10 More Apocalypse Horrors That Broke All The Rules
Not your average end-of-the-world movies.
Horror movies often reflect humanity's fears at their most terrifyingly exaggerated, and honestly, what do we collectively fear more than the end of the world?
The prospect of humanity being brought to its knees by something - whether an outside invader, a naturally occurring creature on Earth, or even ourselves - is about as scary as it gets.
After all, without the continuity of the human race, what is there? Where us selfish humans are concerned, at least, not a lot.
And so, while we've seen many hundreds of apocalyptic horror flicks over the years, whether dealing with zombies or giant monsters, it's fair to say that most don't deviate much from the tried-and-tested genre formula.
But following up our previous article on the subject, every so often an end-times horror comes along which dares to toss out the tropes of the apocalypse movie and do something totally different.
These films all stood apart through their unique approaches to the end of the world, the provocative questions they asked of the audience, and how impressively they subverted expectations of the genre.
Simply, if you're craving an apocalyptic film keen to operate firmly outside the box, look no further than this lot...
10. Miracle Mile
Miracle Mile is one of the most chilling apocalyptic films ever made, making the absolute most of its deliciously provocative premise, where a man (Anthony Edwards) answers a payphone and is told that nuclear war will break out in less than 70 minutes.
Is it a prank or the truth? Such is the anxious tension of Steve De Jarnatt's tightly wound thriller which, per the utter madness with which society soon breaks down into, is absolutely a horror film about the abject frailty of social order.
Beyond the unique ambiguity of its setup, though, Miracle Mile is also further distinguished by unfolding largely in real-time and being, in spite of its horrific premise, a deeply romantic film as protagonist Harry fights to survive with his new love Julie (Mare Winningham).
This is an apocalyptic film where basically everything feels off - it disarmingly starts like a corny rom-com, is backed by a discordant Tangerine Dream score, touts an increasingly nightmarish aesthetic leading to a climax that, without spoiling it, is simply unforgettable.
Miracle Mile saw the typical end-of-the-world movies Hollywood was putting out at the time and decided to do something completely, brilliantly different.