The 10 Best Apocalyptic Movies

With both director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland returning to the infected fold, continuing the 28 Days Later franchise they launched over 20 years ago with 28 Years Later, we’re exploring the greatest apocalypse films of all time.

Or post-apocalypse films. Or, you know, just movies where civilization is either teetering on the edge, crumbling before our eyes, or already gone. No matter what stage of collapse you’re craving, we’ve got you covered.

The only real rule here is that the world must end in a truly meaningful, devastating way. No half-measures like “the Empire State Building got blown up!” or “an asteroid chunk wiped out France!” We’re talking about nature having the final say. Humanity is, for all practical purposes, eradicated. No near-misses allowed. So long, ID4 and Armageddon—and all those big-budget disaster flicks. Aim higher. By that, we mean go deeper. More cataclysmic.

You’ll find every kind of world-ending threat here: zombies, plagues, Lovecraftian horrors, and the classic nuclear annihilation. Let directors like John Carpenter, Stanley Kubrick, George Miller, Alfonso Cuarón, and others guide you through our deepest fears. You know, for fun!