I had a pretty depressing weekend. The world as we know it ended–three times. By a strange set of circumstances, I was able to see three new movies and they were all pretty big downers in their own way. It was the Age of Apocalypse.
First up was X-Men: Days of Future Past, which showed the end of the world at the hands of man-made sentient robots. Next was Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, where our world ended via a man-made virus. And finally, was Snowpiercer where the apocalypse was brought upon us by a failed climate-change experiment.
So what can we learn from all these movies? The human race is doomed and we’re going to bring it all upon ourselves. Way to go scientists.
Post-apocalyptic movies are nothing new. To tell the truth, they’re probably one of my favorite movie genres. Here are some of my favorites…
- The Road
- 28 Days Later
- Oblivion
- Waterworld (yep)
- World War Z
- 12 Monkeys
- Wall-E
- Children of Men
- Logan’s Run
And the following movie series…
- Terminator
- Planet of the Apes
- The Matrix
- Mad Max
- Resident Evil
There are a bunch of other movies that I need to see like the Omega Man, A Boy and His Dog, and This is the End. I honestly don’t know why I enjoy these movies so much. Some are really, really depressing (The Road), but I’m always up for a good flick that transports me to another time and place for a few hours.
What are some of your favorite post-apocalyptic movies?
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This week, the League of Extraordinary Bloggers is talking about the Apocalypse.
Well the Road Warrior of Course. I do love me that Lord Humungus. I like his management style.
Ha! Yes!
Does anyone else have the urge to yell “No more games!” during a business meeting?
Hell yes Waterworld!!!! One of my most cherished movies. It was the second movie I ever learned word for word right after Terminator 2.
I love a good post-apocalyptic flick, but it’s the ones that lead into doomsday that really get me going. Stuff like Miracle Mile (1988) or John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness (1994).
Oh, and The Mist (2007) is pretty great, too.
I’ll have to check out those first two. The Mist is brutal!!!
Good choices!
“I’ll take Lovecraftian Apocalypse for 200, Alex!”
No love for the Postman?
The Omega Man is my all time favorite apocalypse movie.
Actually loved the Postman! Great message. Will Patton is the best. “Great men were made by other great men. Patton had Rommel. Grant had Lee!”
Great list! I too enjoy Waterworld! Have you ever seen “The Postman” w Costner? It’s another post apocalyptic flick that got loads of flack from critics. I actually like that one too 😉
I remember reading The Postman, but don’t have any memory of watching it — not sure if that’s because I didn’t like it or if I didn’t see it though. 😉 I love any Kevin Costner movie though, so I should definitely go watch it.
If you insist on seeing Omega Man, please watch The Last Man on Earth first. Price did it first, better, and didn’t take his shirt off. And of course you should see I Am Legend to round out the “trilogy.”
I’ve already seen I am Legend, so maybe I should watch them in reverse order. 😉
12 Monkeys was awesome. Anyone who thought Brad Pitt was just a pretty face back then should see his acting in that movie. I need to watch The Road again…think I tried to sneak that in between family stuff and missed a lot.
Being a parent makes The Road an especially tough movie to watch. The book is even worse.
Another great one was Damnation Alley with George Peppard and Jan-Michael Vincent.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075909/?ref_=nv_sr_1
If you truly want to experience the worst case scenario for mankind on film – I strongly, strongly urge you all to watch a BBC docudrama made in 1984 called ‘THREADS’.
It is the most bleak and depressing movie I have ever seen about the end of the world as we know it.
It makes the American movie ‘The Day After (1983)’ look like a comedy!
For those in the USA – you can find THREADS on YouTube.
A great list. I’d recommend Soylent Green if you haven’t seen it, some more Heston goodness.
This is a great list, and recs in the comments are great as well. I read The Things That Keep Us Up At Night by Victoria Sutton. It’s about bio horror movies. When the world ends by pandemics, outbreaks and things like that. It’s a great read, she has some fantastic movies listed and how they could be more true than we think. Good read. reelbiohorror.com is her site. I guess I need to get watching some movies! Thanks!