I love watching post apocalyptic movies – when they are good movies!
I just prepared a good list of post apocalyptic movies at the Internet Movie Database (IMDB). To build the list, I adopted a few rules (and somewhat arbitrary decisions):
- The movie should take place in the future (beyond the production date of the movie). It can take place before the apocalyptic event, if part of it takes place after the apocalyptic event. Pre-apocalyptic or apocalyptic only movies haven’t been included in this list, if there is nothing post-apocalyptic related.
- The movie should make me think about the post apocalypse. This is important: the movie should have a vision of the aftermath – and provide some thoughts on the apocalypse, on humankind survival or fight, on individual’s or community/group’s life, reactions, emotional dynamics in a post-apocalyptic scenario (I know, this is arbitrary. For example, The Hunger Games is borderline, as the apocalypse sounds just as an excuse, and its genre more action/fantasy than other)
- Movies only. TV series, anime, shorts and animated movies will be included in different lists (with very few seminal exceptions such as Akira)
- Quality: I haven’t watched all of them! But I used the IMDB rating to exclude the movies with less than 5 stars out of 10. Still, there are still a number of movies that just don’t deserve our time. But I’m also sure that the list contains lots of hidden gems too, and will help you finding expanding your interest for the post-apocalyptic movies
- The apocalypse can happen at global or local (community) level (for example, The Mist is included even if it’s not clear whether the apocalypse takes place in the whole world or in Maine only)
- All post-apocalyptic scenarios are allowed: nuclear warfare and fallout, zombies, extraterrestrial attack, virus and pandemic, environmental and climate change and disaster, impact event, cybernetic revolt, dysgenics, supernatural phenomena, divine judgement, resource depletion, economic/financial/ecological collapse etc.
Here below is the list, ordered by release year. If you want to sort the list by other criteria, check my complete Post Apocalyptic Movies list at the Internet Movie Database (IMDB).
Enjoy the treasure hunt! And feel free to come up with more movies to add, in the comments. It’s still a work in progress and I’ll keep it updated.
| # | Title | Directors | IMDb Rating | Year | Num. Votes |
| 1 | After Earth | M. Night Shyamalan | 2013 | 0 | |
| 2 | After the World Ended | Tony Sebastian Ukpo | 2013 | 0 | |
| 3 | Battle of the Damned | Christopher Hatton | 2013 | 0 | |
| 4 | Curio Shop | Eric S. Anderson | 2013 | 0 | |
| 5 | Elysium | Neill Blomkamp | 2013 | 0 | |
| 6 | Ender’s Game | Gavin Hood | 2013 | 0 | |
| 7 | Los Ultimos dias | David Pastor, Àlex Pastor | 2013 | 0 | |
| 8 | Oblivion | Joseph Kosinski | 2013 | 0 | |
| 9 | Orion | Asiel Norton | 2013 | 0 | |
| 10 | Pacific Rim | Guillermo del Toro | 2013 | 0 | |
| 11 | Re-Entry: Grey Zone | Ray Jay | 2013 | 0 | |
| 12 | Scorched Earth | Brad Turner | 2013 | 0 | |
| 13 | Sleep, Wake, Forget | Ariel Vida | 2013 | 0 | |
| 14 | Snowpiercer | Joon-ho Bong | 2013 | 0 | |
| 15 | The Colony | Jeff Renfroe | 2013 | 0 | |
