bnwfilmbuff Made-for-TV apocalyptic film following a family that while vacationing in the California mountains their friend that is with them suddenly gets ill, dies, and turns to powder. The remainder of the film follows their struggle to get back home to Malibu where Jay W. MacIntosh, in the role of the mother/wife, has returned. Along the way father Peter Graves queries son Michael James-Wixted, a physics student, to try to determine what has exterminated most of the population and why they haven't been affected. Nothing too out-of the-ordinary happens in this. Kathleen Quinlan in the role of the daughter does some occasional narration which doesn't add much. One interesting aspect is that dogs have become particularly menacing. There is an obvious Biblical theme to this movie that never gets explored and might have made this a bit more interesting. Despite being cliché it's pretty well done for a made-for-TV.

eric kallen I cannot agree with most of the other reviewers of this flick. It was only slightly amusing. It looks like it was hastily made with a tiny budget. The plot device of using empty clothes with piles of some white powder to represent victims of some radiation or disease was cheap.Peter Graves and the rest of the cast did a workman-like job.The plot is illogical- There's a bright flash of light and an earthquake and then everybody, well almost everybody, dies. The feel-good ending was cloying.To bad the flick wasn't directed by Roger Corman. This movie is available to suffer through for free on YouTube.

sinful-2 Technical I think it was a nice movie even though old and no special effects it worked fine.Plotwise and later in the story I was simply lost as I could not make myself believe it anymore. I know it is a movie and not real life. But the deaths were just too silly.The start is great and gives a good promise about the rest of the movie. I was exited to see what would happen.I think they acted realistic hysterical and under pressure in the start of the movie after the big light glimpse. And it gave good excitement the way one of them had something described as radiation sickness. I was at this time exited guessing what could really have happened. And here I soon got my first letdown.SPOILERS start: But after dying they turned to white powder. Ehh were they delayed incinerated by the flash? No unfortunately even worse. It was a virus that made them white powder. And a virus that hit all over the world at the same time.Had they just let people be dead bodies, then everything would have worked great. And then let us know the virus had gradually spread instead of appearing worldwide at once, then I would have loved the movie. A bit like the old BBC series Survivors (I think it is).

d-b-casey My parents had gone out and I was home alone when I watched this on TV many years ago, lol! Yes, it terrified me as I was only 8 or 9 then. I'm 41 now and would love to see it again, this time without the pillow, blankets, and dog in front of my face! It starts out with a camping trip, one like I have taken so many times with my own family, so true to life. When it's over you have to wonder if something like this could really happen, has it already happened? You have to go look out the window to make sure the world it still the same as when you last saw it. I have only seen the movie once, but it has stayed with me all these years. I think you can get it on DVD now, but if not, find an old VCR & watch it!