Filming the finale

>> A Parc series captures that Y2K paranoia

by MATTHEW HAYS

Due to an overload of hype around the turn of the millennium, Montreal's premier rep house has decided to present a film series titled Visions of the Apocalypse, or It's the End of the Freaking World! Carefully hand picked by local film freak Mitch Davis, the anthology includes a rather bizarre overview of cinematic visions of the future and possible ends to our universe.

A standout is Boris Sagal's The Omega Man, starring Oscar-winning fascist Charlton Heston. Based on I Am Legend, the film has Heston squaring off against a gang of ruthless goth-looking zombies. It's a pretty grim vision of the world after a nasty bit of germ warfare, and the film, along with Soylent Green (also in this series), caps off Heston's strangest period as an actor. Here, he's pictured as a sort of sci-fi Dirty Harry, busy knocking off zombies right, left and centre. He soon discovers others who haven't been infected with the zombie bug, but soon enough they're falling prey to the living dead. As the only human left immune to their virus, Heston holds the key to the future of the human race--a truly scary prospect, indeed. Green adds another dimension to Heston's other-worldly project choices in this early '70s period, playing a renegade cop fighting a cannibalistic conspiracy. The striking opening montage credit sequence alone is worth the price of admission.

George Miller's The Road Warrior, the second and best of the Mad Max trilogy, includes one of the strangest and most incredible chase sequences ever, with Mel Gibson fending off the assaults of various punk bandits. Though it's readily available on video, this film's considerable production values are best witnessed on the big screen.

Cancon hasn't been excluded: Don McKellar's vision of Toronto's final eve, Last Night, is a clever ensemble piece about an all-star Canadian cast (Genevieve Bujold, Callum Keith Rennie, Sandra Oh and Jackie Burroughs among them) preparing for their Big Sleep.

Hal Hartley's latest, The Book of Life, has Jesus and the Devil having cocktails on the eve of the new millennium. It's a lighthearted, hour-long film that doesn't always work. But as per usual with Hartley's work, the delight is in watching the untouchable Martin Donovan. :

Visions of the Apocalypse is screening now at the Cinema du Parc. See repertory listings for showtimes