| 16 | The Hunger Games: Catching Fire | Francis Lawrence | 2013 | 0 | |
| 17 | The Philosophers | John Huddles | 2013 | 0 | |
| 18 | The Wind is Watching | Conrad Faraj | 2013 | 0 | |
| 19 | The World’s End | Edgar Wright | 2013 | 0 | |
| 20 | The Zero Theorem | Terry Gilliam | 2013 | 0 | |
| 21 | This Is the End | Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen | 2013 | 0 | |
| 22 | Warm Bodies | Jonathan Levine | 7.4 | 2013 | 19961 |
| 23 | World War Z | Marc Forster | 2013 | 0 | |
| 24 | 5 Shells | Paul S. Myers | 2012 | 0 | |
| 25 | Aftershock | Nicolas Lopez | 5 | 2012 | 256 |
| 26 | Another World | Eitan Reuven | 5.7 | 2012 | 34 |
| 27 | Battleship | Peter Berg | 5.9 | 2012 | 114388 |
| 28 | Beasts of the Southern Wild | Benh Zeitlin | 7.3 | 2012 | 32473 |
| 29 | Cloud Atlas | Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski | 7.8 | 2012 | 98848 |
| 30 | Cockneys vs Zombies | Matthias Hoene | 5.9 | 2012 | 4622 |
| 31 | Dead Shadows | David Cholewa | 6.3 | 2012 | 40 |
| 32 | Deranged | Jeong-woo Park | 5.9 | 2012 | 446 |
| 33 | Dredd | Pete Travis | 7.1 | 2012 | 76670 |
| 34 | Dust of War | Andrew Kightlinger | 2012 | 0 | |
| 35 | Existence | Juliet Bergh | 2012 | 0 | |
| 36 | Heart Land | Fred Holmes | 2012 | 0 | |
| 37 | New Order | Marco Rosson | 5.8 | 2012 | 68 |
| 38 | Omega Rose | George Dorobantu | 2012 | 0 | |
| 39 | Red Dawn | Dan Bradley | 5.3 | 2012 | 15001 |
| 40 | Re-Kill | Valeri Milev | 6.1 | 2012 | 148 |
| 41 | Remnants | Tim Szczesniak, André Freitas | 6.2 | 2012 | 48 |
| 42 | Resident Evil: Retribution | Paul W.S. Anderson | 5.2 | 2012 | 55847 |
| 43 | Seeking a Friend for the End of the World | Lorene Scafaria | 6.7 | 2012 | 37732 |
| 44 | The Hunger Games | Gary Ross | 7.2 | 2012 | 316265 |
| 45 | The Rising | Sebastian Mattukat | 8.4 | 2012 | 5 |
| 46 | Trash and Progress | Abraham Dieckman | 2012 | 0 | |
| 47 | Battle Los Angeles | Jonathan Liebesman | 5.8 | 2011 | 105417 |
| 48 | Exaella | Andrew Oudot | 5.7 | 2011 | 71 |
| 49 | Hell | Tim Fehlbaum | 5.9 | 2011 | 4797 |
| 50 | In Time | Andrew Niccol | 6.6 | 2011 | 146710 |
| 51 | Melancholia | Lars von Trier | 7.1 | 2011 | 71672 |
| 52 | Quarantine 2: Terminal | John G. Pogue | 5.2 | 2011 | 8372 |
| 53 | The Divide | Xavier Gens | 5.8 | 2011 | 19198 |
| 54 | Outliers | Lucas Krost | 6.8 | 2010 | 10 |
| 55 | Stake Land | Jim Mickle | 6.6 | 2010 | 19388 |
| 56 | The Book of Eli | The Hughes Brothers | 6.8 | 2010 | 135310 |
| 57 | Tomorrow, When the War Began | Stuart Beattie | 6.2 | 2010 | 16661 |
| 58 | Vektor | Ivan Rogar | 6 | 2010 | 20 |
| 59 | 9 | Shane Acker | 7 | 2009 | 68764 |
| 60 | 2012 | Roland Emmerich | 5.8 | 2009 | 170459 |
| 61 | 2084 | George Blumetti, Maurice Kelly | 5.7 | 2009 | 62 |
| 62 | Cargo | Ivan Engler, Ralph Etter | 6.2 | 2009 | 8242 |
| 63 | Carriers | David Pastor, Àlex Pastor | 6.1 | 2009 | 23321 |
| 64 | District 9 | Neill Blomkamp | 8 | 2009 | 327889 |
| 65 | Happy End | Arnaud Larrieu, Jean-Marie Larrieu | 6.3 | 2009 | 494 |
| 66 | Terminator Salvation | McG | 6.7 | 2009 | 178223 |
| 67 | The Horde | Yannick Dahan, Benjamin Rocher | 5.9 | 2009 | 8753 |
| 68 | The Road | John Hillcoat | 7.3 | 2009 | 106739 |
