Without a doubt one of the strangest motion pictures ever made, Stalker - arguably Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky's masterpiece (and he made a lot of those) - takes place at an unspecified point in a devastated future, where the remaining dregs of society live in a depressing Eastern bloc nightmare which borders a dangerous and supernatural place called "The Zone," made off-limits by the government for reasons that aren't stated. The plot concerns three men - a scientist, a writer and their guide - as they traverse said Zone, a mysterious, menacing and spiritual place where it is rumoured that a person's innermost desires shall be granted. Whilst much of the film is concerned with the interactions between the men as they make their ill-fated journey into the unknown (they talk a lot of philosophy), Stalker is also bent on creating a truly uneasy atmosphere of the post-apocalyptic kind: the feeling of dread builds and builds, and in the end you're left with a sinister apocalyptic vision like no other. Like this article? What do you make of all these post-apocalyptic movies? Got any to add to the list that we've missed? Let us know all your thoughts in the comments section below.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
