by Lizzy’s Take:
This one opens with a man who looks like Rufus from Bill & Ted wandering around the desert like he lost a bet with a supernova. What follows is a family-friendly sci-fi horror that throws every practical effect at the wall and hopes a few claymation aliens stick.
It’s like Charles Band said, “Let’s make Poltergeist, but with less budget, more gremlins, and time itself having a meltdown.”
And honestly? I was entertained.
“The day time ended” might sound like a Y2K panic headline, but here it just means aliens are crashing your solar-powered ranch house.
👉 Recommended if: You like vintage stop-motion aliens, low-budget cosmic horror, or movies where children are alarmingly chill about interdimensional wormholes.
🚫 Skip it if: You want coherence. Or traditional pacing. Or plot logic. Or a movie that uses its runtime to tell you what actually happened.
The Plot (Sort Of)
So here’s what I managed to piece together between light shows and mini UFO attacks: A nice little family moves into their new desert eco-home only to discover they’ve timed their relocation with a triple star explosion in space. Bad luck, honestly.
As reality begins to unravel, they’re visited by glowing orbs, grumpy claymation creatures, interdimensional dinosaurs, and a suspiciously smug time vortex. Granddad says “I’ve seen weirder,” and at this point, I believe him.
Is it a horror movie? A sci-fi film? A fever dream?
Yes.
Special Effects: Band’s Stop-Motion Playground
Now THIS is where the film earns its stripes. The whole thing is basically a showreel for early Full Moon effects artists. You’ve got:
- Miniature flying saucers zipping through hallways
- Glowing alien totems that look like props from a Pink Floyd cover shoot
- A cone-headed claymation gremlin that watches the family like a space pervert
- And two full-on stop-motion monsters having a brawl on the front lawn like it’s kaiju cosplay day in Arizona
The effects range from charming to deeply “what the hell,” and I loved every second of it. It’s messy, handmade, and clearly the passion project of people who wanted to animate a lizard troll just because they could. This is early Band energy at its purest.
Cast Highlights
- Jim Davis (Dallas) as the grandpa who reacts to alien visitors with all the urgency of someone watching golf.
- Dorothy Malone, Oscar-winner turned sci-fi grandma, lending more class than this movie probably deserved.
- Christopher Mitchum (yes, Robert’s son), bravely attempting to make technobabble sound convincing.
- Marcy Lafferty, who was married to William Shatner at the time, so aliens were probably just dinner table talk.
- Natasha Ryan, fresh from Amityville Horror, now calmly accepting alien visitors like it’s recess.
Everyone’s giving “we were promised catering” energy, and honestly, same.
What Worked:
✅ Retro miniatures and matte paintings galore
✅ Claymation creatures that deserve their own Saturday morning cartoon
✅ That sweet, sweet analog charm
✅ A score by Richard Band that somehow makes time travel feel groovy
✅ A plot that gives Laserblast a run for its incoherence
What Didn’t:
❌ Coherent storytelling
❌ Character development beyond “I guess I’ll touch the glowing thing”
❌ Plot twists that feel like they were written by a sentient lava lamp
❌ An ending that’s somehow both final and “to be continued… in another galaxy”
Final Verdict:
The Day Time Ended is less a film and more a cosmic mixtape of practical effects and genre vibes. It’s part haunted house, part alien invasion, part PSA for not building your solar home near a wormhole.
Is it good? No.
Did I enjoy it? Weirdly, yes.
If you’re working your way through Charles Band’s early career, this one’s a must-watch just to see where his obsessions with rubber monsters and surreal timelines really took off. Watch it with snacks. Or while high. Or both.
