10 Movie Dystopias That Should've Happened By Now

Released in 1987, The Running Man predicted that the global economy would collapse in 2017, turning America into a police state where art, music and communications are censored. TV is controlled by the state and a sadistic show called The Running Man, where criminals are hunted and killed by high-tech gladiators, is the most popular program in history.

The ringleader of this circus is Damon Killian, an Angry White Guy who’s first seen boasting about his ratings. He later tells the Justice Department to go !*$% themselves, fires the janitor who bumped into him in the corridor and tells his makeup artist, “Don’t touch THE HAIR!” So he’s an !*$%, but a powerful !*$%, and he’s tired of always being #1. He thinks the show needs fresh blood.

Enter Ben Richards, who you know is the hero because he’s played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Sure enough, when Richards spots a food riot in progress and is told to proceed with “Plan Alpha”, he refuses to open fire on 15,000 civilians which annoys his co-workers something fierce. For refusing to engage in mindless slaughter, they beat the crap out of him. Then they probably went ahead and did it anyway, we’re not sure.