull, it makes no difference. It begins with a nuclear powered ship sent up with an American in it. He has to abandon rocket somewhere, leaving the full payload up there. Wouldn't you know it, it gets itself hooked up with a grouping of asteroids that begin to head for the Earth. There is then about 45 minutes of hand wringing as they hope it won't hit them. They are hoping that the moon's gravitational pull will disperse the asteroids which are linked by a magnetic field. Newton is spinning like a lathe. A marriage almost breaks up. A couple of hot and bothered scientists can't keep their hands off each other, and eventually someone has to come up with a plan. Meanwhile the earth starts catching fire and tidal waves start, but no reason is given. There is no science here. Don't waste your time. Even as high camp, it doesn't cut the mustard.

Uriah43 A joint effort by the United States and the Soviet Union to send a nuclear powered manned flight into space results in a disaster which manages to ionize a cluster of meteors and send them on a trajectory toward earth. This causes a crises of the first magnitude as tidal waves are predicted to destroy cities near coasts all over the world. And that's just the beginning of the problem. Now, while this scenario had been done about seven years earlier in "When Worlds Collide", this film offers a different approach and succeeds (more or less) in spite of the limited budget which was spent to produce it. And although the acting certainly wasn't anything to get excited about, the special effects were pretty good considering the era this movie was made. All in all then, it's worth watching as long as people aren't expecting too much. All things considered then I rate it as about average. No more and no less.

MarplotRedux The film's retro 1958 computer equipment is delightful. Also, there are many delightful inconsistencies in the story: as one example, despite that temperatures on Earth have dramatically increased, some of the actors continue to wear heavy clothing that they could easily have taken off. This temperature increase is one of several supposed consequences of an asteroid's near approach to Earth that are flat-out scientifically impossible. Other supposed consequences, such as animals sensing what's about to happen days in advance are equally silly. The acting is generally wooden, and the dubbing into English is occasionally obvious. Much of the special effects are stock footage; so are the movie's lengthy depictions of various kinds of communications equipment, airplane flights and rocket launches. Much of the remaining special effects are stock footage with bright blobs inserted. Again, the phenomena represented by the blobs are scientifically impossible. In general, a splendid movie for those like me who enjoy pretentious bad films.