This year, with the widespread pandemic, the apocalypse seems right around the corner. To elevate your experience, you need to turn to the multitudes of iconic apocalyptic movies. Filmmakers have left no stone unturned, from zombie outbreaks to gory cannibalism, invisible suicide monsters to nuclear war.
So, it’s about time to dive into the cinematic world of war-torn, desolate, or invaded world submerged in the catastrophic debacle. Here’s a curated list of the best apocalyptic films for you to feast on while simultaneously surviving a real-life pandemic.
1. The Road
- Director: John Hillcoat
- Writer: Joe Penhall
- Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee, and Robert Duvall.
- IMDb Rating: 7.2
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 74%
- Platforms Available: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video.
Helmed by John Hillcoat, The Road (2009) is an epic movie set in a post-apocalyptic world. It presents an absorbing, mysterious, and completely harrowing tale of the survival of a father and his young son.
Cannibals are roaming free on the streets of barren America. The duo weighs in on their chance of survival. It is destroyed in a mysterious cataclysmic event. They travel down south to reduce the risks in their lives.
2. Wall-E
- Director: Andrew Stanton
- Writer: Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon.
- Starring: BemBurtt, Elissa Knight.
- IMDb Rating: 8.4
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 95%
- Platforms Available: Amazon Prime Video, Disney Plus.
Next on the list is Wall-E (2008), which is an incredibly touching movie. Andrew Stanton’s movie Wall-E is a phenomenally thought-provoking futuristic parable. It revolves around a machine that is responsible for cleaning the waste scattered on abandoned earth. On this journey of purging the waste, Wall-E finds his soulmate in the advanced robot, EVE.
3. Mad Max: Fury Road
- Director: George Miller
- Writer: George Miller
- Starring: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron.
- IMDb Rating: 8.1
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 97%
- Platforms Available: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video.
The original Mad-Max director George Miller returns to Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). This Mad-Max sequel sets you on a dangerous high-octane ride in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. The fourth part of the Mad Max film series is full of jaw-dropping cinematic moments.
Tom Hardy’s Max Rockatansky, Charlize Theron as Furiosa, and Nicholas Hoults’ Nux steal the show with their intense power-packed acting.
4. The Day After Tomorrow
- Director: Roland Emmerich
- Writer: Roland Emmerich
- Starring: Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal and Ian Holm.
- IMDb Rating: 6.4
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 45%
- Platforms Available: Netflix, Disney Plus.
Roland Emmerich’s movie apocalyptic action film The Day After Tomorrow (2004) highlights catastrophic natural disasters. Distributed by 20th Century Fox, the premise highlights the consequences of years of unabated global warming. The disaster is now wreaking havoc, and there is a sudden worldwide storm.
5. A Quiet Place
- Director: John Krasinski
- Writer: Bryan Woods, Scott Beck and Krasinski.
- Starring: Emily Blunt, John Krasinski.
- IMDb Rating: 7.5
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 96%
- Platforms Available: NOW TV
This list of curated apocalypse movies is incomplete without John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place (2018). It is aggressively scary, and this modern horror thriller stars Krasinski and Emily Blunt in the lead. The Abbott family lives in an isolated, cut-off region in the movie.
The Abbotts communicate in sign language to ward off the aliens. They need to remain silent, for any noise will attract the terrifying alien creatures.
6. Edge of Tomorrow
- Director: Doug Liman
- Writer: Christopher McQuarrie
- Starring: Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt.
- IMDb Rating: 7.9
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 91%
- Platforms Available: NOW TV
The American sci-fi movie helmed by Doug Liman, Edge of Tomorrow (2014) stars Tom Cruise in the lead. Set in a dystopic future, it takes place in Europe, invaded by aliens. Cruise plays the United States Major William Cage, a military man, alongside Emily Blunt’s warrior woman, Rita Vrataski. They navigate through continuous-time loops in this quest for survival.
