Def-Con 4 (1985)
Def-Con 4 (1985)
BDRip 720p | MKV | 1280 x 720 | x264 @ 2560 Kbps | 1h 27mn | 1,67 Gb
Audio: English AC3 1.0 @ 160 Kbps | Subtitles: English (embedded)
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Horror | Directors: Paul Donovan, Digby Cook
BDRip 720p | MKV | 1280 x 720 | x264 @ 2560 Kbps | 1h 27mn | 1,67 Gb
Audio: English AC3 1.0 @ 160 Kbps | Subtitles: English (embedded)
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Horror | Directors: Paul Donovan, Digby Cook
Shot in 1983 but not released until 1985, this sci-fi adventure is set in a degenerate society sometime in the near future, with humans thrown back to the level of Neanderthals by nuclear war. Three astronauts, two men and a woman, are in charge of a space station armed with nuclear weapons when World War III erupts on earth. They remain in space to stay out of the conflagration but are forced to crash-land several months after the war has wiped out most of civilization. After the crash, one astronaut is killed, another is captured, and the third stays with the downed space station in a series of chase-and-capture scenes. Marauders have taken over a lawless world and the future looks bleak for everyone, even the remaining astronauts.
Let's get it out of the way first thing: The critics of the 80s like Leonard Maltin and Siskel/Ebert who sadistically maligned DEF-CON 4 as a wretched exercise in scum & sleaze were WRONG. I agree with another comment stating that this movie was unfairly dismissed at the time of original release. Yes it's tacky, low budget and amoral – perhaps one of the most amoral movies of the Reagan years of home video rental. For that reason alone it actually stood out from the pack by actually daring to present it's viewers with exactly that which it aspired to. Unlike the Mad Max films or even the Italian ripoffs of the genre Max created, DEF-CON 4 has no presumptions about being a parable, having any kind of a message or examining some sort of social phenomenon. It is about nuclear war and the resultant breakdown of our North American collective society, and like those prospects it isn't pretty, easy to stomach or even make sense of.
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One of the better eighties post-apocalyptic films was and is Def Con 4. It bombed in 1985 but has gone on to gain a small cult following. It is the story of three astronauts, one in particular, who witness war and nuclear holocaust from a satelite. The space footage is well shot and a genuine sense of dread reigns as we watch them contemplate the deaths of their families and of civilization.
When their satelite is forced to land they fall into a nuclear wasteland fillled with armed militants and plague ridden cannibals. This is perhaps one of the dirtiest looking movies of its day, which rather adds to the already oppresive atmosphere. Unfortunately Def Con runs out of steam toward the somewhat hurried finale. Yet if your not easily put off by the brutal tone of the movie, its science fiction worthy of 90 minutes of your life.
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Def-Con 4 (1985)
