These worlds ring with the harsh dangers if society falls. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re exploring the 20 best post-apocalyptic landscapes in movies.
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00:00 "If anyone is out there, I can provide food, I can provide shelter."
00:07 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're exploring the 20 best post-apocalyptic landscapes in movies.
00:13 These worlds ring with the realism and/or emotional truth of the harsh dangers present if society falls.
00:20 "I remember something like that."
00:22 Number 20. Authoritarian Panem, the Hunger Games franchise.
00:27 Unlike many other worlds on this list, the post-apocalyptic America of the Hunger Games features a coherent and cohesive society.
00:34 "War. Terrible war. Widows, orphans, a motherless child."
00:41 Unfortunately, that society, Panem, is ruled by an authoritarian regime.
00:46 Panem is richly layered with intricate political dynamics and regional differences.
00:50 Set in a world ravaged by environmental disaster and societal collapse, Panem is a nation of stark contrasts.
00:57 The capital is opulently wealthy and well-furnished with technology and goods.
01:01 "It's huge."
01:04 The other districts, however, are impoverished and struggling.
01:08 As punishment for a previous rebellion, those districts are forced to sacrifice children every year for lethal bloodsport.
01:15 Both the world and story of the Hunger Games resonate with audiences, reflecting on real-world struggles with class, power, and inequality.
01:23 "Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor."
01:30 Number 19. Hostel Oregon, The Postman.
01:33 Though Kevin Costner's The Postman was a box office flop, it's a film that zeros in on two interesting aspects of a post-apocalyptic society.
01:41 "I'm clapping because you stink."
01:44 The first, and most hilarious, is what if Tom Petty were your local mayor?
01:49 The other, and more important, aspect of the film is its focus on communication.
01:54 With modern technology eliminated, small settlements of human survivors had no way to communicate with one another.
02:00 "I'm your postman."
02:02 In The Postman, Costner's character takes that responsibility on his shoulders, creating a post-apocalyptic pony express.
02:08 Though he has to deal with the mortal dangers of the wild and bloodthirsty warlords, he eventually succeeds.
02:14 The Postman highlights just how much any society hinges upon our ability to talk to one another.
02:19 "Thank you. You're a godsend."
02:24 Number 18. Blazing England, Reign of Fire.
02:28 In the history of cinema, the world has ended thanks to viruses, zombies, aliens, or nuclear war time and again.
02:35 But there haven't been many films about a dragon apocalypse.
02:38 In Reign of Fire, construction workers in London accidentally release an ancient and fiery plague upon the earth.
02:44 In less than a generation, most of the armies and civilizations of the world have been incinerated by a horde of dragons.
02:56 They burn the land to ashes, consuming any life they come across.
03:00 Human remnants hold on by a thread, often set ablaze any time they establish a foothold in the countryside.
03:07 "Dig in! Work together! Outlast them!"
03:10 The film depicts a bleak and barren world.
03:13 Definitely answering Robert Frost's question on how the world ends, it ends in fire.
03:18 Number 17. Irradiated Earth, A Boy and His Dog.
03:25 In a crowded genre, A Boy and His Dog stands out as a post-apocalyptic masterpiece.
03:31 Long before Fallout, the film's unique blend of dark humor and gritty realism was set against an irradiated wasteland.
03:38 "Your continued narrow-minded refusal to believe in over-the-hills possibly costing us a better life, you know."
03:43 A Boy and His Dog is utterly desolate, representing a decaying world destroyed in nuclear fire.
03:48 The protagonist's bond with his telepathic dog adds a layer of emotional depth and comedy to the bleak atmosphere.
03:54 "Right?" "Whatever you say."
03:57 The remnants of civilization they do find are equal parts off-putting and hilarious.
04:02 It's an unforgiving world, and their friendship highlights the rarity and importance of companionship and loyalty.
04:08 The movie is a quirky exploration of morality and survival.
04:11 For its Cold War audience, it offered a stark and unsettling vision of a possible future.
04:16 "Take care of yourself." "I'll do my best."
04:19 Number 16. Silent America, A Quiet Place Franchise.
04:24 From the opening scene in the first film, The Quiet Place Franchise captivated us with its unique take on the post-apocalyptic genre.
04:31 It features a silent Earth, overrun by alien creatures with hypersensitive hearing.
04:36 The lack of dialogue creates a tense and suspenseful atmosphere.