7. Take Shelter
- Director: Jeff Nichols
- Writer: Jeff Nichols
- Starring: Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain.
- IMDb Rating: 7.4
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 92%
- Platforms Available: Amazon Prime Video, Microsoft store.
With a screenplay and a directorial initiative by Jeff Nichols, Take Shelter (2011) is a psychologically intriguing drama. Curtis LaForche, played by Michael Shannon, begins to have nightmares that develop into hallucinations. Distributed by Sony Pictures Classics, the movie is set in Ohio.
8. Dawn of the Dead
- Director: Zack Snyder
- Writer: James Gunn
- Starring: Sarah Polley, VingRhames, Jake Weber, and Mekhi Phifer.
- IMDb Rating: 7.3
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 76%
- Platforms Available: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video.
Dawn of the Dead is an action horror film. It is a remake of George A. Romero’s 1978 sequel to Night of the Living Dead. This apocalyptic movie is fast-paced bloodthirsty, fun packed with gory scenes. A kinetic, violent, and thrilling movie brings the audience to the Milwaukee neighborhood, overrun by the walking dead. The dwellers come together to fight the cannibalistic zombies in this movie.
9. Night of the Living Dead
- Director: George A. Romero
- Writer: John Russo
- Starring: Duane Jones and Judith O’Dea
- IMDb Rating: 7.9
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 96%
- Platforms Available: Amazon Prime
George A. Romero is no doubt the father of zombie apocalypse movies. It follows the plot of seven people trapped on a farm in Pennsylvania. The radiation from a fallen satellite has created a terrifying situation as the cannibalistic undead corpses are rising from their graves. Now they seek to feed on the living beings of this world as food.
10. The World’s End
- Director: Edgar Wright
- Writer: Wright and Simon Pegg.
- Starring: Pegg, Nick Frost, Paddy Considine, Eddie Marsan and Rosamund Pike.
- IMDb Rating: 7
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 89%
- Platforms Available: Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, HBO Max.
The World’s End (2013) is a sci-fi comedy film that follows an American apocalypse written by Simon Pegg and helmed by Edgar Wright. It follows five friends from the past who reprise a pub crawl that was left midway 20 years ago. They come to their hometown and find traces of an alien invasion. They are now tasked with the duty to save mankind.
11. Children of Men
- Director: Alfonso Cuarón
- Writer: Alfonso Cuarón
- Starring: Clive Owen and Julianne Moore.
- IMDb Rating: 7.9
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 92%
- Platforms Available: Netflix, Disney Plus.
The 2006 Venice International Film Festival featured Children of Men (2006) is a cinematic masterpiece. The earth brinks towards its end, as 18 years of human infertility is creating a phase of abandonment of humans from the earth. But when a woman gets pregnant, Theo is tasked with transporting her to safety as she is the last ray of hope for the infertile human species.
12. On the Beach
- Director: Russell Mulcahy
- Writer: John Paxton
- Starring: Armand Assante, Bryan Brown, and Rachel Ward.
- IMDb Rating: 7
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 77%
- Platforms Available: Amazon Prime Video, Netflix.
On the Beach (1959), Stanley Kramer’s award-winning movie, is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi that will stay with you forever. With Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire, and Anthony Perkins, the movie depicts the aftermath of nuclear war. It features gory visuals of global destruction.
13. Escape from New York
- Director: John Carpenter
- Writers: John Carpenter, Nick Castle.
- Starring: Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine.
- IMDb Rating: 7.2
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 86%
- Platforms Available: Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, iTunes.
This 1981 sci-fi movie, Escape from New York, directed by John Carpenter, is an absolute classic. The events in the movie takes place after the end of the war between the United States and the Soviet Union in 1997. This converts the island of Manhattan into a giant maximum security prison. President Donald Pleasence’s flight crashes on the island in this New York City.
And he is immediately taken hostage. Enters, Snake Plissken! A former Special Forces soldier who turns into a criminal. But it is now unto him to save the President against his own freedom.
