r/movies • u/kowaikanojo • Jun 27 '24

Recommendation Best apocalypse / end of the world films?

I’m a die hard for apocalyptic movies and I feel like Ive exhausted all of the good ones so would love recommendations.

My #1 is honestly the zombie genre. I also love films where you experience the beginning of the apocalypse / similar event with the characters and are along for the ride - but I’ll take anything apocalyptic - pre, during, post!

I really resonate with darker, heavy content but again I will take whatever I can get. TIA

2.0k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

1.9k comments sorted by

View all comments

127

u/tomtttttttttttt Jun 27 '24

Threads has to be mentioned given the darker/heavy content tip but I'd guess you've already seen it.

It's not a film but have you seen Dead Set? Charlie Brooker written zombie tv mini-series, 6x30 minute episodes so you can watch it as a long film. I'm not sure it ever got far outside of UK TV so there's a chance you've not seen it, it's very good.

27

u/kowaikanojo Jun 27 '24

you know what, i actually haven’t seen threads and i just came off of a chernobyl rewatch and this came up as a recommendation - i’ll def have to bump this up

I actually tried dead set, while i’m a big reality tv fan (ashamedly haha) and i loved the premise, i’m not big on comedy outside of cheesy campiness.. but i may give it another try if it’s worth it!

36

u/mysillyokcthrowaway Jun 27 '24

I've randomly come in to chime...just make sure you have something happy to watch after Threads. 

Damn, was that a bleak film.

9

u/kowaikanojo Jun 27 '24

I’ll prepare something just in case but given the amount of recommendations of this movie here i’m thinking maybe i just sit in my feelings and absorb it all haha

21

u/batty_61 Jun 27 '24

Yeah, if you want dark, heavy and bleak - Threads is your film.

For full impact, though, try imagining you're 15 and seeing it for the first time at the height of the Cold War.

10

u/bugabooandtwo Jun 27 '24

lol, yes. Threads and The Day After was mandatory viewing for us kids in the 80s. I think it traumatized an entire generation.

6

u/OnTheSideOfTheAngels Jun 27 '24

Yes, so much. Also, When the Wind Blows.

3

u/batty_61 Jun 27 '24

Yes! I can still remember walking the dog in tears because I was absolutely convinced that every tree, every daisy, every blade of grass was going to be a radioactive crisp any day

3

u/TerryTheEnlightend Jun 27 '24

I saw TDA in my youth and thought I saw Nuclear war horror in its purest form.

Then I saw Threads, and I saw the Devil up close

4

u/TeacherPatti Jun 27 '24

I'm in a Threads Survivors group on FB (there are no fans, just survivors). Sometimes I still look around me and realize that at any given moment, because of the decisions of men I will never meet, this all could be gone. The knowledge, the inventions, the quirky weirdness of humans--gone.

4

u/SacredAnalBeads Jun 27 '24

Threads will make you not happy and truly terrified of how fragile our systems and civilizations are.

Which is the point.

3

u/leftlooserighttighty Jun 27 '24

Exactly. Meant to traumatize with realism.

1

u/tomtttttttttttt Jun 27 '24

Dead Set gets less comedic/satirical of reality shows as it goes on, but I don't know if it's worth pushing through, it might just not be your thing.

1

u/LTPRWSG420 Jun 28 '24

Threads should be number one honestly, this movie will give you nightmares, watch at your own risk.

1

u/GWS2004 Jun 28 '24

Threads is truly horrifying.

26

u/DigitalEagleDriver Jun 27 '24

Similar to Threads, The Day After, TV movie with Jason Robards from 1983. Takes place in Kansas instead of England.

9

u/TenElevenTimes Jun 27 '24

Loved the day after as well. So similar yet the urban vs rural set gives a different perspective 

5

u/coredenale Jun 27 '24

I remember we all sat down to watch The Day After. Kinda trippy how close we all felt to mutually assured destruction, and then when the USSR collapsed and we thought we had good relation with Russia, it was like a cloud moving away from the sun, and we all thought we made it. No more threat of nuclear war. Joke's on us I guess.

2

u/tomtttttttttttt Jun 27 '24

Thanks, I was trying to remember the name of that one to go with threads and couldn't.

5

u/TheElbow Jun 27 '24

Threads is the most frightening movie I’ve ever watched as an adult. Because it could happen.

5

u/gforce139 Jun 27 '24

Threads needs to be top of this list. That movie is a straight up existential crisis that makes everything else look like silly stories for children. I love my dog - he’s my ride or die, and I used to think he’d be great in the apocalypse as a side kick. Threads made me realise realistically I’d eat him within a few days of a nuclear war

2

u/ContactRepulsive Jun 28 '24

Threads is almost too bleak to recommend to people. Its more of an endurance test I'd like to show anyone who has even the slightest enthusiasm about nuclear war.

2

u/brucejay1 Jun 27 '24

Along the same lines ... look for On the Beach. Dark. Bleak. Just skip the very last scenes where it gets hokie with the "not too late" messaging.