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TEOTWAWKI Entertainment
Earthquakes! Floods! Robots! When it comes to the end of the world, Hollywood comes up with some really outlandish ideas. Some are truly outlandish (The Blob), some are just plain creepy (Night of the Living Dead) and some are just plain stupid (2012). Here are 10 of the most thoughtful, the most creative, the BEST of the end of the world movies that we will be screening.
2012 (2009)
Dr. Adrian Helmsley, part of a worldwide geophysical team investigating the effect on the earth of radiation from unprecedented solar storms, learns that the earth's core is heating up. He warns U.S. President Thomas Wilson that the crust of the earth is becoming unstable and that without proper preparations for saving a fraction of the world's population, the entire race is doomed. Meanwhile, writer Jackson Curtis stumbles on the same information. While the world's leaders race to build "arks" to escape the impending cataclysm, Curtis struggles to find a way to save his family. Meanwhile, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes of unprecedented strength wreak havoc around the world.
28 Days Later (2002)
Quite possibly one of the best end of the world films of all-time. The plot depicts the breakdown of society following the accidental release of a highly contagious “rage” virus and focuses upon the struggle of four survivors to cope with the end of the life they once knew. Cillian Murphy is awesome as the confused Jim, who wakes from a coma to find everyone (or almost everyone) gone or dead. The way this movie was filmed, you feel like you’re right there next to Jim experiencing everything right along with him (which is NOT a good feeling when you’re sitting in a dark theater!).
Madmax (1979)
A vision of an apocalyptic future set in the wastelands of Australia. Total social decay is just around the corner in this spectacular cheap budget gang orientated road movie. Where the cops do their best to lay down the law and the outlaw gangs try their hardest to defy the system. Leather clad Max Rockatansky husband, father and cop turns judge, juror and executioner after his best friend, wife and baby are killed. Here we see the final days of normality of a man who had everything to live for, and his slip into the abyss of madness. Mad Max is the antihero on the road to vengeance and oblivion.
Terminator (1984)
Before Avatar, before Titanic, James Cameron wrote and directed this science fiction classic, Terminator. For those who don’t know the story, a cyborg (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is sent from the future on a deadly mission. He has to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), a young woman whose life will have a great significance in years to come. Sarah has only one protector – Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) - also sent from the future. The future of the human race depends on which one finds her first. When Terminator first came out, I was so taken with its premise that I had to see it at least 3 times. And 20 years later, the story still holds up!
Night of the Comet (1984)
One of the only end of the world movies that makes the end of the world fun for teenagers. It’s a cult classic, and mainly on our list for having a different take on the end of the world Two pretty high school girls (one a cheerleader!) don't like their mother or her new boyfriend ("Daddy would have gotten us Uzis!"). One morning, they wake up to find that everybody in Los Angeles has been turned to dust by a Comet except them, and a handsome cowboy guy, some zombies and the occupants of a secret underground government installation.
The day after tomorrow (2004)
As Paleoclimatologist named Jack Hall was in Antartica, he discovers that a huge ice sheet has been sheared off. But what he did not know is that this event would trigger a massive climate shift that would effect the world population. Meanwhile, his son, Sam was with friends in New York to attend an event. There they discover that it has been raining non-stop for the past 3 weeks, and after a series of weather related disasters that occurred over the world. Everybody soon realizes that the world is going to enter a new ice age, as the rest of the world population tries to evacuate to the warm climates of the south. Jack makes a daring attempt to rescue his son and his friends who are stuck in New York, who have to survive not only a massive wave, but freezing cold temperatures that could possibly kill them.
Independence Day (1996)
The movie that made Will Smith a SUPERSTAH! The ultimate encounter when mysterious and powerful aliens launch an all out invasion against the human race. The spectacle begins when massive spaceships appear in Earth’s skies. But wonder turns to terror as the ships blast destructive beams of fire down on cities all over the planet. Now the world’s only hope lies with a determined band of survivors, uniting for one last strike against the invaders – before it’s the end of mankind. Somehow Smith made fighting aliens look so easy and way cool!
Knowing (2009)
Nicholas Cage plays professor Ted Myles, who discovers a coded set of numbers in a time capsule dug up at his son's primary school. Ted works out that the code predicts the dates, death tolls and coordinates of every major disaster of the past fifty years. It includes the foretelling of three additional events, the last of which hints at destruction on a global scale. Ted's attempt to alert the authorities falls on deaf ears, so he takes it upon himself to try and prevent the disasters.
Deep Impact (1998)
Released the same year as similarly themed asteroid flick Armageddon, Deep Impact is a surprisingly sombre, brooding summer blockbuster. It takes a global view of the preceding, from Elijah Wood as the teenage astronomer who first discovers the comet, through Tea Leoni’s journalist blowing open the US government’s concealment of impending doom, to the NASA crew desperately trying to avert catastrophe.
When The Wind Blows (1986)
Nuclear war has been dealt with in all manor of way in cinema, but animated tale is arguably the saddest. Based on Raymond Briggs’ graphic novel, it centres on a naïve elderly couple who, when the bomb drops, follow the government’s survival advice to a tee. Of course, ‘duck and cover’ and make-shift shelters are no help in a nuclear winter and their unfaltering faith in The Powers That Be is absolutely heart-breaking.