14. This is the End
- Director: Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg.
- Writer: Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg.
- Starring: James Franco, Rogen, and Craig Robinson.
- IMDb Rating: 6.6
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 83%
- Platforms Available: iTunes, Google Play, Prime Video.
Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg’s movie This is the End (2013) falls in the comic apocalyptic movies genre. Starring James Franco, Rogen, and Craig Robinson, it offers a fictional narrative of a global biblical apocalypse. This is the End is a wonderful laugh riot with a generous dose of horror elements.
15. Shaun of the Dead
- Director: Edgar Wright
- Writer: Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg.
- Starring: Simon Pegg, Kate Ashfield, and Lucy Davis.
- IMDb Rating: 7.9
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 92%
- Platforms Available: Hulu
The iconic duo of Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright team up for the zombie’s apocalypse Shaun of the Dead (2004). Shaun might be feeling bleak as his world is crashing, but he will no more. Starring Pegg as Shaun and Nick Frost as Ed, this is what you can call a zom-rom-com. Fancy, isn’t it?
He now fights the zombies in London to find the meaning of his life and to win back his girlfriend. Shaun of the Dead is definitely a top-ranking parody of zombies movies.
16. Planet of the Apes
- Director: Tim Burton
- Writer: Mark Rosenthal
- Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Tim Roth, and Helena Bonham Carter.
- IMDb Rating: 5.7
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 94%
- Platforms Available: Amazon Prime Video, Netflix.
Tim Burton’s directorial style is par excellence, and this is clearly reflected in Planet of the Apes (2001). This movie follows the astronaut Leo Davidson who crash lands on a planet where the intellectual apes inhabit. The ape has a clear dominance over humans here. But the point of turmoil and rebellion starts as Leo teams up with an ape, Ari, to war against the reigning tyrants.
17. The Quiet Earth
- Director: Geoff Murphy
- Writer: Bruno Lawrence and Sam Pillsbury.
- Starring: Bruno Lawrence, Alison Routledge and Peter Smith.
- IMDb Rating: 6.8
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 71%
- Platforms Available: Microsoft Movies & TV, YouTube, Google Play, VUDU, Amazon and iTunes.
The Quiet Earth is a sci-fi cult class. Helmed by Geoff Murphy, the movie features in the lead cast Bruno Lawrence, alongside Alison Routledge and Pete Smith. Starring Lawrence as Zac Hobson, he awakens to find himself alone in the world after he attempts a failed suicide.
In this post-apocalyptic world, Zac is desperate to search for other survivors in the city. His mental state deteriorates, and the plot culminates in an iconic and arguable ending.
18. 28 Days Later
- Director: Danny Boyle
- Writer: Alex Garland
- Starring: Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, and Christopher Eccleston.
- IMDb Rating: 7.6
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 87%
- Platforms Available: Vudu, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Amazon Video, Apple iTunes, YouTube, Google Play Movies, Microsoft Store, DIRECTV, Redbox.
28 Days Later movie stars in the lead roles Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, and Brendan Gleeson. This movie is one of the first significant apocalypse movies of the new millennium. The plot follows the disintegration of the world after a contagious virus is accidentally released into the world (relatable, right?).
The film’s focus is on the plot of four friends who try their best to evade the infection by the virus (SAME!). The movie is critically acclaimed and is a must-watch.
19. 12 Monkeys
- Director:: Terry Gilliam
- Writers: Chris Marker
- Starring: Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, and Brad Pitt.
- IMDb Rating: 8
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 88%
- Platforms Available: Netflix, Disney Plus.
The Golden Globe award-winning movie 12 Monkeys (1995) is one of the best science fiction thriller movies. Few directors have a vision as rich and ambitious as Terry Gilliam. With a sharp plot and a stellar cast, you cannot miss this one from this movies list. The movie stars Brad Pitt, Madeliene Stowe, Bruce Willis, and Christopher Stowe in the lead.
