- Nov 26, 2011
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In no particular order, these are some of my favorite apocalyptic movies.
Miracle Mile (1988)
Not all low-budget movies suck. For instance, They Live was probably made for eleven dollars and fifty cents, but it is one of the best alien invasion movies ever made.
"I'm here to kick ass and chew bubble gum...and I'm all out of bubble gum."
Miracle Mile was also made on a shoestring, but I really enjoyed it. The soundtrack is by Tangerine Dream. They dominated a lot of movie soundtracks.
The movie starts out as a cheesy boy-meets-girl love story. But then the boy accidentally oversleeps and misses his appointed time to meet his girl at a local diner. When he arrives at the diner, the payphone outside is ringing. Thinking it is his girlfriend, he answers.
And all hell breaks loose.
Planet of the Apes (1968)
I'm talking here about the original.
You don't realize until the end of this movie that this is an apocalyptic film. "DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!"
I know that's a spoiler, but who has not seen this movie by now?
Everyone remembers the iconic line, "Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!", but to me the most badass line is at the beginning of the movie.
After crash landing in a lake on a desolate alien planet, the astronauts watch as their spacecraft sinks beneath the water. Charlton Heston's character then says, "Okay, we're here to stay."
No five stages of grief for this guy. He leaps right to acceptance. That's some hardcore badassery.
The Day After (1983)
My generation grew up assuming we were all going to be atomized in a thermonuclear apocalypse. It was just a given.
Those of us who managed to survive an atomic war would be living on Saltine crackers and water in our local Post Office bomb shelter.
"The living will envy the dead." - Nikita Kruschev.
The limpwristed pantywaist appeasers of the 1980s claimed our president was going to start WWIII for showing strength to the Russians.
As it turned out, our strength led to the total collapse of the USSR.
In 1983, The Day After aired on broadcast television nationwide. The entire country freaked out at seeing their worst nightmare played out on their TV screens.
In one scene, after all our missiles have been launched and the Soviet missiles are inbound, an airman decides he needs to go home. The other airmen argue with him that he can't leave his post, and he shouts, "THE WAR IS OVER!"
I remember my dad saying, "He's right."
If you have not seen this movie, you should. It is still pretty chilling. You can find it on YouTube.
The porn staches on some of the servicemembers were a real thing in the 80s.
Miracle Mile (1988)
Not all low-budget movies suck. For instance, They Live was probably made for eleven dollars and fifty cents, but it is one of the best alien invasion movies ever made.
"I'm here to kick ass and chew bubble gum...and I'm all out of bubble gum."
Miracle Mile was also made on a shoestring, but I really enjoyed it. The soundtrack is by Tangerine Dream. They dominated a lot of movie soundtracks.
The movie starts out as a cheesy boy-meets-girl love story. But then the boy accidentally oversleeps and misses his appointed time to meet his girl at a local diner. When he arrives at the diner, the payphone outside is ringing. Thinking it is his girlfriend, he answers.
And all hell breaks loose.
Planet of the Apes (1968)
I'm talking here about the original.
You don't realize until the end of this movie that this is an apocalyptic film. "DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!"
I know that's a spoiler, but who has not seen this movie by now?
Everyone remembers the iconic line, "Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!", but to me the most badass line is at the beginning of the movie.
After crash landing in a lake on a desolate alien planet, the astronauts watch as their spacecraft sinks beneath the water. Charlton Heston's character then says, "Okay, we're here to stay."
No five stages of grief for this guy. He leaps right to acceptance. That's some hardcore badassery.
The Day After (1983)
My generation grew up assuming we were all going to be atomized in a thermonuclear apocalypse. It was just a given.
Those of us who managed to survive an atomic war would be living on Saltine crackers and water in our local Post Office bomb shelter.
"The living will envy the dead." - Nikita Kruschev.
The limpwristed pantywaist appeasers of the 1980s claimed our president was going to start WWIII for showing strength to the Russians.
As it turned out, our strength led to the total collapse of the USSR.
In 1983, The Day After aired on broadcast television nationwide. The entire country freaked out at seeing their worst nightmare played out on their TV screens.
In one scene, after all our missiles have been launched and the Soviet missiles are inbound, an airman decides he needs to go home. The other airmen argue with him that he can't leave his post, and he shouts, "THE WAR IS OVER!"
I remember my dad saying, "He's right."
If you have not seen this movie, you should. It is still pretty chilling. You can find it on YouTube.
The porn staches on some of the servicemembers were a real thing in the 80s.
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