04:41 After all, silence is not a choice, but a necessity.
04:44 Every creak and rustle of clothing could bring death in its wake, forcing the viewer into a state of unending tension.
04:50 Humans are a social species, and the silence feels as alien to us as the killer aliens.
05:00 The combination of innovative premise, unsettling atmosphere, and compelling themes makes The Quiet Place Franchise a standout in the post-apocalyptic genre.
05:09 Number 15. Post-Nuclear USA, The Book of Eli.
05:17 The Book of Eli has every ingredient for a good apocalypse tale.
05:20 A stark and unrelenting environment, settlements ruled by fear and uncertainty, and plenty of rubble.
05:26 It's an empty world, and far too many of the people in it are cruel and selfish.
05:31 "The only good thing about no soap is that you can smell hijackers a mile off."
05:38 Denzel Washington's Eli, a warrior monk of sorts, crosses this hellscape on a holy quest of preservation.
05:45 Like the world he traverses, his kindness is too often subsumed by violence and the fight to survive.
05:51 It's a brutal America, populated by desperate survivors, cannibals, and ruthless gangs.
05:56 "You raised your hand on him."
05:58 "It won't happen again, I promise you."
06:00 There are remnants struggling to rebuild society, but they are too isolated to secure settlements.
06:05 Combined with its exploration of faith and redemption, The Book of Eli is a compelling and thought-provoking film.
06:11 "It's not right to keep that book hidden away. It's meant to be shared with others."
06:15 There is something oddly compelling about a post-apocalyptic train.
06:22 "There they are. That's how far they made it."
06:25 The confined spaces turn into a pressure cooker when inhabited by fearful, desperate survivors.
06:33 In Snowpiercer, director Bong Joon-ho uses this setting to full effect.
06:38 The train's Snowpiercer, powered by a perpetual motion machine, endlessly traverses a frozen earth.
06:44 The train is divided by class.
06:46 The wealthy elites live in luxury at the front, while starving, impoverished masses crowd into squalid conditions at the rear.
06:53 "Those bastards in the front section think they own us."
06:56 The comparison to real-world inequality is so clear that Snowpiercer is genuinely more simile than metaphor.
07:03 The film's thought-provoking themes and visually striking design make Snowpiercer unique in the post-apocalyptic genre.
07:10 "You repay his kindness with violent organism."
07:14 Ever wondered what Earth would be like if aliens blew up the moon?
07:21 "It's been half a century since the scavengers destroyed our moon."
07:24 Well, according to Oblivion, it would be struck with so many tsunamis and earthquakes that the human race would be forced to evacuate to other celestial bodies.
07:33 Well, everyone except Tom Cruise.
07:35 "Earthquakes toppled cities within hours. Tsunamis wiped out what remained."
07:40 He has to stay and protect the generators that power humanity's new home on Titan, or so it seems.
07:46 Cruise's second film featuring an alien attack, this one shows an Earth far removed from the war zone of War of the Worlds.
07:53 Rather, it's actually a thing of beauty, as nature has had a chance to start again over the buried remains of humanity.
07:59 "That drone is out there somewhere. We just have to find it."
08:05 "I'm a survivor living in New York City. I am broadcasting on all AM frequencies."
08:16 In 1954, author Richard Matheson wrote his harrowing post-apocalyptic novel, I Am Legend.
08:22 It was the progenitor of modern post-apocalyptic horror, introducing the idea of a humanity-destroying pandemic into popular culture.
08:30 It was first adapted into a melodramatic Vincent Price vampire film, The Last Man on Earth, a decade later.
08:36 In 1971, a second adaptation, The Omega Man, came out, starring Charlton Heston.
08:42 Forty years later, Will Smith's version, I Am Legend, successfully captured the existential and lonely terror of being a seemingly sole survivor.
08:51 "Please stay alone with me."
08:53 Smith's Robert Neville patrols the abandoned streets of an abandoned New York City, desperately trying to cure the virus which decimated mankind.
09:02 Its haunting, sad tone evokes the emotional truth of living through such a harrowing, isolated existence.
09:08 "You are not alone."
09:10 Nine is set after the world's first free-thinking robot has created an army of machines and destroyed all human life.
09:20 But this film takes place so long after the robot apocalypse that only one machine is left.
09:25 "The only thing that remains now is the beast."