20. Dr. Strangelove
- Director: Stanley Kubrick
- Writers: Stanley Kubrick and Terry Southern.
- Stars: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, and Sterling Hayden.
- IMDb Rating: 8.4
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 98%
- Platforms Available: Netflix, Disney Plus.
Stanley Kubrick’s BAFTA and Hugo award-winning movie Dr. Strangelove (1964) is a cold war satire with contemporary relevance. Strangelove is a character you fall in love with. His improbable hilarity in finding uncanny humor in every unimaginable scene makes him our favorite. This movie is full of commendable comic performances.
Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb stars George C. Scott, Peter Sellers, and Slim Pickens.
21. The Matrix
- Director:Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski.
- Writers: Lilly Wachowski and Lana Wachowski.
- Starring: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, and Carrie-Anne Moss.
- IMDb Rating:8.7
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 88%
- Platforms Available: Amazon Prime Video
Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski’s movie, The Matrix (1999), is a pioneering, entertaining, and philosophical science fiction classic. Starring the iconic Keanu Reeves as Neo, this movie is an example of cyberpunk films. Humans are trapped in a simulated reality in a dystopic future created by the Matrix system.
22. 10 Cloverfield Lane
- Director:: Dan Trachtenberg
- Writers: Josh Campbell and Matthew Stuecken.
- Starring: John Goodman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and John Gallagher Jr.
- IMDb Rating:7.2
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 90%
- Platforms Available: Netflix, Amazon Prime.
Starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Michelle, her performance is absolutely delightful in the movie. It evokes both emphatic sensibility and intensity with equal ease. It is a clever, entertaining, and downright fun movie.
23. War of the Worlds
- Director: Steven Spielberg
- Writer: Josh Friedman and David Koepp.
- Starring: Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning.
- IMDb Rating: 6.5
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 75%
- Platforms Available: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video.
Cruise stars as Ray Ferrier, a dockworker who is ready to spend a leisurely weekend with his children. But, as alien tripod land on Earth, an unforeseen disaster ensues. The end of the world is near as the aliens threaten to wipe off humanity from the Earth.
24. Armageddon
- Director: Michael Bay
- Writer: Jonathan Hensleigh
- Starring: Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Billy Bob Thornton, and Liv Tyler.
- IMDb Rating:6.7
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 38%
- Platforms Available: Netflix, Disney Plus.
In the movie, NASA sends the blue-collar deep-core drillers on an operation. This is to stop the collision of a gigantic asteroid with Earth. The collision takes place in the next eighteen days and will destroy lives on Earth. And only those drillers under the guidance of the driller, Harry Stamper, can save the world. Bruce Willis stars as Stamper, with Liv Tyler and Ben Affleck in the lead.
25. I Am Legend
- Director: Francis Lawrence
- Writers: Mark Protosevichand Akiva Goldsman.
- Starring: Will Smith, Alice Braga, and Charlie Tahan.
- IMDb Rating: 7.2
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 68%
- Platforms Available: Netflix, Disney Plus.
This movie is a science fiction horror thriller. The end of the world is brought on by a plague that kills humanity from the earth and transforms the rest into monsters. Only a sole survivor in New York has the potential to revive humanity in a thriller that takes place in a post-apocalyptic world.
26. The Day After
- Director: Nicholas Meyer
- Writer: Edward Hume
- Starring: Jason Robards, JoBeth Williams, and Steve Guttenberg.
- IMDb Rating: 7.1
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 83%
- Platforms Available: Prime Video, Netflix.
Nicholas Meyer’s 1983 science-fiction drama, The Day After, features Edward Hume’s screenplay. A deeply impactful movie covers the horrors of a nuclear missile strike. The peaceful Midwestern city of Kansas is overturned when the unthinkable happens. The bombs come down, missiles are struck. And the city is now thrust into the bleak winter of nuclear war.
