# Best "sort of apocalypse" movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [January 6, 2022, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sort-of-apocalypse-movies/957329 "2022-01-06T15:54:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sort-of-apocalypse-movies/957329/1 "2022-01-06T15:54:04Z")
So one of my favorite rare scifi tropes is the “near apocalypse” (or maybe “sort of apocalypse” or “slow decline”). Where society has gone south, big time, due to one of the usual apocalypse causes (war, environmental collapse, disease, etc.). But it’s not collapsed, society is still around, the government is still functioning. Just everything is sort of crappy and could be about to finally collapse. My favourite example of this is Looper (which I just rewatched on Netflix and I still rate v highly) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/2iQuhsmtfHw/maxresdefault.jpg "LOOPER - Official Trailer (HD)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iQuhsmtfHw) In the “present day” Looper timeline at least, it’s implied things could have tipped over the line into “collapsed” at least in some parts of the world in the “future” timeline (which also gets it brownie points from me as one of the rarest scifi trope: the idea that society could collapse in the US or Europe but still carry on elsewhere) What other good examples of this are there? Interstellar did a good job IMO (though generally was, at best, pretty patchy as a movie). Also I guess Idiocracy counts? I’m excluding the common 80s/90s trope of society and government carrying on normally except for a huge increase in crime. e.g. predator 2, escape from new York (maybe? I’ve not seen this recently enough), the opening scene of Demolition Man. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sort-of-apocalypse-movies/957329/2 "2022-01-06T15:57:53Z")
I’ll nominate **Brazil**. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sort-of-apocalypse-movies/957329/3 "2022-01-06T16:03:26Z")
Mad Max seems to be that way. It’s not obvious if large society has collapsed, there has been a war, or whatever during the movie, but law and order is still being practiced. They have trials. And Fifi tells the squad " So long as the paperwork’s clean, you boys can do what you like out there." Society may be (is, judging by The Road Warrior) falling, but someone still cares about the paperwork. I’d add Children of Men. Civilization is clearing falling at the point of the movie, but it had been carrying on for the last 20 years or so of no children being born. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sort-of-apocalypse-movies/957329/4 "2022-01-06T16:04:24Z")
_Children of Men_ is set against a background of a world where government has collapsed, but Britain “soldiers on”. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sort-of-apocalypse-movies/957329/5 "2022-01-06T16:06:41Z")
How about _[Children of Men](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_of_Men)_? The apocalypse is that we’ve stopped giving birth to new people (reasons never quite clear), and 20-ish years later, society is still “functioning”, at least in England, but things are just winding down. Most people have just given up on life, and giving a crap about anything. War, famine, racism, fuck it, we’re doomed anyways. The government is providing Home Suicide Kits for those who’ve had enough of it all. ETA: Goddamn it! ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sort-of-apocalypse-movies/957329/6 "2022-01-06T16:08:00Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Mad Max > Children of Men Ah yes, I was going to mention both of these as good examples. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sort-of-apocalypse-movies/957329/7 "2022-01-06T16:11:15Z")
Maybe _The Running Man._ World-wide economic collapse and a totalitarian police state in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sort-of-apocalypse-movies/957329/8 "2022-01-06T16:15:01Z")
_Blade Runner, Robocop, Watchmen, Escape from New York…_ ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sort-of-apocalypse-movies/957329/9 "2022-01-06T17:43:23Z")
Perfect sense, a movie set is Scotland with Ewan MacGregor. Humanity is losing it’s senses one at a time, smell first and onto more. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sort-of-apocalypse-movies/957329/10 "2022-01-06T17:53:32Z")
Don’t think this would count as the _best_ of _anything_, but I’ll list it because it amuses me that _this_ movie with _this_ plot is shown on some weekend afternoons on broadcast television. (One of the “point” channels, like MeTV. They show _Barbarella_, too.) > **[Cherry 2000](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_2000)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > Cherry 2000 is a 1988 American science-fiction film directed by Steve De Jarnatt and starring Melanie Griffith and David Andrews. It was produced by Edward R. Pressman and Caldecot Chubb. The screenplay was by Michael Almereyda. > In the year 2017, the United States has fragmented into post-apocalyptic wastelands with a few civilized areas. An ongoing economic crisis has led to the recycling of aging 20th-century mechanical and technological equipm... ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sort-of-apocalypse-movies/957329/11 "2022-01-06T18:15:36Z")
