The Best Apocalyptic And Post-Apocalyptic Movies Ever Made
At the movies, the world's always ending.
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Actually, in a lot of them, it already ended a long time ago. What comes after the end can be vastly different, but it's always interesting to watch.
These movies cover every stage of the apocalypse, from the decline to the end itself, and beyond!
1.The Road (2009)
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In both the book and the movie, the cause of the apocalypse in The Road is unclear. But however it happened, the humans that are left to roam the Earth are having a very bad time.
The film follows a man and his son as they steadily make their way to the sea. It can be a tough watch, but the book is even more brutal, especially considering the scene that was too extreme for the final cut.
2.Children of Men (2006)
Plenty of apocalypse movies have a meteor hitting the Earth, nukes going off, or artificial intelligence throwing a tantrum. Children of Men envisions a world where women lose the ability to give birth. It's an interesting idea that Alfonso Cuarón turns into a uniquely dark yet hopeful movie.
3.28 Days Later (2002) & 28 Weeks Later (2007)
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28 Days Later pretty much single-handedly revitalized the zombie genre after the era of George Romero's Living Dead movies. Both Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead and Edgar Wright's Shaun of the Dead came out just two years later.
And the director of 28 Days Later, Danny Boyle, doesn't even consider it a zombie movie!
4.I Am Legend (2007)
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The movie with the best boy in any post-apocalyptic world, Sam is the dog you want when things go south.
5.A Quiet Place (2018) & A Quiet Place Part II (2020)
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These movies are great, but if the world has to end, I really hope this isn't the reality we get.
6.Zombieland (2009) & Zombieland: Double Tap (2019)
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Zombie movies came back into style with 2002's 28 Days Later, but the hype was just starting to get serious around the time of Zombieland's release. A zombie outbreak would be awful, but Zombieland reminds us that it's not the worst apocalypse scenario that could happen (as long as there's Twinkies).
7.Living Dead franchise (1968-2009)
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The film that started it all, Night of the Living Dead essentially created the zombie and birthed an entire subgenre of horror that has become a staple in pop culture.
There's a lot of movies with "living dead" in the title, but when I say the Living Dead franchise, I'm specifically talking about George Romero's movies:
-Night of the Living Dead (1968)-Dawn of the Dead (1978)-Day of the Dead (1985)-Land of the Dead (2005)-Diary of the Dead (2007)-Survival of the Dead (2009)
8.Planet of the Apes franchise (1968-2017)
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The first entry is an end-of-the-world movie that you don't know is an end-of-the-world movie until the end of the movie.
The rest of them are also great, and the most recent trilogy has been one of the best reboots of an old franchise ever.
9.WALL-E (2008)
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This is literally an "end of the world" flick because it's the Earth that ends, not humanity. WALL-E, sadly, is probably the most realistic apocalypse movie. But it's also one of the most hopeful.
10.Mad Max franchise (1979-2015)
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George Miller's franchise starts with society teetering on the edge of destruction. In fact, the first Mad Max isn't post-apocalyptic — or even really apocalyptic.
Throughout the franchise, humanity gets further and further away from sanity. But luckily, so do the set pieces.
11.Shaun of the Dead (2004)
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After the success of their sitcom Spaced, Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg turned to the big screen in a movie that launched both of their mainstream careers.
Shaun of the Dead takes place right at the start of a zombie outbreak, and it's still one of the funniest and most creative horror movies ever.
12.Snowpiercer (2013)
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After the planet becomes uninhabitable, the last of humankind rides endlessly on a train circling the planet. The rich are at the front, and the starved working class huddles in the tail cars.
It's bleak, depressing, and involves cannibalism — in other words, it's a great apocalypse movie.
13.The Hunger Games franchise (2012-2015)
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Like WALL-E, The Hunger Games does an uncomfortably good job of predicting how the end of the world would actually go. The difference is that The Hunger Games is far closer to the current state of the world.
In WALL-E, we abandon the Earth when we can't be bothered to fix it. In The Hunger Games, they distract themselves with entertainment that comes at the cost of others suffering.
14.The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
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One of the defining "disaster movies," The Day After Tomorrow shows the Earth falling apart after years of global warming.
It was directed by a man who specializes in end-of-the-world movies: Roland Emmerich. Emmerich also directed 2012, Independence Day, and Moonfall.
15.The Matrix franchise (1999-2021)
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After humanity is defeated by AI, we are inserted into a computer program to be used as batteries for the machines.
A revolutionary movie that had people talking about everything from CGI to philosophy, The Matrix makes the end of the world feel like just the beginning.
16.Interstellar (2014)
Interstellar focuses on what could be the second-to-last generation of humanity, slowly running out of options on a dying Earth unless radical steps are taken.
Things start out pretty grim, but Interstellar focuses on the idea that the childlike passion humans are capable of is what will save the world. As the main character says:
"We used to look up at the sky and wonder about our place in the stars. Now, we just look down, and worry about our place in the dirt."
17.Blade Runner (1982) & Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
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Not much is mentioned about nuclear war in the movie Blade Runner, and for good reason.
The book it was based on, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, has a lot to do with real versus fake animals (since most of the real ones were killed by the nukes). The movie isn't as concerned with the animal subplot, so talk about nukes would've just been distracting.
But still, it's canon that the world of Blade Runner is set in a post-nuclear-war world. Both the original and the 2017 sequel are as stunning to look at as they are deeply moving stories about what is real and what is important to us, and whether they are always the same things.
18.Akira (1988)
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For starters, Akira is one of the best-looking movies ever made. Set in Neo-Tokyo after a global conflict, it's a story about telekinesis, a biker gang, the effects of war on children, and a whole lot more.
19.This Is the End (2013)
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During a party at James Franco's house, the rapture starts and sends the world into turmoil. Alongside Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland, it's a funny end-of-the-world film that doesn't skimp on the special effects.
The main cast members play versions of themselves as they try to survive. It's easily one of the best Jonah Hill performances ever, and Channing Tatum has a cameo that is surprising to say the least.
20.Terminator franchise (1984-2019)
In the world of The Terminator, the world hasn't ended yet, but it will all too soon. Skynet is still the go-to stand-in for rogue AI hell-bent on exterminating humans, and it's Arnold's most iconic role.