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Post-Apocalypse Movies

Blinko_Glick said:
I love PA movies - there's a fascinating romantic yearning to be a survivor, maybe the last person left alive.
When I was a kid, I used to have detailed day-dreams about how I would build my town from the ground up when something came and killed all the adults - it partly tied in with my then-obsession with mediaeval stuff - motte and bailey castles, wars, whatever.
 
gyrtrash said:
I read 'The Death of Grass' when I was 12 and loved it :?
John Christopher's 'Tripods' trilogy was another PA favourite of mine back then too... I recently ordered the two series that the BBC made of the books, as a bit of a nostalgic treat! :D

Another great end of the world novel from around the same time is John Brunner's The Sheep Look Up, about what happens when pollution becomes an irreversible catastrophe. Very grim, though.
 
I would just like to point out at this point that although the movie is complete, unmitigated shit, The Postman is actually a very good book. Go out and buy it if you have the spare cash.
 
Re. Ridley Walker
Has anyone ever read Riddley Walker? (slightly O/T, as it's a book rather than a film, but whatevs).

I haven't read the book, but I do have a tape of the radio play from years' ago. It's a wonderful production. I'm currently 'archiving' my old tape collection into mp3, but it's a long, long, long job.


My favorite post-apocalypse movie is '28 days later'
 
misterwibble said:
I would just like to point out at this point that although the movie is complete, unmitigated shit, The Postman is actually a very good book. Go out and buy it if you have the spare cash.

Indeed. Theres a lot in the book which the movie doesn't even touch on. David Brin has written some really great SF books, especially the Uplift Wars series. Also Earth; Heart of the Comet.
http://www.davidbrin.com/
 
Two downbeat (though no less powerful for all that) novels which occur to me in this genre are "Earth Abides" and "Day of the Triffids". Both deal with the humdrum day-to-day problems of a world where most of the people have more or less disappeared overnigh, and neither of them rely on some silly Deus ex machina to make things end on a happy note, which has to be commended.
 
bazizmaduno said:
Re. Ridley Walker
Has anyone ever read Riddley Walker? (slightly O/T, as it's a book rather than a film, but whatevs).

I haven't read the book, but I do have a tape of the radio play from years' ago. It's a wonderful production. I'm currently 'archiving' my old tape collection into mp3, but it's a long, long, long job.

'
If you do manage to archive it, is there any chance you can put that play on the internet? Please ignore if request is in some way illegal. I'd love to hear that.
 
Anyone remember mid-70s, post-apocalyptic-style kids' TV show 'The Changes'? I'm sure it traumatised me in some way, like many 70s BBC programmes in a similar vein.
 
Dr_Baltar said:
Anyone remember mid-70s, post-apocalyptic-style kids' TV show 'The Changes'? I'm sure it traumatised me in some way, like many 70s BBC programmes in a similar vein.

I'm a bit young to remember it, but it is well thought of and seems to have scared a lot of people at the time. I think it was a book, too. Don't think it's been seen since the 1970s, though.
 
misterwibble said:
And let's not forget On The Beach.

There was a new version made for TV a few years ago. Unremitting, they didn't give it a happy ending.
 
ramonmercado said:
misterwibble said:
And let's not forget On The Beach.

There was a new version made for TV a few years ago. Unremitting, they didn't give it a happy ending.

There is no way to give that story a happy ending, although the 1959 film version toned down the final grimness somewhat.
 
I saw Soylent Green last night for the first time in years. Still as powerful as ever. I had forgotten about the church full of sick and sleeping people. Also, the "Scoopers" were more impressive than I remembered. Nothing low budget about that crowd scene or protesting people being scooped up in "buckets" attach to dumper trucks.

quorn is people!
 
It's surprisingly good for a movie that's become reduced to a punchline, isn't it? Edward G. Robinson in his suicide room is really moving, and it has a great title sequence (referenced in this year's Brit cult movie Moon).
 
gncxx said:
It's surprisingly good for a movie that's become reduced to a punchline, isn't it? Edward G. Robinson in his suicide room is really moving, and it has a great title sequence (referenced in this year's Brit cult movie Moon).

Yes! Its actually better than I remembered.It was Edgar Gs last film, he died shortly after SG was completed. It makes his performance in the suicide room even more poignant.
 
His performance is even more remarkable when you know he was completely deaf when he did it. The man's a legend (and Cheston was pretty good in this himself).
 
Z for Zachariah was aired on the BBC in 1984, that sticks in my mind. The Last Train was another TV stab at PA. I Am Legend (although the book is about a million times better than the bile inducing Will Smith film).
 
Survivors, the BBC series of the 70s and last years remake is sort of post apocalypse, except that it's a virus that brings down the world rather than wars...

Soylent Green (Make Room! Make Room!) isn't really post-apocalypse, it's a society breaking down from overpopulation and pollution, it's pre-apocalypse. The apocalypse would come where the struggle for space and resources turned to open warfare.
 
redbone said:
I Am Legend (although the book is about a million times better than the bile inducing Will Smith film).

This was also filmed as The Last Man on Earth with Vincent Price and The Omega Man with Cheston, both not bad in their way, but not really true to Richard Matheson's classic novel.
 
I heard Matheson interviewed when BBC 7 were playing the audio version of the book, and he didn't seem to like any of the film versions.
 
Anyone seen this one, French I think, (post pub post apocalyptic viewing, many years ago) opens with a woman driving an old Rover that talks and is very high tech inside, through a bleak landscape, then something violent happens which I cant remember. Fell asleep then I think, and can never find any reference to it except for one defunct link years ago. Any ideas
 
The Last Train was another TV stab at PA.

I rather liked that, for it's faults, there's nothing like a bit of crucifiction to liven up a PA movie... in fact i'm sure one of the characters does the 'i can see your house from here' joke :shock:

Delicatessen has to be my personal favourite, and the only PA movie i have on DVD. Simultaneously hilarious, shocking, tragic and oddly moral as well. This is a job for The Australian.
 
oldrover said:
Anyone seen this one, French I think, (post pub post apocalyptic viewing, many years ago) opens with a woman driving an old Rover that talks and is very high tech inside, through a bleak landscape, then something violent happens which I cant remember. Fell asleep then I think, and can never find any reference to it except for one defunct link years ago. Any ideas

German, rather than French, but could it be Until the End of the World Wim Wenders 1991.

Civilization gets zapped by a falling nuclear powered satellite.

Quite a good sound-track, but a bit confused narrative wise possibly due to being severely hacked around in the editing....
 
Timble2 you are spot on, you have no idea how much that has been bugging me. Thank you very much.
 
The Italians made loads of these in the late 70's/early 80's to cash-in on the success of Mad Max. The Bronx Warriors was among the more well known, and now the The Bronx Warriors trilogy has been released on DVD in the UK:

http://www.chrisandphilpresent.co.uk/?p=1278

The only other mention on this board of the original (from Inglorious Bastards director Enzo G.Castellari) is in the "worst movie EVER" thread, lol. :evil:

This set appears to be an HMV-only release.
 
I've seen the first two Bronx Warriors movies and well, they don't skimp on the action, do they? They don't seem to have put as much thought into logic as they have blowing people up, mind you. The second one in particular makes Rambo: First Blood Part II look like Howard's End as far as the body count goes.
 
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