I think Children of Men is set right at the point where the true apocalypse is beginning. It is, not coincidentally, at the time when the last of the children on the planet have officially become adults. There really are no more children. The start of the final decline begins with the uprising in the refugee camp. Thus the baby arrives at the darkest hour. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sort-of-apocalypse-movies/957329/12 "2022-01-06T18:51:49Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > The Running Man. Matter of opinion but I kind of lump this kind of thing in with apocalypse movies, in that you have one scenario where society collapses and dissolves into anarchy (e.g. Mad Max 2) and another where society collapses (or comes close to it) and you end up with autocracy (e.g. Running Man) ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sort-of-apocalypse-movies/957329/13 "2022-01-06T18:56:23Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > _Children of Men_ is set against a background of a world where government has collapsed, but Britain “soldiers on Total sidetrack but, while I really like the movie, they really missed a trick setting it in the west, it would have made much more sense (and been a great way of flipping the normal US/UK centric paradigm) to have the developing world survive longer without collapsing (as they have much younger population) and the developed world collapse into chaos with their aging population unable to support itself. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sort-of-apocalypse-movies/957329/14 "2022-01-06T19:06:56Z")
Kind of sounds like you’re looking for dystopian films: > **[The 50 Best Dystopian Movies of All Time](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/dystopian-movies/best-dystopian-movies-of-all-time-1/)** > > That dystopian movies have become a genre all their own speaks to our fears of the future. We remain captivated by stories of societies gone wrong and the struggle of individuals to overcome. Here are the best dystopian films of all time. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sort-of-apocalypse-movies/957329/15 "2022-01-06T19:11:51Z")
I think the word the OP is looking for is “dystopia”. As in society hasn’t collapsed in the sense that major urban centers are destroyed and there is no government beyond perhaps roving bands of warlords, but what society still exists is overcrowded, corrupt, crime-ridden, oppressive, intrusive, dirty, militarized, highly segragated, and probably not sustainable in the long term. Indeed many parts of the world may actually have collapsed already (much in the same way places in the modern world aren’t exactly functioning). So a few that haven’t been mentioned (of varying quality): A Clockwork Orange Akira Dredd Robocop Ready Player One 1984 Fahrenheit 451 Alita: Battle Angel Divergent Johnny Mnemonic Freejack ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sort-of-apocalypse-movies/957329/16 "2022-01-06T19:13:18Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > Kind of sounds like you’re looking for dystopian films: It’s a very specific sub-genre of dystopian film. Society hasn’t collapsed (e.g. Mad Max 2), its not been replaced with something completely different (e.g. Running Man, or the rest of Demolition Man after the opening scene) It’s still recognizably the same society that exists in the west in the 20th/21st century. But it’s clearly decayed and isn’t about to get better any time soon (in fact will likely get worse) ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sort-of-apocalypse-movies/957329/17 "2022-01-06T19:46:26Z")
Thinking about this thread, I’d add _Soylent Green._ It _appears_ to be your average 70s dystopia, evil government doing evil things, but I really think it the last days of Rome sort of movie. There still is law and order, more or less, but there is no more food. In a year I suspect there will be massive famine and death. Like billions. Getting the word out that SOYLENT GREEN IS PEEEEOPLE! isn’t going to change that. In fact, it will make it happen sooner. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sort-of-apocalypse-movies/957329/18 "2022-01-06T22:12:43Z")
Elysium is a setting where the rich elite live in orbit while the rest sweat it out on a ruined Earth below. Logan’s Run has domed cities where young people frolic (until they turn 30 of course) while the rest outside struggle to live. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2022, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sort-of-apocalypse-movies/957329/19 "2022-01-07T00:04:19Z")
Would, “The Omega Man,” count? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2022, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sort-of-apocalypse-movies/957329/20 "2022-01-07T01:27:07Z")
Which one? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-sort-of-apocalypse-movies/957329.md?page=2)