The 10 Best Apocalyptic Movies

With both director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland returning the the infected fold, continuing the 28 Days Later franchise they started over 20 years ago with 28 Years Later, we’re diving into the best apocalypse movies of all time.

Or post-apocalypse movies. Or, you know, just movies where civilization is either on the verge of collapsing, actually collapsing, or has already collapsed. Whatever stage of apocalypse you’re after, we’ve got you covered.

The only true rule here is that the world has to actually end in some meaningful, impactful way. None of that “the Empire State Building got blown up!” or “an asteroid fragment just took out France!” mass destruction. We’re talking nature batting last. Humanity is, for all intents and purposes, wiped out. No close calls here. So sorry to ID4, Armageddon, and others of that disaster movie ilk. Be better. And by that we mean be more cataclysmic.

You’ll find almost every flavor of world-ending peril here: from zombies to plagues to Lovecraftian demons to the tried-and-true nuclear wipe-out. Let directors like John Carpenter, Stanley Kubrick, George Miller, Alfonso Cuarón, and more take you through our worst nightmares. You know, for fun!

10. Melancholia (2011)

Part of auteur Lars von Trier’s (apropos) Depression Trilogy, Melancholia is insightful, existential, and emotionally raw. Sure, it involves Earth’s impending impact with a rogue planet, but instead of being a giant action spectacle, it’s a beautiful, honest, difficult-to-watch story about two sisters — played by Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg — who are affected dramatically differently by the world’s oncoming end. It’s a devastating movie that also vibrates with sensitivity and tranquility.

9. In the Mouth of Madness (1994)

Part of what horror master John Carpenter refers to as his Apocalypse Trilogy (preceded by The Thing and Prince of Darkness), In the Mouth of Madness stars Sam Neill as an insurance fraud investigator who’s sent to find a missing best-selling horror author (think this world’s Stephen King). What he unravels instead is a Lovecraftian New England town where a true madman has ushered in the End of Days thanks to his pact with the Old Gods. It’s a meta exploration of the effects of horror on readers and consumers (that old pop culture-causes-violence chestnut) with a mix of paranoia, insanity, and a stubborn skeptic getting his unholy comeuppance.

8. Miracle Mile (1988)

Imagine you get a heads-up about nuclear armageddon. A 70-minute head start to get the eff out of dodge. The lucky stars align and someone in the group you’re with has a clear, easy exit plan. The only hitch? You just found the love of your life and can’t leave them behind.

That’s the premise of the underrated white-knuckle ’80’s gem Miracle Mile, in which Anthony Edwards’ character has to take, what he hopes is, a slight detour to rescue his new gal, played by Mare Winningham. Will he make it to her in time? And, if so, will the two of them make it out of LA without being disintegrated? You think Los Angeles traffic is bad now? Yeeesh.

7. 12 Monkeys (1995)

Is Bruce Willis a frazzled convict who time-travels back from a grim post-apocalyptic future to stop the mysterious Army of the Twelve Monkeys from unleashing a killer man-made virus that wipes out most of the world?

Or is he just insane?

Remaking French short “La Jetee,” director Terry Gilliam coaxes a heartbreaking performance out of Willis — one of the finest of his career — as he stumbles between institutionalized anarchist Brad Pitt and sympathetic doctor Madeleine Stowe. Complex, emotional and rewarding, this dystopian mystery demands to be watched on repeat.

6. Dawn of the Dead (1978)

It was hard to grab just one zombie flick for the list, and while 2004’s Dawn of the Dead remake is a vicious, terrifying journey, we’re heading back to the ’70s for George Romero’s original.

What Romero began in 1968’s Night of the Living Dead expanded into horrific proportions with Dawn of the Dead, as the zombie outbreak that seemed to last only one night in the original now transformed into an unending zompocalypse with no reprieve in sight. During the hellacious hysteria of death and carnage, survivors barricade themselves inside a mall, hoping for the calamity to blow over. With landmark makeup effects, social commentary about materialistic modern society, and an unrelenting brutality, Dawn of the Dead is where it’s at.