09:30 The only other survivors are nine small, ragdoll-like creatures that each have a portion of a man's soul inside.
09:37 "You are all the pieces of my soul."
09:42 And the city in which these creatures roam is just smoking remains.
09:46 Basically, the whole thing looks like a really depressing level of Little Big Planet.
09:51 And boy, does it leave a lasting impression.
09:53 "Can I wait here?"
09:55 Number 10. Flooded Earth, Waterworld.
09:58 A pet project of Kevin Costner's, Waterworld depicts a future where all the icebergs have melted and the Earth has flooded at the outset of the 21st century.
10:06 "The polar ice caps have melted, covering the Earth with water."
10:11 With dry land as just a myth, humanity survives on floating cities and boats.
10:16 This original take on what a post-apocalyptic world would look like nearly bankrupt Costner, and was the most expensive film ever made when it came out.
10:24 "Nothing's free in Waterworld."
10:26 Regardless, no other movie has tried to showcase an Earth without dry land like this, and to such spectacular effect.
10:33 "Dry land is not just our destination, but it is our destiny!"
10:40 Number 9. Infected Philadelphia of 2035, Twelve Monkeys.
10:45 The setting of Twelve Monkeys is another unique landscape, but this time it's one that's set under Philadelphia in the year 2035.
10:52 Yes, under.
10:53 "We live underground! The world belongs to the dogs and cats!"
10:57 The city of brotherly love has been hit with a virus so poisonous that humans have had to make their way under the Earth's surface to survive.
11:05 Meanwhile, a criminal, played by Bruce Willis, is being sent back in time to try and stop it, or at least to help develop a cure.
11:11 "The army of the Twelve Monkeys, they're the ones who spread the virus, that's why I'm here."
11:15 This time travel element is especially effective, in that it allows viewers to see the stark contrast between 90s Philly and its barren future.
11:23 Number 8. Real World Earth, The Matrix Franchise.
11:31 "Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself."
11:41 What if the world ended and you had no idea? That's the underlying premise of the Wachowskis' Matrix franchise.
11:48 After having lost a war with sentient AI, human beings were turned into the machine's power source.
11:53 To occupy the humans' minds, they've all been plugged into an artificial simulation, our world.
11:59 "There are fields, endless fields."
12:03 Those who live outside the Matrix occupy an underground human city, Zion.
12:08 These humans live a hard, scrabble life, in constant fear of the machine invasion that will destroy them forever.
12:14 The surface, meanwhile, is a cold and lightless place.
12:18 The machine civilization is one of metal, plastic, and tubes favoring function over aesthetics.
12:24 It's a technological, eldritch horror, and one we should hope to avoid as real-world AI evolves.
12:30 "What do you want?"
12:33 "Peace."
12:34 Number 7. Infected London, 28 Days Later.
12:38 We all remember the famous shots of an abandoned London in this Danny Boyle-directed flick.
12:43 "Hello!"
12:45 Upon waking up from a coma, bicycle courier Jim visits just about every iconic landmark the capital has, as if he's on a one-man walking tour.
12:53 But, as Jim soon discovers, the city is far from empty.
12:56 It's actually full of hordes of aggressive and senseless creatures.
13:00 No, not tourists. Zombies.
13:02 The sudden contrast between the seemingly uninhabited city and the one bustling with people infected by the rage virus make this a memorable setting for a horror movie.
13:15 "Plans are pointless. Staying alive's as good as it gets."
13:20 Number 6. Sterile Earth of 2027. Children of Men.
13:24 Though one may quibble with whether or not Alfonso Cuarón's Children of Men is technically a post-apocalyptic film or not, it remains incredibly dystopic.
13:33 The human race is on the verge of extinction, having lost the ability to procreate.
13:37 "He struggled all his life with the celebrity status thrust upon him as the world's youngest person."
13:43 Economic depression and societal collapse have spread like a contagion, and the last remaining governments are fascistic and violently anti-immigrant.
13:51 From a quiet, idyllic countryside to the hectic, rubble-strewn streets of a war zone, Cuarón creates an atmosphere running the gamut of human experience.
14:00 "How you doing? How are you?"
14:03 Even small, quiet moments can be annihilated by terrible violence in an instant.
14:08 While not a horror film, Children of Men is steeped in the emotional horror we would all experience in humanity's waning days.
14:15 Number 5. American Wasteland, The Road.
