Dawn of an Evil Millennium (1988) User Reviews

I would explode your head if I didn't enjoy this short film so much

[Humdinger69 · 8/10 · 19 January 2014]

I was looking online for some splatter shorts and I found this little oddity from Damon Packard. This isn't splatter (though it has a few moments), what it is, however, is incoherent, insane, hilarious, and, in a way, mesmerizing.

The plot centers around a demon from an alien planet who is sent to earth to destroy all mankind while riding around in a custom 1970's Oldsmobile. He splits up into two beings, one of them good and one of them evil. A cop and his partner are after them, there's something about gnomes controlling the forest, I don't know. Some of the characters are difficult to understand because of heavy echo and distortion effects, I probably wouldn't have understood half of what was happening if I didn't read the description before I watched. But I don't think the point of the movie is to understand it, I certainly didn't care either way because I was just so mesmerized at the images being placed before me.

This movie is often very comical with it's randomness, I laughed out loud on several occasions.

While it may not be for everyone, Dawn of an Evil Millennium is surreal, crazy, off-the-wall and fascinating in it's bizarreness. I will definitely be looking into more of Mr. Packard's works.

What makes camp good

[Polaris_DiB · 7/10 · 1 November 2006]

Would you like to see an 18 hour zombie action horror sci fi thriller epic? I know I would, but only if it was made by the guy who made the short film that calls itself a trailer for the gorefest.

Damon Packard takes all that is camp and makes it even campier by tossing aside the attempt to narrate completely and just lets it be a trailer for everything that could come. One of the absurd things about fun-but-bad b-films is that sometimes their titles and advertisements are more fun than the actual show. Packard sidesteps this problem by going straight to the action and letting the voice-over narration fill in the gaps.

Don't get me wrong, though... it's actually quite inventive. A lot of the effects and tricks used are straight out of any Troma production, only show a higher investment in quality and creativity. I wouldn't mind watching the same approach for a while. Perhaps 18 hours is too much but I could see this film reaching two hours and still maintaining my interest. I hope Packard goes on to make something like it (if he's really interested).

--PolarisDiB

Damon Packard strikes again with this outrageously over-the-top horror/sci-fi/fantasy short film pip

[Woodyanders · 10/10 · 17 December 2006]

Fiercely idiosyncratic Do-It-Yourself indie underground maverick filmmaker Damon Packard whips up one delightfully demented doozy of a short film with this outrageously wild, gory and dynamic end-of-the-world sci-fi/horror/fantasy jaw-dropper. Packard himself stars as a crazed, fanged, drooling, blood-soaked demon who's determined to destroy mankind. This wonderfully unhinged 20 minute hoot offers plentiful graphic splatter, an ominous shuddery ooga-booga spacey score, a frenetic car chase, a campy echo chamber-voiced narrator, raw fisticuffs, beautiful shots of stars exploding in the universe, a nonstop breakneck pace, frenzied rapid-fire editing, Packard running amok on the streets of Los Angeles, 80's B-picture icon Miles O'Keeffe as a macho hero, music samples from "Blade Runner" and "They Live," artificially sped-up action scenes, rough, grainy, shaky hand-held photography, and more thrilling boundless energy and gloriously deranged go-for-broke imagination than you're likely to find in a dozen by-the-numbers formulaic mainstream blockbuster features. A funny, surreal and hugely entertaining mind-roasting serving of hardcore loopy dimestore cinema insanity.

Creative and Unique Short

[Michael_Elliott · 22 May 2015]

Dawn of an Evil Millennium (1988)

*** (out of 4)

Damon Packard directed this 20-minute short film, which was shot on 8mm but is the perfect example where talent and creativity can overcome a small budget. Trying to describe the plot is nearly impossible but lets just say some sort of alien or demonic creature comes to Los Angeles where he causes countless deaths before getting in an Oldsmobile where more damage is done.

DAWN OF AN EVIL MILLENNIUM actually gained a pretty big cult following and it's easy to see why. The first portion of the film contains some terrific gore that is obviously going to appeal to horror fans and some of it is quite creative. This includes a terrific sequence where a man bashes his head against the wall countless times with each time he does it blood spills out everywhere. There's no question that the terrific editing is a major key here because it really gives the film a unique style and freshness unlike any other film from this period. The second half of the film is more like a trailer for a future movie and isn't quite as effective but considering the budget you can't help but be impressed.

Everything a horror movie shouldn't be

[Horst_In_Translation · 2/10 · 30 July 2015]

The only real excuse I can think of here for filmmaker Damon Packard, who also acts in this 20-minute movie, is that he was still very young when he made this, namely 20 years old. This is a horror film about exactly what the title says. Sadly, it is a horror movie which is never scary or funny, even if attempts to be so (especially the latter) during its entire runtime. And if that is not already enough, the production values are extremely low as well. Actually, it is so bad that you often have no idea what is going on with all the noise and wild camera etc. I really Hope Packard has improved in the over 25 years since he made this embarrassingly bad movie. It's not even a cult classic in the sense of so bad it's good or funny, but so bad it''s even worse. highly not recommended.