| 69 | The Sky Has Fallen | Doug Roos | 6 | 2009 | 72 |
| 70 | Transmission | Roland Vranik | 5.7 | 2009 | 83 |
| 71 | Zombieland | Ruben Fleischer | 7.7 | 2009 | 211226 |
| 72 | Blindness | Fernando Meirelles | 6.6 | 2008 | 41580 |
| 73 | City of Ember | Gil Kenan | 6.4 | 2008 | 31972 |
| 74 | Connected | Benny Chan | 6.7 | 2008 | 1057 |
| 75 | Doomsday | Neil Marshall | 6 | 2008 | 48181 |
| 76 | From Inside | John Bergin | 6.3 | 2008 | 85 |
| 77 | Quarantine | John Erick Dowdle | 6 | 2008 | 39113 |
| 78 | The Happening | M. Night Shyamalan | 5.1 | 2008 | 115781 |
| 79 | The Vanguard | Matthew Hope | 3.5 | 2008 | 1140 |
| 80 | WALL-E | Andrew Stanton | 8.5 | 2008 | 370234 |
| 81 | 28 Weeks Later | Juan Carlos Fresnadillo | 7 | 2007 | 132235 |
| 82 | Eden Log | Franck Vestiel | 5.2 | 2007 | 4281 |
| 83 | I Am Legend | Francis Lawrence | 7.1 | 2007 | 293749 |
| 84 | La antena | Esteban Sapir | 7.3 | 2007 | 2221 |
| 85 | Sunshine | Danny Boyle | 7.3 | 2007 | 121812 |
| 86 | The Mist | Frank Darabont | 7.3 | 2007 | 138830 |
| 87 | The Signal | David Bruckner, Dan Bush | 6.1 | 2007 | 13398 |
| 88 | Children of Men | Alfonso Cuarón | 7.9 | 2006 | 248911 |
| 89 | Freedom State | Cullen Hoback | 5.3 | 2006 | 61 |
| 90 | Idiocracy | Mike Judge | 6.4 | 2006 | 66766 |
| 91 | Right at Your Door | Chris Gorak | 6.2 | 2006 | 8075 |
| 92 | The Bothersome Man | Jens Lien | 7.3 | 2006 | 7411 |
| 93 | The Dark Hour | Elio Quiroga | 6 | 2006 | 1032 |
| 94 | The Zombie Diaries | Michael Bartlett, Kevin Gates | 4.1 | 2006 | 3449 |
| 95 | Eri Eri rema sabakutani | Shinji Aoyama | 6.8 | 2005 | 369 |
| 96 | Land of the Dead | George A. Romero | 6.3 | 2005 | 58981 |
| 97 | War of the Worlds | Steven Spielberg | 6.5 | 2005 | 211736 |
| 98 | Casshern | Kazuaki Kiriya | 6.2 | 2004 | 10114 |
| 99 | Dawn of the Dead | Zack Snyder | 7.4 | 2004 | 126912 |
| 100 | Shaun of the Dead | Edgar Wright | 8 | 2004 | 237047 |
| 101 | The Day After Tomorrow | Roland Emmerich | 6.3 | 2004 | 193905 |
| 102 | Le temps du loup | Michael Haneke | 6.4 | 2003 | 5028 |
| 103 | The Matrix Reloaded | The Wachowski Brothers | 7.1 | 2003 | 269464 |
| 104 | The Matrix Revolutions | The Wachowski Brothers | 6.6 | 2003 | 231256 |
| 105 | 28 Days Later… | Danny Boyle | 7.6 | 2002 | 186703 |
| 106 | Reign of Fire | Rob Bowman | 6.1 | 2002 | 71385 |
| 107 | Ritânâ | Takashi Yamazaki | 6.4 | 2002 | 8351 |
| 108 | A.I. Artificial Intelligence | Steven Spielberg | 7 | 2001 | 158352 |
| 109 | Planet of the Apes | Tim Burton | 5.6 | 2001 | 121817 |
| 110 | Battle Royale | Kinji Fukasaku | 7.8 | 2000 | 92423 |
| 111 | The Matrix | The Wachowski Brothers | 8.7 | 1999 | 670300 |
| 112 | Armageddon | Michael Bay | 6.4 | 1998 | 206657 |
| 113 | Dark City | Alex Proyas | 7.8 | 1998 | 105128 |
| 114 | Deep Impact | Mimi Leder | 6 | 1998 | 92240 |
| 115 | Last Night | Don McKellar | 7.2 | 1998 | 6462 |
| 116 | Six-String Samurai | Lance Mungia | 6.5 | 1998 | 4388 |
| 117 | Zbogum na dvaesetiot vek | Darko Mitrevski, Aleksandar Popovski | 7.1 | 1998 | 327 |
| 118 | Bleak Future | Brian S. O’Malley | 5.3 | 1997 | 149 |
| 119 | Starship Troopers | Paul Verhoeven | 7.1 | 1997 | 148839 |