14:21 This bleak film, based on the Cormac McCarthy book, is set in a world with little flora or fauna.
14:27 "The roads are peopled by refugees towing carts and gangs carrying weapons."
14:33 The shortage of food and freezing climate has forced Viggo Mortensen's character and his son to trek across America.
14:39 "There might be food there."
14:41 "Everything depends on reaching the coast."
14:43 As they travel, the audience is treated to shot after shot of a decaying, desolate country.
14:48 Abandoned houses, collapsed power lines, and bare trees make up this iconic landscape.
14:54 There are also cannibals, so that's cool. Or not.
14:58 "Cannibalism is the great fear."
15:00 Number 4. Future Australia, Mad Max Franchise.
15:04 The Australia depicted in George Miller's Mad Max is the epitome of a post-apocalypse.
15:09 Miller's world is a savage, raw, gritty place, forever poised on the edge of collapse and utter annihilation.
15:15 "Thunderdome. How do I get in there?"
15:18 "That's easy. Pick a fight."
15:20 Its barren wastelands, lawless societies, and scarce resources create a harsh and unforgiving backdrop for his stories of survival and redemption.
15:29 Iconic vehicles, fueled by desperation, murder, and ingenuity, embody the relentless pursuit of freedom and power in a world where both are rare.
15:37 "To do the job, I need five gallons of diesel and some high-octane gasoline."
15:42 The characters are often broken down to their most primal instincts.
15:45 A will to survive forces every denizen of the wastes to navigate a morally ambiguous hellscape.
15:51 Violence and chaos reign, and the resilience of the human spirit is put front and center.
15:57 "Do not, my friends, become addicted to water."
16:02 Number 3. Junkyard Earth. WALL-E.
16:05 This Pixar film shows us an Earth evacuated by humans after they filled it with garbage.
16:10 "Too much garbage in your face? There's plenty of space out in space."
16:14 And one plucky robot has been left behind to clear up the entire planet.
16:18 This is no easy task, considering WALL-E is surrounded by piles of junk that are literally taller than skyscrapers.
16:24 The film is a surprisingly deep take on complete loneliness and the dangers of over-consumerism.
16:30 "Wow."
16:33 But the animated images of Earth are what stay with the viewer after the sci-fi romantic comedy has finished.
16:39 "Wait, that doesn't look like Earth."
16:42 "Where's the blue sky?"
16:47 "Don't!"
16:52 "No!"
16:54 "Where's the grass?"
16:58 Number 2. Ape-Run Earth. PLANET OF THE APES franchise.
17:02 After three astronauts land on a mysterious planet, they soon discover it is run by apes.
17:07 These apes keep humans prisoner and have a society carefully divided into a caste system.
17:13 This planet may seem far-fetched, but - spoiler alert - it's a little closer to home than you might hope,
17:19 thanks to a nuclear fallout and primate evolution.
17:23 "You maniacs! You blew it up!"
17:27 The idea of a world where apes rule and humans drool clearly caught people's attention,
17:32 as this sci-fi film spawned several sequels and reboots.
17:36 With the new rebooted franchise, we get to see the full generational transition from our world to one ruled by apes.
17:47 The manufactured virus gives apes complete sentience while ultimately reducing humans to animals.
17:53 "You will see we are not savages."
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18:11 Number 1. Post-Nuclear Holocaust 2029 - The Terminator Franchise
18:17 The Terminator helped set the standard for robot apocalypse movies.
18:20 "I'm not a robot. I'm a cyborg. A cybernetic organism."
18:25 Sure, the scenes set in the 80s and 90s are gripping and action-packed.
18:29 However, it's the ones that take us to the future that are really bone-chilling.
18:33 In these scenes of 2029, James Cameron shows us his vision of a world where machines have systematically worked to wipe out humanity.
18:41 "They lived only to face a new nightmare. The war against the machines."
18:46 The idea of an army of metal skeletons hunting us down terrifies us still.
18:51 While the barren, skeleton-covered battlefield of this robot conquest is an image that has gone down in film history and remains a vision of the worst-case scenario future.
19:03 As the world gets darker and more complicated, post-apocalyptic films feel more resonant than ever.
19:11 What's your favorite post-apocalyptic landscape? Let us know in the comments below.
19:16 "When I find him, the soldiers will all come after me."
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19:27 [outro music]