27. World War Z
- Director: Marc Forster
- Writers: Matthew Michael Carnahan (screenplay), Drew Goddard.
- Starring: Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, and Daniella Kertesz.
- IMDb Rating:7
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 66%
- Platforms Available: Prime Video, iTunes Store, Google Play, YouTube.
While zombie movies are crowding day by day, it is one of the smartest ones on the list. Marc Forster’s 2013 movie, World War Z, falls under the list of zombie films and is about zombie invasion. The movie is terrifying, and it will thrill you and give you chills.
David Denby of The New Yorker had tagged the movie as the “most gratifying action spectacle in years.” It is another end of the world movie.
28. A Boy and His Dog
- Director: L.Q. Jones
- Writers: L.Q. Jones (screenplay), Harlan Ellison (novel).
- Starring: Don Johnson, Jason Robards, Susanne Benton.
- IMDb Rating: 6.5
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 76%
- Available: Amzon Prime
World War IV has ravaged the earth. The story follows a teenage boy named Vic and his telepathic dog named Blood. Surviving together in a post-apocalyptic wasteland in the Southern United States, they just have each other in this world. They part away from each other, and they get on a quest to reunite.
And, the end, which the virulent holocaust narratives in the movies project definitely gives jitters owing to the relevance in the present times of the global coronavirus pandemic. The movie is about a deadly virus.
29. The Wandering Earth
- Director: Frant Gwo
- Writers: Gong Geer, Junce Ye.
- Starring: Jing Wu, Chuxiao Qu, Guangjie Li.
- IMDb Rating: 6.0
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 71%
- Platforms Available: Netflix
One of the most fantastic end of the world movies, the most noteworthy earning films of 2019, is this apocalypse film that a couple of individuals has known about. It follows the fiasco film shape, chronicling a gathering of researchers who look to truly move the Earth to move it away from the always extending sun while evading crash with Jupiter.
30. These Final Hours
- Director: Zak Hilditch
- Writer: Zak Hilditch
- Starring: Jessica De Gouw, Nathan Phillips, David Field.
- IMDb Rating: 6.7
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 84%
- Platforms Available: Amazon Prime, Microsoft Store.
In this one, a comet prevails regarding crashing into Earth, as it’s taken steps to do so often previously (see likewise: Armageddon and Deep Impact). The film happens 10 minutes after effect when Australia has around 12 hours before the firestorm arrives at the nation.
It follows James, who needs to invest his leftover energy at the “gathering to shame all other gatherings,” but winds up being pulled in different ways.
31. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012)
- Director: Lorene Scafaria
- Writer: Lorene Scafaria
- Starring: Adam Brody, Keira Knightley, Melanie Lynskey and others.
- IMDb Rating: 6.7
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 55%
- Platforms Available: Hulu
An asteroid is moving towards the planet Earth. Penny (played by Keira Knightly) and Dodge (played by Steve Carrell) decide to reunite the latter with his love interest before this asteroid hits. On their journey, they meet similar people who are also dealing with doom. Seeking a Friend is a movie in which everyone is seen searching for a friend for the end.
32. Melancholia (2011)
- Director: Lars von Trier
- Writer: Lars von Trier
- Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alexander Skarsgård and others.
- IMDb Rating: 7.2
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 80%
- Platforms Available: Hulu
After this, the plot is similar to the end of the world movies. Kirsten Dunst is seen playing the role of a bride whose wedding reception was interrupted due to the discovery of Melancholia, a new planet. This planet is going to collide soon with Earth. The movie also sheds some light on chronic depression.
33. Retreat (2011)
- Director: Carl Tibbetts
- Writer: Janice Hallett, Carl Tibbetts.
- Starring: Cillian Murphy, Thandiwe Newton, Jamie Bell and others.
