10 Dark Films For Dark Times

Keep America Great - re-elect Greg Stillson.

The Purge Election Year
Universal Pictures

If the 1950s gave moviegoers a sense that not everything was as it should be in the post-war world, then the 70s equipped them with visions of how their world might end.

Spurred on by the nuclear threat, Watergate and the oil crisis, movies like Beneath The Planet Of The Apes and A Boy And His Dog showed how civilization might fare in the wake of The Big One, and there were good reasons to be afraid. The fear never went away but learned to adapt to changing times, producing films that addressed terrorism, economic ruin and the threat of disease.

George Romero’s Living Dead series is unique for being the only franchise to comment upon several different eras, from Night Of The Living Dead’s apocalyptic vision to Dawn Of The Dead’s satire of consumerism. Even later films like Land Of The Dead contain a pointed (if unsubtle) message about social inequality.

Here are ten films that reflect the powerless and hopelessness of little people stuck in a system they didn’t create, have no control over and will eventually see tear itself apart. They’re playing somewhere near you.

10. The Intruder

The Purge Election Year
Pathe

Set in a fictional Southern town in the early 1960s, The Intruder tells the story of Adam Kramer (William Shatner) who proceeds to incite the white townspeople to violence in order to resist the recent court ordered desegregation of schools.

Like most demagogues, it’s difficult to know for certain if Kramer actually believes his own spiel, if he just enjoys putting on an act for an audience he knows will listen or if he really believes in nothing and wants power regardless of the cost. His supporters believe him, though, and it’s not long before the situation spirals out of control.

“You’ve got no room in your head for intelligence,” a character tells him. “If you were intelligent, you would see you’ve started something you can’t control. You think you’re the boss now? Wake up, boy, that mob is the boss.”

Contributor

Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'