Post-Apocalyptic Movies on VHS

Silent Running (1972)

Silent Running is an ecologically-minded film that stands out today as one of the truly great pillars of the science fiction genre. The story takes place in a future where all flora is becoming extinct on Earth. A crew of four watches over a space freighter called ‘Valley Forge’ as it floats through the galaxy. What may be the last of Earth’s precious plants and forests are kept in greenhouse domes aboard the spacecraft.

Inexplicably, the crew’s superiors give the order to destroy all of the domes on board and return the freighter to commercial service. One of the crew members makes the decision to disobey the order and protect one of the domes from being scuttled. The film addresses themes of capitalism, isolation, alienation, lost causes, and the inevitable future of mankind.

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A Boy and His Dog (1975)

The year is 2024. A horny young man and his telepathic dog wander a post-apocalyptic wasteland and encounter a weird substrata of people who are trying desperately to hold on to the idea of ‘Kansas’. Their only way of coping is to use their own moral superiority as a defense against the hostile bleakness outside their bunker. One of the best science fiction films of the decade, A Boy and His Dog is a film of humorous wit and intelligence with moments of pure visual beauty and chaos.

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Robot Jox (1990)

Fifty years after a nuclear holocaust, the western-influenced Market and the Russian-influenced Confederation have agreed to settle territorial disputes with gladiator-style matches between giant robots. These robots are operated by pilots called ‘robot jox’ and have all the latest weaponry. Both pilots are massive assholes and the one who’s supposedly the good guy blows up a hundred civilians in the first fifteen minutes.

Regardless, the movie features some excellent pre-Pacific Rim ‘mech battles that look great and propel the plot, all with some thrilling special effects. The story is fun, even though at times could be mistaken for a computer game FMV cutscene like something from “Command & Conquer.”

Mad Max (1979)

In a lawless world where only the most heavily-armed and ruthless survive, a vengeful Australian policeman sets out to stop a violent motorcycle gang. This is the quintessential post-apocalyptic film and solidified Mel Gibson as a household name in the 80s. There’s a good reason why post-apocalyptic exploitation films were so numerous after this movie was released (and not just because they were probably fairly inexpensive to make).

At the time, especially with the oil embargo of the mid 70s, fears of a world where fuel was scarce and governments had crumbled were not unfounded. All someone had to do was read a newspaper or turn on the TV. Mad Max is critical look at the current events of the era and takes them to the extreme. It is speculative fiction in the way that all great science fiction makes a measured prediction.

Mindwarp (1991)

Stupidity, chaos, cruelty, pain. Reality, a failure worse than any nightmare. There was no fixing it. Nothing to be done, except… escape. In the year 2037, Judy rejects the AI-ruled utopia where she and her fellow citizens live in happy virtual reality simulations of their choosing. She is exiled to a post-nuclear wasteland where she meets a drifter called Stover (Bruce Campbell). This film has a great combination of high tech dystopia and rugged Mad Max-style post-apocalyptic depravity. Fun fact: The same VR pods that were used in Mindwarp were used in Roger Corman’s Dead Space (also 1991).

Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Zombie apocalypses count as post-apocalyptic movies too! The end of the world comes in many forms. Following a pandemic of zombies that have risen from the dead and infected the majority of the population, a ragtag group of survivors seeks refuge in an abandoned shopping mall. As usual with Romero’s zombie flicks, and many others, the zombies are only part of the problem. Not all of the survivors are united for the same cause. Underneath the horror elements, this film is a sobering condemnation of the rampant consumerism and consumption that would drive the following decade.

Warlords of the 21st Century/Battletruck (1982)
   

This is a gritty post-WWIII futuristic take on the Mad Max formula that hails from New Zealand. In a time of collapsed governments & bankrupt countries, a new lawless age begins. One man, Hunter, is prepared to stand up to the evil scourge of roving marauders. Hunter vows to protect a woman named Corlie who is on the run from a local warlord and his ‘battletruck’. Our hero has a kick-ass motorbike, scavenged equipment, and the element of surprise on his side.

Hardware (1990)

In the future, the world’s oceans have dried up as a result of thermonuclear war. A space marine named Moses buys the robotic head of a ‘T-800’-lookalike cyborg from a desert scavenger as a present for his girlfriend Jill, who is a sculptor. The derelict head reactivates, rebuilds itself, and goes on a violent rampage in Jill’s apartment as she becomes its primary target.

Night of the Comet (1984)

A comet wipes out most of life on Earth, leaving two surviving valley girls to fight against flesh-eating zombies as well as a sinister group of scientists. This is a surprisingly funny and fresh 80s movie with great atmosphere and some haunting imagery. Night of the Comet was written and directed by Thom Eberhardt, who also wrote and directed the highly atmospheric horror movie Sole Survivor (1982). You can read more about that film on my Top 10 Horror Movies on VHS list.

Runner up:

The Quiet Earth (1985)

One morning, scientist Zac Hobson wakes up and discovers he is the only person in the world. After wandering around, he finds out that, in the spirit of The Omega Man, he actually isn’t the only person in the world; there’s a couple other survivors roaming around. Eventually he locates two other people and they start to realize the reason they still exist.

This is in a very similar vein as Last Woman on Earth (1960) and The World, The Flesh and The Devil (1959), two films that failed to achieve any form of greatness but remain interesting as curiosities. If you’ve seen the comedy show The Last Man on Earth with Will Forte, The Quiet Earth is a lot like that but not funny at all.

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