| 120 | The Fifth Element | Luc Besson | 7.6 | 1997 | 217151 |
| 121 | The Postman | Kevin Costner | 5.7 | 1997 | 38140 |
| 122 | Escape from L.A. | John Carpenter | 5.5 | 1996 | 34994 |
| 123 | Independence Day | Roland Emmerich | 6.8 | 1996 | 264123 |
| 124 | Screamers | Christian Duguay | 6.2 | 1995 | 13961 |
| 125 | Strange Days | Kathryn Bigelow | 7.1 | 1995 | 38304 |
| 126 | The City of Lost Children | Marc Caro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet | 7.6 | 1995 | 40152 |
| 127 | Twelve Monkeys | Terry Gilliam | 8.1 | 1995 | 278574 |
| 128 | Waterworld | Kevin Reynolds | 5.9 | 1995 | 94608 |
| 129 | Brain Slasher | Steve Barnett | 5.2 | 1992 | 970 |
| 130 | Delicatessen | Marc Caro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet | 7.7 | 1991 | 45267 |
| 131 | Terminator 2: Judgment Day | James Cameron | 8.6 | 1991 | 420348 |
| 132 | Hardware | Richard Stanley | 5.7 | 1990 | 6299 |
| 133 | RoboCop 2 | Irvin Kershner | 5.5 | 1990 | 35589 |
| 134 | The Handmaid’s Tale | Volker Schlondorff | 5.9 | 1990 | 3902 |
| 135 | Total Recall | Paul Verhoeven | 7.5 | 1990 | 149081 |
| 136 | Posetitel muzeya | Konstantin Lopushansky | 6.9 | 1989 | 236 |
| 137 | Spirits of the Air, Gremlins of the Clouds | Alex Proyas | 6.3 | 1989 | 170 |
| 138 | The Blood of Heroes | David Peoples | 6.2 | 1989 | 3462 |
| 139 | Akira | Katsuhiro Otomo | 8 | 1988 | 61498 |
| 140 | Hell Comes to Frogtown | Donald G. Jackson, R.J. Kizer | 5.2 | 1988 | 1743 |
| 141 | Na srebrnym globie | Andrzej Zulawski | 6.7 | 1988 | 471 |
| 142 | Proini peripolos | Nikos Nikolaidis | 6.9 | 1987 | 221 |
| 143 | RoboCop | Paul Verhoeven | 7.5 | 1987 | 101244 |
| 144 | Dead End Drive-In | Brian Trenchard-Smith | 5.6 | 1986 | 830 |
| 145 | Ga, Ga – Chwala bohaterom | Piotr Szulkin | 7 | 1986 | 146 |
| 146 | Pisma myortvogo cheloveka | Konstantin Lopushansky | 7.2 | 1986 | 861 |
| 147 | Angel’s Egg | Mamoru Oshii | 7.3 | 1985 | 1331 |
| 148 | Brazil | Terry Gilliam | 8 | 1985 | 107289 |
| 149 | Day of the Dead | George A. Romero | 7.1 | 1985 | 33898 |
| 150 | Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome | George Miller, George Ogilvie | 6.1 | 1985 | 52775 |
| 151 | O-Bi, O-Ba – The End of Civilization | Piotr Szulkin | 7 | 1985 | 280 |
| 152 | The Quiet Earth | Geoffrey Murphy | 6.9 | 1985 | 12783 |
| 153 | Red Dawn | John Milius | 6.1 | 1984 | 28515 |
| 154 | Sexmission | Juliusz Machulski | 7.7 | 1984 | 5334 |
| 155 | The Terminator | James Cameron | 8.1 | 1984 | 329676 |
| 156 | Threads | Mick Jackson | 8 | 1984 | 4537 |
| 157 | Le cimetière des voitures | Fernando Arrabal | 5.8 | 1983 | 43 |
| 158 | Le dernier combat | Luc Besson | 6.8 | 1983 | 3156 |
| 159 | Testament | Lynne Littman | 7.1 | 1983 | 3293 |
| 160 | The Day After | Nicholas Meyer | 6.9 | 1983 | 7313 |
| 161 | Blade Runner | Ridley Scott | 8.3 | 1982 | 290747 |
| 162 | Turkey Shoot | Brian Trenchard-Smith | 5.7 | 1982 | 1255 |
| 163 | Escape from New York | John Carpenter | 7.2 | 1981 | 56071 |
| 164 | Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior | George Miller | 7.6 | 1981 | 69227 |
| 165 | Memoirs of a Survivor | David Gladwell | 5.9 | 1981 | 126 |
| 166 | Wojna swiatów – nastepne stulecie | Piotr Szulkin | 7 | 1981 | 178 |
