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Post apocalyptic films over time
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Metropolis
Set in the far future, this film follows the attempts of Freder, the son of a wealthy interllectual, and Maria, to overcome the vast gulf separating the classist nature of their city. -
Buck Rodgers
This film begins with an airship fight over the North Pole, but Buck Rodgers and his colleague are caught in a storm, so release a gas that will preserve them until rescue can arrive. 500 years later, the world is ruled by a dictator , so the protagonists join the resistance to resist the criminal rulers of Earth. -
The Day the Earth stood stil
An alien lands on Earth and warns the people of Earth to act peacefully or be destroyed as a threat to other planets. This was made in a time where nuclear weapons were being developed and making the public fearful of global destruction. -
War of the Worlds
The film adaption of H.G Wells' classic novel, where aliens invade the planet, and begin the destruction of all life on the planet. This film was made at the time of the height of the Cold War, so this invasion has significance of American fears in this period. -
The Day of the Triffids
A shower of meteorites shines a light so bright, 99% of the world's population goes blind. Triffids, which are really plants but in the film are aliens from a meteor shower, that feed on human flesh. -
Planet of the Apes
An astronaut crew land on a planet in the distant future, where intelligent and technologically adept talking apes rule the world, while human-kind is oppressed and enslaved. -
The Omega Man
Based on the novel 'I Am Legend', Robert Neville struggles to find a cure for a plague from a biological war that wiped out most of the human race. Neville attempts to track down and kill the remaining infected survivors joined together as 'The Family', although they themselves attempt to kill him. -
Alien
The epic sage begins here, as a seeemingly normal investigation into an SOS distress signal on a nearby planet to the spaceship: the Nostromo, turns into a fight for survival, due to a terrible discovery. The crew, lead by Ellen Ripley, fight against a terrible creature on board their spacecraft after it hides and hunts on-board. -
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior
In the post-apocalyptic Australian wasteland due to a nuclear war, Max has to protect a group of people who own a remote oil refinery (with now priceless petrol) from the biker gang that terrorises them, whlst transporting their entire fuel supply to safety. -
Aliens
One of the greatest sequels of all time as Ripley fights alongside a team of marines with impressive firepower against the horrific creatures that have taken over the base of a human colony, but with creatures this savage, the team result in fighting for their own lives, instead of conducting a simple rescue mission. The aliens movies were made at a time where technology and space travvel were being prepared and used heavily, so may represent society's fears of what lies out in the galaxy. -
Terminator 2: Judgement Day
After Sarah Connor protected her unborn child from the terminator in the first film, Arnie is back, but fighting for humanity, against the machiens who threaten to destroy it. Technological improvements and the Cold War may have been inspiration for the Terminator movies, portraying society's fears of a nuclear holocaust, as well as arning us of technology's possible impacts. -
Independence Day
You're typical American alien invasion movie, as the world, driven by its sheer will to survive, defends itself from the invading, destructive alien forces, despite having lesser technology and weapon capabilities. -
Armageddon
As an asteroid the size of Texas is headed for Earth, a drilling team is sent up to thwart the destruction of Earth by planting a nuclear devices deep within it, in one of the first natural disaster films for the post-apocalyptic genre. -
28 Days Later
A man wakes up from a coma in a deserted London, and attempts to find anyone to tell him what has happened. He joins up with a group of survivors, and they attempt to save themselves from the zombie-infection apocalypse in this relatovely inexpensive yet brutally effective and harrowing horror film. -
The Day After Tomorrow
Massive use of spectacular CGI and climate change combined to appear as a message to the global audience to encourage people to prevent climate change, as our actions will make the results from the film, like tsunamis and an ice age occur, (but not as quickly as portrayed here). -
I Am Legend
Robert Neville is the last man in New York, maybe the world, but he is not alone. Fighting to survive each day with his dog, Sam, Neville attempts to create an antidote for the infected creatures that roam the city at night. This was released in a time where technological advancements allow humanity to 'play God', to a degree. Films involving infections have increased dramatically in the past 10-20 years, while 'zombie' films have been successful for decades. -
2012
Based on the Mayan theory of global destruction in 2012, destrutive earthquakes, a catastrophic supervolcano (Yellowstone National Park) and a global tsunami have disastrous consequences for life on Earth, but can some life somehow survive? Global environmental disaster films have become increasingly popular over the past 10-15 years, as environmental fears have become real, with the climate change and natural disasters occuring at an increasing rate.