- IMDb Rating: 5.8
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 62%
- Platforms Available: Amazon Prime Video
A married couple wants to come back together and search for various ways to achieve this. They decide to go on a vacation to a remote island located near the coast of Scotland. Their holiday did not go smoothly and was soon interrupted by a soldier who showed up at their doorstep.
The soldier tells them that an airborne disease outbreak has hit the outside world, and to protect themselves, they must hide. But, the question remains whether the soldier is telling them the truth?
34. Legion (2010)
- Director: Scott Stewart
- Writer: Scott Stewart, Peter Schink
- Starring: Dennis Quaid, Paul Bettany, Lucas Black and others.
- IMDb Rating: 5.3
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 18%
- Platforms Available: Hulu
Legion is another one about the end of the world movies. In this, the end of the world is shown in Biblical terms. Apocalyptic visions are seen in Legion. Paul Bettany is seen playing the role of Archangel Michael, and his duty is to stop the evil from bringing out an apocalypse.
35. Daybreakers (2009)
- Director: Michael Spierig, Peter Spierig.
- Writer: Michael Spierig, Peter Spierig.
- Starring: Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe, Sam Neill and others.
- IMDb Rating: 6.4
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 69%
- Platforms Available: NA
In Daybreakers, a plaque is seen converting humans into Vampires. Humans have become blood-thirsty vampires, and the plaque has been spread so vastly that now only a few survivors are left for these vampires to feed off. There are still changes in a cure, but it is only possible if anyone can stay alive for that long.
36. Knowing (2009)
- Director: Alex Proyas
- Writer: Alex Proyas, Ryne Douglas Pearson, Stuart Hazeldine, Juliet Snowden, Stiles White.
- Starring: Nicolas Cage, Rose Byrne, Chandler Canterbury and others.
- IMDb Rating: 6.2
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 34%
- Platforms Available: Amazon Prime Video
Nic Cage is seen playing the role of a professor. He finds out a code that was buried in an elementary school time capsule. Nic thinks that he has cracked that, and the message in the time capsule is about the world coming to an end. He still needs to find out if he is right and if the coming disasters can be stopped.
37. Sunshine (2007)
- Director: Danny Boyle
- Writer: Alex Garland
- Starring: Cillian Murphy, Rose Byrne, Chris Evans, Michelle Yeoh, Hiroyuki Sanada and others.
- IMDb Rating: 7.2
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 76%
- Platforms Available: Hulu Plus
Sunshine is another movie in which the Sun is shown to be the main culprit, and it would be it who will be bringing the world to its end. The movie shows that the sun is dying, and a group of scientists try to bring it back by re-igniting it with the help of a bomb. If you think that they might succeed, watch the movie as many things can possibly go wrong.
38. Right At Your Door (2006)
- Director: Chris Gorak
- Writer: Chris Gorak
- Starring: Mary McCormack, Rory Cochrane, Will McCormack, Scotty Noyd Jr., Tony Perez, and others.
- IMDb Rating: 6.1
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 69%
- Platforms Available: Amazon Prime Video
A man is sitting at his home when he hears that the dirty bombs located in Los Angeles might have been detonated. The government officials advised the citizens of the entire city that they stay at their home, lock their doors and windows, and go in a quarantine.
The man listens to all this, but his wife was outside and just returned. Should he allow the young woman to enter? Should he risk contamination?
39. Last Night (1998)
- Director: Don McKellar
- Writer: Don McKellar
- Starring: Don McKellar, Sandra Oh, David Cronenberg, Sarah Polley and others.
- IMDb Rating: 7.2
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 84%
- Platforms Available: Amazon Prime Video
Last Night falls in Canadian doomsday movies. The movie does not explain why the world is coming to an end, but one thing is made very clear just a day is left before the entire human race is wiped off. All the characters need to think about what they wish to do on their last day. It might be celebrating Christmas, and they also need to figure out with whom they want to share their moments.
