Scariest Apocalypse/Nuclear War Movie

[Scribbled_Notz]

The Day After was on last night. Still seems to be just as scary today as it was when I first saw it in the theater. So it got me thinking...what are the scariest "world ends" movies that you've ever seen?

Aside from The Day After, I think Dawn of the Dead and 28 Days Later are pretty great, too.

 

[BYH]

Wasn't The Day After a TV movie?

I didn't even see it and it freaked me out for weeks. Of course, I was 10.

There was a pretty good world ending movie starring Anthony Edwards in the late '80s. I think it was called "Miracle Mile." It scared me because *SPOILER* it ended with the world actually ending.

"Night of the Comet" always scared the hell out of me too.

 

[alleyallen]

Don't know if anyone ever saw it, but The Children's Hour, while not an apocalypse movie, was an after-the-fact thing when the communists took over America. Very frightening from a different perspective.

 

[DyePack]

"Threads" made "The Day After" look like The Muppet Movie.

 

[Scribbled_Notz]

Wasn't The Day After a TV movie?

I didn't even see it and it freaked me out for weeks. Of course, I was 10.

There was a pretty good world ending movie starring Anthony Edwards in the late '80s. I think it was called "Miracle Mile." It scared me because *SPOILER* it ended with the world actually ending.

"Night of the Comet" always scared the hell out of me too.

It was a TV movie in the states and the UK, and presented in some theaters outside the states. I actually think it was in some theaters in the UK, too. I saw it in a theater in Toronto. A lot of people walked out very disturbed.

 

[BYH]

No mentions of Red Dawn yet? WTF?

 

[leo1]

No mentions of Red Dawn yet? WTF?

hey, we won that war!

 

[BYH]

No mentions of Red Dawn yet? WTF?

hey, we won that war!

Thank God for those eight kids! Well, except for the ****head who turned on us and was murdered by Ponyboy.

I love Red Dawn, but holy smokes, that was a poor motion picture.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

The Day After was on last night. Still seems to be just as scary today as it was when I first saw it in the theater. So it got me thinking...what are the scariest "world ends" movies that you've ever seen?

Aside from The Day After, I think Dawn of the Dead and 28 Days Later are pretty great, too.

Aren't those all zombie movies?

 

[Boom_70]

Dr Stranglove

 

[Huggy]

Escape From New York

 

[Columbo]

The Day After was on last night. Still seems to be just as scary today as it was when I first saw it in the theater. So it got me thinking...what are the scariest "world ends" movies that you've ever seen?

Aside from The Day After, I think Dawn of the Dead and 28 Days Later are pretty great, too.

Aren't those all zombie movies?

28 Days Later isn't.

 

[Perry White]

Don't know if anyone ever saw it, but The Children's Hour, while not an apocalypse movie, was an after-the-fact thing when the communists took over America. Very frightening from a different perspective.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054743/
"A troublemaking student at a girl's school accuses two teachers of being lesbians" ???

 

[lone star scribe]

The classic in this genre was the 1959 release "On the Beach," from the novel of the same name by Nevil Shute. Stanley Kramer directed, starring Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner. At the height of the Cold War, its anti-war message was so resounding that the Dept. of Defense and U.S. Navy refused to cooperate in its filming, and a British Royal Navy sub was used for interior scenes. Fred Astaire made his dramatic debut in a supporting role, and Anthony Perkins (later of Psycho) has a haunting role here as well. And, yes, the world ends.

 

[Just_An_SID]

No mentions of Red Dawn yet? WTF?

"Wolverines!!!!!"

 

[Bubba Fett]

No mentions of Red Dawn yet? WTF?

hey, we won that war!

Thank God for those eight kids! Well, except for the ****head who turned on us and was murdered by Ponyboy.

I love Red Dawn, but holy smokes, that was a poor motion picture.

Hey, the kid's father turned him in.

 

[Smallpotatoes]

I remember one critic pointed out how strange it was how in movies like Mad Max after a nuclear holocaust, there were shortages of everything, but there always seemed to be plenty of bullets.
I always got a kick out of that observation.

 

[Freelance Hack]

Personal favorite of this genre will always be Fail-Safe. Great cast. Great, riveting drama. Aside from his comedic work, it's Walter Mattahu's best role.

I've never seen Testament, but I've heard that is pretty good, too.

If you want to see something truly dark and disturbing, I'd suggest The War Game. It was a BBC pseudo-documentary that was supposed to air on the anniversary of the Hiroshima boming in the mid 60s. After a couple theatre screenings, in which audiences left horrified, the BBC decided not to air it for nearly 20 years.

You can find The War Game in five parts on You Tube. If you're interested in the genre, you should watch.

 

[outofplace]

I remember one critic pointed out how strange it was how in movies like Mad Max after a nuclear holocaust, there were shortages of everything, but there always seemed to be plenty of bullets.
I always got a kick out of that observation.

Except in Mad Max, there weren't plenty of bullets and they used a lot of alternative weapons. They actually handled that particular issue fairly well in Mad Max.

 

[outofplace]

The Day After was on last night. Still seems to be just as scary today as it was when I first saw it in the theater. So it got me thinking...what are the scariest "world ends" movies that you've ever seen?

Aside from The Day After, I think Dawn of the Dead and 28 Days Later are pretty great, too.

I always wonder if some people walked out of the Dawn of the Dead remake as soon as the credits started and never realized there was more to the movie. Anybody here do that?