8. On the Beach (1959)
Seriously gloomy post-apocalyptic drama, based on the novel by Neville Shute, and set in a then futuristic 1964 Australia where the nuclear holocaust has not directly blasted but whose inhabitants must ready themselves for death by radiation sickness (due to incoming fallout). The government are issuing suicide pills and injections so its citizens can avoid a long drawn out death. Some people try to live out their last days doing exactly what they want - for some it is something as simple as fishing, for others it is staging a Grand Prix. But eventually they must all capitulate to their eventual fate. Like so many of these films, a relic of the Cold War era but it still retains the capacity to chill and sadden. A teardrop may fall from your eye. What is happening on screen may stretch the limits of your toleration worse than any gory horror film because it is such a terrible scenario, and one that could potentially happen - more so than Freddy Kruger cackling away in your dreams. Utterly heart wrenching.