Shelf Life

Shelf Life is a 1993 film directed by Paul Bartel. The final film Bartel directed before he died in 2000, it stars O-Lan Jones, Andrea Stein, and Jim Turner.[1]

Following the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, a Californian family head to their nuclear bunker. The film returns thirty years later and 40 feet underground with a typical day for the children, Tina, Pam and Scotty, still in the bunker, together with their now dead parents.

The film originated as a stage show, written and performed by Jones, Stein and Turner.[2] Bartel saw the show at the Lex Theater in Hollywood and the film went into production six weeks after the show ended. The film was shot on a very low budget.[3]

The film is dedicated "For the Garys" in reference to the founders of Filmex who died in 1992.[2]

A work-in-progress was screened at the Palm Springs Film Festival in January 1993.[2] The film was rejected by the Toronto Film Festival and Sundance Film Festival.[3]

Todd McCarthy of Variety called it a "microcosmic commentary on vaunted family values and media generation" and that it "features some of the best direction in any of [Bartel]'s films".[2]