Best Post-Apocalyptic Horror Movies

Key Takeaways

• Doomsday and post-apocalyptic cinema explore dark themes that play on an audience’s fears.
• Story twists and surprises keep viewers on their toes.
• Psychological horror centered on survival can often be the scariest watch.

Nothing quite taps into a viewer’s deepest, darkest fears like horror films and post-apocalyptic movies can provide some of the most chilling narratives, centering around crumbling societies and exploring the fragility of humanity.

From flesh-eating zombies to killer pathogens, doomsday cinema navigates the darkest corners of a world in ruins where survival becomes do or die, and sometimes like in life, the protagonist not only has themselves to worry about.

Ranging from big-budget studio cinema to low-cost, independent productions, thinking outside the box has helped propel the genre forward over the years and keep it fresh in the audience’s minds. Sometimes, the most unlikely idea can be the scariest.

9 Screamers (1995)

War Never Changes

• Director: Christian Duguay
• Run Time: 1hr 48min
• Release Date: October 19, 1995

In the world of cinema, the audience isn’t just limited to Earth as a story location, and conflict is a frequently used plot device. Set on a planet in the midst of war, robots (Screamers) built for combat gain sentience and turn on their creators.

The plot of Screamers isn’t a new one, with technology damaging the society that built it. However, artificial intelligence usually does this when the world is rosy and perfect – at least on the surface. This movie utilizes destruction to pile on more destruction.

8 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)

Not What You Think

• Director: Dan Trachtenberg
• Run Time: 1hr 43min
• Release Date: March 8, 2016

Viewers familiar with its 2008 predecessor and the found footage-type POV may have expected the same elements in this ‘spiritual sequel,’ but 10 Cloverfield Lane flips the narrative and what fans thought they knew of what was to come.

Starting pre-attack, the way the movie progresses creates a completely different type of horror than first thought before really zeroing in on the post-apocalyptic aspects. Waking up as the main protagonist does is enough to put enough fear into the audience, but what comes later securely places the film in several horror genres.

7 It Comes At Night (2017)

Follow The Rules

• Director: Trey Edward Shults
• Run Time: 1hr 31min
• Release Date: April 29, 2017

Not seen in many of the post-apocalyptic films on this list, It Comes at Night utilizes a more psychological form of horror to portray the difficulty people face when left alone at the end of the world, not only with the physical essentials but also mentally.

The film does not focus on society’s larger devastation but on what happens when two families collide while trying to survive. The plot is ultimately about trust and humanity’s very real desperation to endure. With certain inspirations taken from The Shining, psychological horrors can sometimes be the most unsettling.

6 I Am Legend (2007)

Does The Dog Die

• Director: Francis Lawrence
• Run Time: 1hr 41min
• Release Date: December 11, 2007

Story alone, I Am Legend, is scary in its own right. The idea of a plague born from scientific experimentation to fix another disease is terrifying in today’s world just as much as it was in 2007.

However, many viewers might fear more than the terrible future main character Robert Neville lives in and that fear is the very reason that spoiler websites like ‘Does The Dog Die’ exist. Horror seekers may want to skip this tense watch if their main concern is that of the animal sidekick.

5 The Girl With All The Gifts (2016)

Children Are The Future

• Director: Colm McCarthy
• Run Time: 1hr 51min
• Release Date: September 23, 2016

Demon children, possessed children, and simply just ‘creepy’ children are all common tropes of the horror genre. Children are innocent and often helpless, and so a lesser-used theme is that of a zombie child. Only a few movies and TV shows feature an undead character in the form of a child, and many of these are cartoons or even targeted at children themselves.

This movie flips what we know of zombies and creates a future that has the potential to be rebuilt if future generations share one very specific characteristic.

4 The Last Man On Earth (1964)

Starring Horror Royalty

• Director: Ubaldo Ragona, Sidney Salkow
• Run Time: 1hr 26min
• Release Date: May 6, 1964

Based on the 1954 novel I Am Legend, Vincent Price plays a thoughtful and tragic main character whose isolation keeps him safe after humanity’s downfall due to a ‘vampire plague’. One of three adaptations of the book to choose from, The Last Man on Earth is the first and the closest to the source material. Featuring a somewhat Van Helsing-type protagonist, the movie’s low budget could be seen as detrimental to the quality. Still, viewers may also appreciate the classic horror movie style it gives.

Price acted in over 200 movies and TV shows. He is famous for his distinctive voice and penchant for the horror genre. When watching his performances, the audience feels as though they are witnessing a master at work.

3 Bird Box (2018)

See No Evil

• Director: Susanne Bier
• Run Time: 2hr 4min
• Release Date: November 12, 2018

For some, the loss of a heavily relied-on sense is hard enough, but being thrown into a horror-filled future with no routine, no guidance, and where removing a blindfold could be the end of you or those you love, that is cinematic gold. Lack of control is a fear shared among many for obvious reasons, and being the cause of hurt to those around you or even yourself is a theme drenched in horror.

Flashbacks are a useful way to increase intrigue in the plot, but sometimes, this does mean sacrificing good story beats. What Bird Box does very well is make up for this by giving the protagonist almost impossible obstacles while caring for those unable to care for themselves.

2 28 Days Later (2002)

Redefining A Genre

• Director: Danny Boyle
• Run Time: 1hr 53min
• Release Date: November 1, 2002

Kicking off two sequels, the latter being released in 2025, 28 Days Later is on many horror and zombie movie lists despite its director not considering it a zombie film. The story of Jim waking up from a coma to a post-apocalyptic world is very reminiscent of The Walking Dead and the fast-paced narrative is only matched by the fast-paced threat.

The audience is able to learn about the downfall of society as Jim does, connecting them to his character in a way that is harder to do with a large cast of survivors and the full-circle story arc keeps viewers wanting more.

1 A Quiet Place (2018)

Sound Of Silence

• Director: John Krasinski
• Run Time: 1hr 30min
• Release Date: April 2, 2018

A constant need to be silent is an extremely difficult, if not somewhat impossible, hurdle to face when living in an endlessly noisy world. An audience member can not help but ask, ‘How would I fair?’ in the same scenario and the experience of watching in silence can be just as difficult of a task to complete.

Throwing the viewer into a world that has already been destroyed, showing the isolation and devastation months into the story, is sometimes preferable to skipping forward in time. The audience meets the characters in an established routine, and it doesn’t feel as though moments are skipped purely to race ahead to the ‘real story’. The family in A Quiet Place suffers everyday injuries and tragic bereavements that in real life are expressed in an array of vocal ways, meaning their need to remain silent is another devastating loss. To ‘suffer in silence’ is a very common phrase for a reason.