5. Threads (1984)

In the early to mid ’80s there were a handful of movies that dealt with the horrors of nuclear war and radiation fallout in ways that shocked the world — like Special Bulletin, Testament, One Night Stand, When the Wind Blows, and more.

More effective, simply because of how many people TV was able to reach back then, were two TV movies. America had The Day After, which was bone-chilling, while England (and Australia) had Threads. Threads is a scary, rattling reminder of how easy it would be for a few people to wipe out everything we know and love. It’s a visceral cautionary tale of what it might be like if the bombs fall, ushering in misery and death to all. Quite literally Hell on Earth. This is not for the faint of heart.

4. Children of Men (2006)

Exploring a different avenue than most apocalyptic dystopias is Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men, where world-wide infertility has basically doomed the human race to die out within the next 60 to 70 years. Because society must now slowly watch its numbers dwindle, as everyone spirals toward inevitable extinction, civilization is in chaos and the world’s become a morose, fading empire.

Children of Men is a pivotal drama, a technical marvel, a violent thriller, and a sophisticated look at a world ending in a whimper. Clive Owen plays a former activist tasked with transporting a very special package (the first pregnant woman in 18 years), leading to a possible glimmer of hope for humanity. But is this one miracle enough to hold back the tide of doom?

3. Dr. Strangelove (1964)

Stanley Kubrick’s Cold War slapstick masterwork, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is also one of the most original, daring and best apocalypse movies ever made.

Paranoid loony General Jack D. Ripper initiates a plan to nuke the Soviet Union. General Buck Turgidson, US President Merkin Muffley, and Soviet ambassador Alexei de Sadeski bicker in the War Room. The drunken Russian president threatens to unleash a Doomsday Machine device that will automatically destroy life on Earth. The film is funny (“Gentleman! You can’t fight in the War Room!”), absurd (Slim Pickens rodeo-riding his way to mass destruction) and chilling (Vera Lynn’s end-credit song over the mushroom clouds). Sometimes laughing through the End Times (This Is the End, Shaun of the Dead, etc.) is the only way to go.

We’ll meet again, my friend.

2. The Road Warrior (1981)

Though there have been some jokes over the years about whether or not the economic and environmental house of cards collapse that creates the Mad Max Wasteland may only actually be in Australia, no other movies have influenced, and changed the course of, post-apocalyptic movies like the Max movies.

What began as a demolition derby Ozploitation sensation with George Miller’s Mad Max evolved into a whacked-out, carnage-filled every-man-for-himself death ride in the sequel, The Road Warrior.

Decades later, after the original Mad Max Trilogy, George Miller even returned to the Wasteland, going bigger, bolder, and bronzer with Mad Max: Fury Road and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. It was between Fury Road and Road Warrior for this spot on the list and while Fury Road is a modern action masterpiece that builds out the world of Max like never before, we’re gonna sit pretty here with Road Warrior given how much it changed the entire ’80s movie landscape.

1. The Road (2009)

Based on the acclaimed Cormac McCarthy novel, The Road is an unyielding, haunting look at the remnants of humanity carrying on… just to keep carrying on. It’s never explained how the world ends, though it’s clear some environmental cataclysm has occurred (one that’s observable in a flashback from a window) that’s coated the globe in death. Everything is either dead or dying off, people have turned to murder and/or cannibalism, and it will only be a generation or two before humans gasp their final breath.

A father and son, played by Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee, travel down the Eastern coast, hoping to find better, warmer living in Florida. The Road is as apocalyptic as you can get. Just a dire, bleak trek through exponential decay, where one clings to hope just for the sake of sanity.

Well, that was grim! How are y’all feeling? What’s your personal favorite apocalypse movie? Vote above and let us know below…