# Why were so many post-apocalyptic movies mabe in the 80s? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 22, 2005, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-so-many-post-apocalyptic-movies-mabe-in-the-80s/318084 "2005-08-22T06:59:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-so-many-post-apocalyptic-movies-mabe-in-the-80s/318084/21 "2011-03-02T12:40:54Z")
There’s nothing special about the 80s. Post-apocalyptic movies have been around since the 1950s, after the atomic bomb suggested a quick and easy way to achieve the apocalypse. Science Fiction magazines were filled with stories (mainly short ones) set in a post-nuclear apocalyptic world. The movies were there, too, with _Five, The World, the Flesh, and the Devil, On the Beach, and The Last Woman on Earth_ (among others), and a host of others. Movies set i n the future or on other worlds assumed a post-apocalyptic setting (_World Without End, Terror from the year 5000, Queen of Outer Space, Beyond the Time Barrier_, and plenty of others) ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-so-many-post-apocalyptic-movies-mabe-in-the-80s/318084/22 "2011-03-02T13:45:17Z")
> [@sewgeek](#): > > The Cold War was still going on and Americans thought for sure World War III was going to happen in the eighties. Thankfully by the end of the eighties the Cold War was over. Huh? It was definitely the early 1990s (fall of 1991 in particular) when the Soviet Union finally collapsed. Even if the Soviets had been more or less impotent for a while before that, it sure didn’t feel like it until after the Soviet Union ceased to exist. And even then, most people didn’t trust Russia any more than the Soviet Union. We had an idea that something big was going on in the Eastern Bloc when the Berlin Wall ceased to be, but that didn’t translate to the end of the Cold War. (it was however, enough to make me think that if the Soviets did indeed fall, that the military would go to some sort of 1930’s reduced status and quit being nearly as attractive as it was to a 18 year old kid) ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-so-many-post-apocalyptic-movies-mabe-in-the-80s/318084/23 "2011-03-02T14:09:15Z")
As I recall, aside from Reagan being one nap away from hitting The Button, we also expected the Soviets to do something big instead of just allowing the USSR to disintegrate. But my memories may be inaccurate, as I drank a lot during the 80s. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-so-many-post-apocalyptic-movies-mabe-in-the-80s/318084/24 "2011-03-02T16:31:16Z")
These days, it seems, the apocalypse takes the form of a zombie invasion. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-so-many-post-apocalyptic-movies-mabe-in-the-80s/318084/25 "2011-03-02T17:02:45Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > You can also do low rent copy cats of post-apocalyptic blockbusters. Give a guy a leather jacket, shotgun and film the whole thing in an abandoned industrial park and voila. This. There were a gazillion movies set in post-apocalyptic wastelands because they were so fucking cheap to make. Set: abandoned industrial site (really cheap). Costuming: Goodwill Industries (even cheaper). Vehicles: beat up used cars. Plot: somebody has a can of beans (or equivalent) and somebody else wants it, so they chase each other around the industrial park shooting each other and hitting each other until the good guy gets it (and the girl). Not as cheap as making a porn film with just two actors and a videocam in a motel room, but … still very cheap! ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-so-many-post-apocalyptic-movies-mabe-in-the-80s/318084/26 "2011-03-02T17:29:43Z")
Good point! is there any post-apocalyptic porn? ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-so-many-post-apocalyptic-movies-mabe-in-the-80s/318084/27 "2011-03-02T17:48:12Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > Good point! is there any post-apocalyptic porn? Yes. At least one. Café Flesh. Link to the wiki article spoilered, because the DVD cover they use for illustration is arguably NSFW: [So very strange…](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caf%C3%A9_Flesh) ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-so-many-post-apocalyptic-movies-mabe-in-the-80s/318084/28 "2011-03-02T18:28:39Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > You can also do low rent copy cats of post-apocalyptic blockbusters. Give a guy a leather jacket, shotgun and film the whole thing in an abandoned industrial park and voila. Wow, you just described “Cyborg” with Jean Claude Van Damme in one sentence. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-so-many-post-apocalyptic-movies-mabe-in-the-80s/318084/29 "2011-03-04T00:04:01Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Huh? It was definitely the early 1990s (fall of 1991 in particular) when the Soviet Union finally collapsed. Even if the Soviets had been more or less impotent for a while before that, it sure didn’t feel like it until after the Soviet Union ceased to exist. And even then, most people didn’t trust Russia any more than the Soviet Union. > > We had an idea that something big was going on in the Eastern Bloc when the Berlin Wall ceased to be, but that didn’t translate to the end of the Cold War. > > (it was however, enough to make me think that if the Soviets did indeed fall, that the military would go to some sort of 1930’s reduced status and quit being nearly as attractive as it was to a 18 year old kid) COMMUNIST BRAINS… Anyway, the USSR might not have fallen until the 90’s, but the Berlin Wall came down in '89, and that’s the point most people started thinking that hey, maybe we aren’t gonna take this cold war hot & nuclear. ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-so-many-post-apocalyptic-movies-mabe-in-the-80s/318084/30 "2011-03-04T00:21:44Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > Good point! is there any post-apocalyptic porn? There was a spoof of _The Road Warrior_ titled _The Load Warrior_. If you want to count Terminator as post-apocalyptic (at least for the future scenes), there also was _The Sperminator_ ---