| 167 | Alien | Ridley Scott | 8.5 | 1979 | 315485 |
| 168 | Mad Max | George Miller | 7 | 1979 | 75847 |
| 169 | Quintet | Robert Altman | 5 | 1979 | 1518 |
| 170 | Stalker | Andrey Tarkovskiy | 8.1 | 1979 | 37915 |
| 171 | Zoo zéro | Alain Fleischer | 5.7 | 1979 | 50 |
| 172 | Dawn of the Dead | George A. Romero | 8 | 1978 | 63152 |
| 173 | Jubilee | Derek Jarman | 5.9 | 1978 | 1368 |
| 174 | Damnation Alley | Jack Smight | 5 | 1977 | 2403 |
| 175 | Eraserhead | David Lynch | 7.3 | 1977 | 41705 |
| 176 | Wizards | Ralph Bakshi | 6.2 | 1977 | 4745 |
| 177 | Logan’s Run | Michael Anderson | 6.8 | 1976 | 25112 |
| 178 | A Boy and His Dog | L.Q. Jones | 6.5 | 1975 | 8197 |
| 179 | Black Moon | Louis Malle | 6.3 | 1975 | 1918 |
| 180 | Zardoz | John Boorman | 5.7 | 1974 | 10154 |
| 181 | Soylent Green | Richard Fleischer | 7 | 1973 | 28252 |
| 182 | The Omega Man | Boris Sagal | 6.6 | 1971 | 15646 |
| 183 | THX 1138 | George Lucas | 6.8 | 1971 | 26445 |
| 184 | No Blade of Grass | Cornel Wilde | 6 | 1970 | 518 |
| 185 | Zabil jsem Einsteina, panove | Oldrich Lipský | 6.8 | 1970 | 192 |
| 186 | Il seme dell’uomo | Marco Ferreri | 6.5 | 1969 | 193 |
| 187 | The Bed Sitting Room | Richard Lester | 6.2 | 1969 | 1013 |
| 188 | 2001: A Space Odyssey | Stanley Kubrick | 8.4 | 1968 | 243530 |
| 189 | Fando y Lis | Alexandro Jodorowsky | 6.9 | 1968 | 2404 |
| 190 | Night of the Living Dead | George A. Romero | 8 | 1968 | 59336 |
| 191 | Planet of the Apes | Franklin J. Schaffner | 8 | 1968 | 92592 |
| 192 | The Deserter and the Nomads | Juraj Jakubisko | 6.9 | 1968 | 84 |
| 193 | Konec srpna v Hotelu Ozon | Jan Schmidt | 6.9 | 1967 | 273 |
| 194 | The War Game | Peter Watkins | 8 | 1965 | 3062 |
| 195 | The Last Man on Earth | Ubaldo B. Ragona | 6.9 | 1964 | 8564 |
| 196 | La jetée | Chris Marker | 8.3 | 1962 | 12582 |
| 197 | This Is Not a Test | Fredric Gadette | 5.7 | 1962 | 330 |
| 198 | The Day the Earth Caught Fire | Val Guest | 7 | 1961 | 2134 |
| 199 | On the Beach | Stanley Kramer | 7.3 | 1959 | 6532 |
| 200 | The World, the Flesh and the Devil | Ranald MacDougall | 6.9 | 1959 | 1195 |
| 201 | When Worlds Collide | Rudolph Maté | 6.7 | 1951 | 3492 |
| 202 | Things to Come | William Cameron Menzies | 6.7 | 1936 | 3077 |
| 203 | Metropolis | Fritz Lang | 8.4 | 1927 | 65965 |
Data courtesy of The Internet Movie Database.
Image: Right at your door poster
6 responses to “List Of Post Apocalyptic Movies”
Why didn’t you list any of the left behind movies.
You did not list the movie: Hell. Now perhaps it was a T.V. movie; I saw it on Netflix so I have no idea. Also how do I vote for Trash and Progress? (I am so happy that I’m not the only one who watched it.)
Sorry, my bad. Upon reading the list a seconed time I see that you DO have Hell listed. How can I vote for it too?
“Panic in the Year Zero” – 1962 post nuke
There’s also Arch Oboler’s 1951 film “Five”, which was firmly in the post-nuclear Apocalypse genre, and included James Anderson (“Bob Ewell” in “To Kill a Mockingbird”) as the heavy. Not a well-known movie nowadays, so it’s easy to miss.
A Boy And His Dog 1970
A cult classic that theatred 14 years inspiring Fallout and Road Warrior.