Pieced together in 1972, THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE (although most prints exclude THE at the beginning of the title) is the worst movie I have ever viewed. If you looked only at the cast and crew however, that would come as somewhat of a surprise. Grant Williams, Lee Sholem, James Craig and many other members of the production were very reliable in their better years, which brings me to the conclusion that many needed (or accepted) their roles in this modest film "for the money".<br /><br />This would account for the bad acting and careless execution of a story that had been seen so many times before even when the film was began in 1967. This involves, with a Commie-apocalypse twist worked in, what happens when a crew of astronauts discover their mission to Venus was actually an attempt to advance the human race beyond an impending nuclear apocalypse (which is unbelievable even with the most infinite amount of suspension of disbelief). <br /><br />And so for the next hour the audience is bludgeoned with droning melodrama and incongruous stock footage until a conclusion that will shock you with its utter stupidity and inexplicable nature. <br /><br />What makes the film somewhat of a guilty pleasure is to see how it scrapes the bottom of the barrel in terms of production values, offers no provocative politics and little human conflict in a situation that requires huge amounts and frames all of its action in a static manner. This film shows the viewer explicitly everything that can go wrong in making a movie, and provides the some of the most laughable dialogue and scenes one may ever see.<br /><br />Grouped most accurately with other tiny-budget commercial independents of the 70s like CRY BLOOD, APACHE and THE REVENGE OF DR.X, the film wastes the talents of its once-great principals and the time of anyone who sees it--I can't even see many of those who love terrible cinema enjoying this--and makes one wince in sheer boredom that there must be something interesting in the film.<br /><br />For all of the 80-odd minutes spent watching this one, there really isn't. See it at your own risk.