Year: 1980
Runtime: 80 mins
Language: English
Director: John "Bud" Cardos
Deep in a remote desert, a rural American family finds its quiet night shattered when a luminous UFO hovers over their home, plunging them into an inter‑dimensional assault of extraterrestrial terror that forces them to confront unimaginable threats until dawn.
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Read the complete plot breakdown of The Day Time Ended (1980), including all key story events, major twists, and the ending explained in detail. Discover what really happened—and what it all means.
Grant Williams, Jim Davis, and Ana Williams, Dorothy Malone, return to a gleaming, state-of-the-art home tucked into the Sonoran Desert after an extended vacation, inviting the rest of the family back to a fresh start far from the bustle of Los Angeles.
Though headlines report a spectacular triple supernova and their granddaughter Jenny, Natasha Ryan, has glimpsed a glowing alien construction behind the barn, the mood inside remains calm at first. Yet as evening deepens, overhead UFOs drift across the sky and appear to land in the nearby hills, hinting that the cosmic event has opened a rift in space and time.
Subtle disturbances begin to ripple through the house: power flickers, the granddaughter experiences a telepathic pull from an extraterrestrial, and the grandmother glimpses one of the tiny beings beckoning before it vanishes.
Outside, the grandfather notices a strange creature approaching as he tries to start the car, and he rushes inside to warn the family. Moments later, two horrific reptilian or amphibious monsters battle just beyond the house, while a small camera-like probe breaches the perimeter. The threats are suddenly teleported away, seemingly through a time warp, leaving the family stunned and suddenly isolated from the normal passage of time.
Through the night, the family—grandfather and grandmother with their younger son Steve, daughter-in-law Beth, and granddaughter Jenny—grapple with the unfolding danger. The elder son Richard, who has been rushing back from the city, crashes his car as UFOs streak by, further scattering the group.
As the evening wears on, Beth meets up with her father, mother, and brother-in-law, letting them know that all is well and that she has been reunited with her husband and their daughter. A moment of partial reunion gives way to the realization that safety lies in numbers as a distant domed city comes into view, and the family decides to move toward it. The grandfather sums up the moment with a quiet sense that there must be some larger purpose to everything they’re experiencing as they tread toward the approaching shelter.
Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 14:51
Discover curated groups of movies connected by mood, themes, and story style. Browse collections built around emotion, atmosphere, and narrative focus to easily find films that match what you feel like watching right now.
Ordinary families trapped in a single location, fighting off relentless extraterrestrial or supernatural threats.If you enjoyed the high-stakes survival of The Day Time Ended, explore more movies where a family is trapped and besieged by unknown forces. These films deliver tense, fast-paced stories of ordinary people facing extraordinary threats in confined spaces, emphasizing unity and resilience against overwhelming odds.
The narrative typically begins with a peaceful family setting that is abruptly shattered by an external threat. The story unfolds in real-time or over a single harrowing period, as the characters use their wits and whatever resources are at hand to defend their sanctuary. The core conflict is survival against a seemingly unstoppable force, with the family dynamic being both a source of strength and tension.
Movies in this thread are grouped by their shared premise of a confined family under siege. They create a potent mix of claustrophobic anxiety and spectacle-driven action, focusing on the emotional stakes of protecting one's home and loved ones from incomprehensible dangers.
Stories where close encounters with the unknown warp reality itself.Fans of The Day Time Ended and its reality-bending alien assault will find more mind-bending stories here. These films explore similar themes of interdimensional travel, time warps, and cosmic phenomena that challenge human perception, delivering a unique blend of sci-fi spectacle and unsettling unease.
Narratives in this thread often begin with a seemingly normal event that quickly spirals into the inexplicable. Characters find themselves in situations where the environment itself is antagonistic, filled with visual wonders and terrors that defy logic. The journey is one of coping with the uncanny and trying to find footing in a world where the rules have changed.
These films are connected by their focus on the disorienting and spectacular side of sci-fi and horror. They share a mood of uncanny wonder and anxiety, prioritizing bizarre phenomena and mind-bending concepts over conventional action, appealing to viewers who enjoy cosmic strangeness.
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Track the full timeline of The Day Time Ended with every major event arranged chronologically. Perfect for decoding non-linear storytelling, flashbacks, or parallel narratives with a clear scene-by-scene breakdown.
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