MovieChat Forums > Blast from the Past (1999) Discussion > 35 years underground... fml... but??

35 years underground... fml... but??


I don't see how they didn't literally go insane down there. I see that it's a movie and all... but really? Living for 35 years in the same space without seeing the sky, sun, ocean, others etc with the same things around, not able to remodel, watching the same shows, listening to the same music and it's not like they'd have new things to talk about. Talk about going insane! 35 years underground.. I'd rather have died in the "blast."

Also, they would be SO pale especially Adam who has never seen the sun. Yet, when he goes above he's only blinded for a second by the sun that he's just seeing for the first time.

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Adam was paler than the other characters, especially when he came out for the first time about 36 minutes into the movie. About going insane, Adam's mother became alcoholic and his father was a "borderline nutcase" from the beginning.

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Yeah, Eve seemed paler than Adam. But on the insanity, some people have some serious willpower, and could withstand that sort of thing. Besides, they had a hobby that was always growing and changing: Adam. Now, had it been just one person, it probably wouldn't have been to long before they were a raving lunatic, clawing at the timed locks with bloody fingers while singing Frank Sinatra songs at the top of their lungs.

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go insane?
I don't think we'd realize how many people haven't come out of their house in
35 years, and they can.
it's a fragile species

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They would have all gone stir crazy.

I like bunnies

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I most certainly would have gone cuckoo.

Also, I find it hard to believe they'd have enough food and water and other beverages to last 35 years, for three people. They must have overestimated the need and spent a ton of money stocking the fallout shelter with everything. I didn't really notice, but I imagine they must have tried to grow some food using artificial lights during the 35 years underground. That's the only way they would have had enough, especially fresh food.

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They had some plants but very noticeably, fish tanks providing live fish.

Though with the supply of canned foods they had, if supplemented with UV light exposure and vitamins, there's no reason they couldn't have survived underground.

Remember the conceit was the Dad was a "genius" so he likely would have thought about any holes you otherwise find in the plot. ;-)

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Call me crazy, but I thought their little world they had down there looked kind of cozy. They were sheltered, and protected from the world. A family in their own little cacoon. Almost a kind of paradise of sorts, although clearly the wife didn't care much for it.

True, they were missing out on a lot, but they did have each other and it looked like the father made sure they were well provided for. Including entertainment apparently. Being a genius I'm sure he brought lots of books, and they could always argue about baseball for ten years at a time lol.

You might go a little stir crazy down there, but it looked like it was far from a nightmarish existence.

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All I can honestly say is if I was alone with my parents for thirty -five years there would likely be a couple smelly corpses to dispose of.

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I agree with rmontro, it wasn't that bad in hindsight compared to most shelters. Most average joes in that area's were small or mediocre. They weren't well equipped to make it a month much less three and a half decades.

Calvin had probably almost every end covered from types of food to home improvement items. He even had a freaking model of the house made. That's either pure dedication or loony-ville personified.

His only real error was his hard-headness in keeping things his way. He only wanted the honeymooners to watch, he wanted the model of the house with no ceiling (he had to put one up once he was asked.) No wonder Spacek started drinking. She had no input what-so-ever and hated the experience from the get-go. She had nothing to keep her occupied and that's one of the few sad parts of it.
Adam never had a pure childhood or friends/siblings and Spacek's character more or less was drove cooku while Calvin had no problems besides that heart attack later to make up for it.

But besides all that they did a good job raising Adam and making him a decent guy. They still loved each other when it came down to it too.

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Honestly, if I had wifi and a computer I could handle it.

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Also, they would be SO pale especially Adam who has never seen the sun. Yet, when he goes above he's only blinded for a second by the sun that he's just seeing for the first time.

I found that hard to believe as well. They would have had a serious vitamin D deficiency without some exposure to sunlight. It would have been impossible for Adam to walk outside without being blinded for long periods of time.

Ever wake up in the morning and turn on a light in your room, only to look away momentarily? Yeah, it would have been a thousand times worse than that.

There are people that exist who are reclusive and agoraphobic. They never leave their houses and usually depend on neighbors and such to help them out with daily activities.

But, I still enjoyed the movie nonetheless. I like romantic comedies, and the chemistry between Alicia Silverstone and Brendan Fraser worked out perfectly.

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It didn't even take one year for things to go to hell in 10 Cloverfield Lane.

Although Goodman's character was a psycho.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z55W6ihUY-c
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