The Apocalypse: a world where the comforts of electricity and online shopping are replaced with scavenging, hunting, and survival. A world where bustling cities are reduced to empty rubble by some major war or natural disaster. A world where neighbors and fellow PTA members are mindless zombies.
No matter what the disaster, many people dread the idea of the world as we know it coming to an end. As preppers, we secretly (and not so secretly) dream of that day! Until that day comes, we are forced to live vicariously through the movies we watch. Here is our list of the best and worst post-apocalyptic movies.
Best Movies
Waterworld
How the World Ends
The polar ice caps have melted, covering the earth with water. With no more dry land, mankind must now survive adrift in the sea.
Overview
After the melting of the polar ice caps, few humans have survived. Of the few humans that exist, a small number of them called “muties” have evolved to adapt to the sea, growing gills behind their ears and developing webbed feet. As a loner, a mutie named Mariner, played by Kevin Costner, hesitantly joins a bartender named Helen and her friend Enola in order to escape an artificial island overrun with pirates. After their escape, they are pursued by the pirates because of their belief that Enola holds the key to discovering the mythical dry land.
I Am Legend
How the World Ends
The outbreak of a man-made virus that infects most of the human population, turning them into bloodthirsty zombies that only come out at night.
Overview
As the last survivor in New York City, a scientist named Robert Neville, played by Will Smith, wanders through the overrun city in search of a cure using his own immune blood. Each day, he is on a time schedule because the infected only come out at night.
Snowpiercer
How the World Ends
In an attempt to prevent global warming, a chemical is released into the atmosphere. The chemical backfires and turns the world cold, covering it in unforgiving ice and snow.
Overview
In the snow-covered world, the entirety of human civilization now lives on a train that is constantly circling the globe. The train is divided into classes, where the lower classes must remain in the back of the train and are treated horribly. This pushes them to the point of waging class warfare, all while on this moving train.
The Road
How the World Ends
The movie, or the book which the movie is based off of, doesn’t ever explain exactly why civilization ends.
Overview
The unnamed man, played by Viggo Mortensen, believes that his purpose for living in the post-apocalyptic world is to keep his son alive. His connection with his son is almost at a sacred level and he goes through great lengths to teach his son that survival is more than just the body, but about maintaining decency and not descending into becoming a savage like others they must defend themselves from.
Mad Max: Fury Road
How the World Ends
The world uses up most resources, leaving people to fight for control over the few that still remain.
Overview
The remaining survivors of Fury Road are forced to live a rough existence in the sweltering desert terrain. Among the few resources there, the two that are deemed the most precious are water and petroleum. In this seemingly impossible environment thrives a tyrant named Immortal Joe who enslaves apocalypse survivors in his desert fortress. A few escapees from the fortress team up with Max, played by Tom Hardy, as they try to outrun danger in a deadly chase across the wasteland.
Worst Movies
Escape from L.A.
How the World Ends
A mega-earthquake causes complete devastation and floods the San Fernando Valley.
Doomsday
How the World Ends
A deadly virus called “The Reaper” overcomes most of humanity.
Resident Evil: Extinction
How the World Ends
Zombie apocalypse outbreak.
Vanishing on 7th Street
How the World Ends
Mysterious phenomenon causes people to vanish suddenly when not around a light source.
Idaho Transfer
How the World Ends
A mysterious ecological catastrophe that is not fully explained is the basis for the apocalypse. In an effort to save the human race, youth are sent to the future to restart civilization, but get trapped in the future.