Forgotten Films: Radioactive Dreams

So, unlike most posts I make about forgotten films, this one is a bit more justifiably so. I can't really say it's a great movie at all, but it is one that I like nonetheless. Because of that I don't really universally recommend it to everyone, but I will recommend it to those who are sufficiently nerdy. 

A movie that typifies not being the sum of it's parts, but the parts are really cool. Like the poster here, absolutely awesome. 

Radioactive Dreams is a movie about a couple of kids that are stashed away by their fathers in a remote bunker/fallout shelter when a nuclear World War 3 breaks out. Starring They have enough food and water to last them 15 years, and they develop a near unhealthy obsession with becoming PIs like in the old pulps they read. They then find a way to break out of the bunker, and the movie is mostly about them encountering the crazy new world around them while attempting to become legit PIs as they get tangled up in a mystery revolving around missing launch keys for an un-launched nuke. 

The movie has a very unique visual style, with both 80s punk vibes and also has a heavy influence form old detective pulps from the 30s and 40s, to the point that the two main characters last names are Phillip and Marlowe (hint, hint nudge, nudge, wink wink). The soundtrack is so delightfully over the top 80s, that it almost feels at times that the movie was really a vehicle for the soundtrack than anything. 

What most people who watch it may know is that it was one of the many movies that really inspired the Fallout series of games. Although Mad Max and A Boy and His Dog were the bigger influences on the setting, this movie I think is the one that really inspired the more absurdist and dark humor that is in the games. It's also likely that it was also the source of the juxtaposition of 30s and 40s culture with the post apocalyptic setting. 

Despite these neat facts, the movie is pretty disjointed in tone, you just can't really jive some of the slapstick elements with some of the really dark crap happening in the story. That stuff seems to really work in the Fallout games, as they do it far more gracefully with less slapstick and more dark humor, but for the film, it's pretty jarring. It also suffers from having some pretty unsatisfying story threads, all while being a little too focused on the music at times. 

It seems I'm not alone it this appraisal, as the film wasn't given a wide release in the US, was never even released on DVD, and you can't even find a trailer for it online in the English language! But on the bright side, the film is so forgotten, I found multiple copies of the full movie that you can watch on youtube for free that I will link below.

Still, if you want something really out of the ordinary for a post apocalyptic film, and don't mind something a little disjointed, or if you're just a massive fallout fan, or love 80s pop music, go give it a shot.