**Author:** ![Agnostic\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c4cdca/32.png) [@Agnostic\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agnostic_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-so-many-post-apocalyptic-movies-mabe-in-the-80s/318084/31 "2011-03-04T02:37:45Z")
I think what made the 80s post-apocalyptic movies unique is that they were set in contemporary times. Early movies like Logan’s Run and Solyent Green were set in the future. Mad Max was not specific, but closer to the present. Movies like Red Dawn and the Day After were taking place _now_ - that is the year they were filmed. They were not post-apocalyptic - they were the apocalypse happening. The Day After also presented itself not as an action movie with heroes rising to save humanity, but showing ordinary people trying to cope with the effects. It’s message was “This is no laughing matter. There will be no heroes.” As noted by **fiddlesticks** , the pre-Gorbachev leadership were hardliners. And a strong evangelical movement in the US was predicting the end of times and the Second Coming - some still around, see the Left Behind series. Armageddon was tossed around quite a bit. I still get queasy feelings that some of them are unhappy that WWIII didn’t occur and wipe out those dirty Commies and pave the way for the Lord to return. (Now they are hoping it will happen with Iran, and WWIII will wipe out all those dirty Muslims - I think they will be disappointed again.) So I think the movies from the 80s resonated more with the public while the others remained ensconced in sci-fi and are mostly watched by fans of that genre. ---
**Author:** ![mee7532](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e7dd6/32.png) [@mee7532](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mee7532)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-so-many-post-apocalyptic-movies-mabe-in-the-80s/318084/32 "2013-01-15T02:31:23Z")
End of the world movie? … Anyone ever see the movie with the radio broadcaster in the tower? He is driving home in his station wagon and The Beatles All My Loving is playing… his wife and children have been hemmoraging for days. She takes them to the bathroom, cleans them hardly wraps them in white towels and they are saturated with blood in seconds. Please help me, I think this may be Late 70’s or early 80’s. ---
**Author:** ![BigDadWolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@BigDadWolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigDadWolf)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-so-many-post-apocalyptic-movies-mabe-in-the-80s/318084/33 "2013-01-15T18:32:05Z")
> [@mee7532](#): > > End of the world movie? … Anyone ever see the movie with the radio broadcaster in the tower? He is driving home in his station wagon and The Beatles All My Loving is playing.. his wife and children have been hemmoraging for days. She takes them to the bathroom, cleans them hardly wraps them in white towels and they are saturated with blood in seconds. Please help me, I think this may be Late 70’s or early 80’s. That sounds like _Testament_ which was released in 1983. A bleak and depressing film. ---
**Author:** ![ministryman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@ministryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ministryman)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-so-many-post-apocalyptic-movies-mabe-in-the-80s/318084/34 "2013-01-15T18:58:19Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > As I’m watching Escape From NY it’s making me wonder why were so many movies made with post-apocalyptic settings during the 80s? Was it some kind of fad? Also evil corporations seemed to be very popular. Why did they fall out of fashion? Why did they start? Two words: Republican Presidents. Why did they stop? Two words: Slick Willie ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-so-many-post-apocalyptic-movies-mabe-in-the-80s/318084/35 "2013-01-15T19:01:24Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Huh? It was definitely the early 1990s (fall of 1991 in particular) when the Soviet Union finally collapsed. But the 90s didn’t start until November 1991 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-so-many-post-apocalyptic-movies-mabe-in-the-80s/318084/36 "2013-01-18T06:09:12Z")
Cold War nuclear armaggedon fears peaked between the early 60s (Cuban missile crisis) and early 90s (breakup of the Soviet Union), so a lot of these movies naturally were made in the 70s and 80s. The irony is that we’re probably as close as ever due to the chance of an accidental launch. There’s been several in the past, but you can’t always rely on people manning the triggers to use their own sound judgment, and also, the nuclear technology is more advanced now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-were-so-many-post-apocalyptic-movies-mabe-in-the-80s/318084.md?page=1)