In the Year 2889 is a made for television, apocalyptic, science fiction movie. The plot concerns a nuclear war that has wiped out all of humanity, except for a few who were spared in a remote valley. After the war, the survivors are menaced by a group of mutant cannibals.
The movie shares a name with the short story In the Year 2889 by Jules Verne but is in no other way similar. Larry Buchanan was given the script for Day the World Ended (1955) by American International Pictures to use while making this film. Rather than making anything original, Buchanan crafted an almost line for line remake. This film was used to pad out a television syndication deal Buchanan had with AIP.
In the Year 2889 demonstrates what might be the biggest reason why Larry Buchanan’s late'60s TV remakes of AIP’s '50s monster movies were doomed from the outset. Buchanan’s shocking lack of talent, the limitations imposed by budgets with less than half of those which paid for the original versions ten years before, and the casting of local Texan non-actors for all but one or perhaps two central roles in each had combined to mask an even more fundamental obstacle to the creation of even minimally acceptable films. To wit: nearly every one of the old AIP projects Buchanan picked to remake were among the dullest, shabbiest movies the studio had ever released. With In the Year 2889, we may have stumbled upon the apotheosis of this trend. Buchanan’s most slavishly literal remake takes Day the World Ended, which was boring enough to begin with, and stretches it out by another ten minutes or so in order to fit a TV timeslot of predetermined length. This project didn’t stand a chance.
In the Year 2889 is available online as a free download.