40. The Rapture (1991)
- Director: Michael Tolkin
- Writer: Michael Tolkin, David Duchovny, Darwyn Carson, Will Patton, Rustam Branaman, Rustam Branaman, Rustam Branaman, Michael Lally, Thomas Newman.
- Starring: Mimi Rogers, David Duchovny, Patrick Bauchau, Will Patton and others.
- IMDb Rating: 6.3
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 67%
- Platforms Available: Google Play, Vudu, YouTube, Amazon Video.
Mimi Rogers starred in this movie with David Duchovny. The Rapture is about a woman who goes on a religious path and leaves her swinger lifestyle. The reason behind her decision was that she started seeing signs of the Rapture’s arrival. Is she right? This movie will keep the viewers engaged and is a great addition to end of the world movies.
41. Miracle Mile (1998)
- Director: Steve De Jarnatt
- Writer: Steve De Jarnatt
- Starring: Anthony Edwards, Mare Winningham, John Agar and others.
- IMDb Rating: 7
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 90%
- Platforms Available: Apple iTunes, Amazon Prime Video.
Mare Winningham and Anthony Edwards are seen in Miracle Mile. They both play the role of Harry and Julie, respectively. The plot of Miracle Mile shows these lead characters suffering from a missed connection, and that too at the worst time. The time was not right as there was a nuclear war between the worlds of the Soviet Union and the United States.
The nuclear attack with the nuclear bomb will decide where the Earth stood. There are evil forces and world leaders who laid bare the future of Earth. Harry tries to find Julie before the end of the world. Miracle Mile is yet another addition to the list of doomsday movies.
42. The Last Wave (1977)
- Director: Peter Weir
- Writer: Peter Weir, Petru Popescu, Tony Morphett.
- Starring: David Gulpilil, Richard Chamberlain, Olivia Hamnett and others.
- IMDb Rating: 7
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 82%
- Platforms Available: Criterion Channel, HBO Max.
Richard Chamberlain is seen playing the role of an Australian lawyer in The Last Wave. He learns about apocalyptic visions pertaining to water after he is working on a case. The case is related to killing a member of a local tribe of Aborigines.
As he becomes more familiar with them, he knows about the various prophecies and visions. This is among the must-watch movies and is yet another wonderfully made end of the world movie.
43. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
- Director: Philip Kaufman
- Writer: W. D. Richter
- Starring: Brooke Adams, Donald Sutherland, Jeff Goldblum and others.
- IMDb Rating: 7.4
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 92%
- Platforms Available: Amazon Prime Video
It might be considered that among the initial signs of end times, the changes in your partner can be counted as one. Invasion of the Body Snatchers is the 1956 remake of a classic by Philip Kaufman.
This movie highlights a very different type of pandemic in which the people are getting replaced by their body doubles while they are sleeping. This makes it impossible for the victims to tell about the same to their loved ones and friends.
44. Little Shop of Horrors: The Director’s Cut (1986)
- Director: Frank Oz
- Writer: Howard Ashman
- Starring: Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, Steve Martin and others.
- IMDb Rating: 7.1
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 90%
- Platforms Available: Amazon Prime Video
The movie is based on a musical comedy classic by the same name by Frank Oz, which came in theatres and ended on a good note. The ending was not always happy as the audiences revolted after seeing its original ending in which Audrey II, the puppet plant, destroys the world.
The apocalyptic version of the movie was by far much better. So, it is an excellent take on the end of the world movies.
45. The Mitchells vs. The Machines (2021)
- Director: Michael Rianda
- Writer: Chris Miller, Danny McBride, Phil Lord and others.
- Starring: Alex Hirsch, Abbi Jacobson, Michael Rianda and others.
- IMDb Rating: 7.7
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 97%
- Platforms Available: Netflix
The Mitchells vs. the Machines is a Netflix original movie with a combination of 2D and 3D animation. The film tells a unique tale of a time when the over-intelligent mobile phones decide to put a full stop to humankind.
