10 Post-Apocalyptic Films That Prove Mankind Is Doomed

T.S. Eliot had it wrong, the world ends with a bang and a whimper.

It€™s a theme as old as Mankind. Whether it€™s the Bible€™s Book of Revelation foretelling the Four Horsemen crushing the Earth under hoof or the Y2K bug playing Snake with our nuclear bunkers; we€™ve got it all covered - plagues, ecological disasters, nuclear war, alien invasions, asteroids. You might say we€™re somewhat obsessed with our own ends. In the last century, when the threat of nuclear war looked like a real possibility, there was a surge in popular science fiction that looked at the implications of such a catastrophe, asking €˜what happens to humanity when the finally dust settles?€™ This is an intriguing notion, especially when you consider the word €˜Apocalypse€™ means €˜to uncover or reveal.€™ It goes someway to explain why our culture often looks to its grim finale to depict our contemporary troubles and social ills. There€™s something ultimately positive about watching these films, the disturbing sense of dread is countered by the fact that we€™re still here, maybe we still have time and we don€™t have to go running for our underground citadels just yet. All that and the train in Snowpiercer looks cool. We€™ve tried to avoid the easy choices; Kevin Costner€™s big budget flopsam (The Postman) and jetsam (Waterworld) and the overly well known (Matrix, Hunger Games, Mad Max). Think on this as a selection of films that fill us with that 'ye olde biblical dread' when the credits finally roll.
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Jack Lantern is a film reviewer at WhatCulture based in London. His work has been published in Culture Trip, Off/Black and Vice Magazine.