10 Best Apocalypse Movies
9. 28 Days Later (2002)
Waking up in an empty version of your hometown without any idea of how the place got into the state it has done is undoubtedly a pretty horrible way to start life in the apocalypse, but it makes for a perfect start to 28 Days Later as a bewildered Cillian Murphy picks his way through the piles of rubbish in London.
This is a bleak vision of an post-apocalyptic world irrecoverably changed, just as resonant now as it was at the turn of the century. Sure, its message about humanity's over-exposure to violence is executed a bit heavy-handed and the "rage" virus might be a little bit on the nose, but there's still a lot to love about 28 Days Later.
Danny Boyle presents an over-saturated montage of a film that panics and disorientates us in moments of horror and action at points, before languishing in moments of surprising freedom in "safe" spaces at others. Moments of support and hope between characters are genuinely touching and key to maintaining the melancholic mood.
Watching Jim (Murphy) move from aimless wanderer, to depressive figure, to an animalistic mirror of the infected humans and ultimately finding his freedom might be a tough watch, but it remains a cathartic and moving one.