It also tells a hilarious story of a family (in which the mom is a first-grade teacher and her daughter). The family is the last hope for humanity on planet Earth. So, this is a new take on the end of the world movies that involve technology.
46. Deep Impact (1998)
- Director: Mimi Leder
- Writer: Michael Tolkin, Bruce Joel Rubin.
- Starring: Téa Leoni, Elijah Wood, Leelee Sobieski.
- IMDb Rating: 6.2
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 45%
- Platforms Available: Netflix
Mimi Leder’s film Deep Impact was released simultaneously as Armageddon (Michael Bay’s blockbuster). These films have the same plot of a meteor hitting Earth and thus threatening to wipe out the human race. It is an excellent addition to end of the world movies. A group of astronauts are the last hope for all.
Those who are curious to know about how extinction events might actually work should definitely watch this movie as the movie is quite accurate. There are explosions on the big screen, and there are also character drama and space scenes. Morgan Freeman is seen playing the role of President of the US, and this is his first such role.
47. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)
- Director: Matt Reeves
- Writer: Mark Bomback, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Scott Z. Burns.
- Starring: Andy Serkis, Jason Clarke, Keri Russell and others.
- IMDb Rating: 7.6
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 90%
- Platforms Available: Amazon Instant Video, Google play, Vudu, iTunes.
Planet of the Apes is a franchise that shows many apocalyptic scenes. The story is set ten years after the event when the simian flu caused the death of most human beings on Earth. Caesar, the genetically modified chimpanzee, and his followers live in a colony outside San Francisco. A small band of human survivors left, forcing Caesar to do two main things.
First, to protect his people and second, to redevelop a good relationship with the human race. Caesar also secretly wished that he should do the second thing.
48. Noah (2014)
- Director: Darren Aronofsky
- Writer: Darren Aronofsky, Ari Handel.
- Starring: Russell Crowe, Emma Watson, Jennifer Connelly and others.
- IMDb Rating: 5.7
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 76%
- Platforms Available: Amazon Instant Video, Google play, Vudu, iTunes.
Darren Aronofsky has to face a lot of heat due to his bold take on the original end of the world movies. By this, we are referring to Noah’s ark. Darren Aronofsky is a writer-director, and he follows ancient Hebrew text. The movie will not go well with every viewer, but, by far, it is the most engaging Biblical epic. So, this also lies in our list of end of the world movies.
49. Contagion (2011)
- Director: Steven Soderbergh
- Writer: Scott Z. Burns
- Starring: Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and others.
- IMDb Rating: 6.8
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 85%
- Platforms Available: Amazon Prime Video
Contagion is also among the list of end of the world movies. It is Steven Soderbergh’s drama based on the pandemic. The movie’s starting is horrifying, and the news of a sequel is also doing rounds. Beth Emhoff (played by Gwyneth Paltrow) returns to Minnesota after going on a business trip to Hong Kong. Upon her return, she feels malaise and jet lag.
Two days later, she dies, and the doctors inform her husband that they don’t know the reason behind her death. Soon, many such deaths occur after the individuals face the same symptoms. Doctors try their best to contain the causative microbe, but society has already begun collapsing. So, the movie is about a deadly pandemic.
50. Annihilation (2018)
- Director: Alex Garland
- Writer: Alex Garland
- Starring: Natalie Portman, Gina Rodriguez, Jennifer Jason Leigh and others.
- IMDb Rating: 6.8
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 88%
- Platforms Available: Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video.
Annihilation is an alarming and mysterious movie. This sci-fi horror movie by Alex Garland shows that a group of female soldiers were sent into an alien zone, Shimmer. Here the plant takes control of the human body, animals are not normal but mutated into deadly hybrids, and anyone who enters this alien world will have to face their darkest self.
What Movies are About the World Ending?
Several movies have been made when the world ends or about impending doom. Such movies have been included in the list mentioned above. Several world-ending movies have been made till now, and the best ones have been included.
