ChristineCB

I have always loved a genre of films that I refer to as "End Of The World As We Know It".

ON THE BEACH with Gregory Peck, Fred Astaire, Ava Gardner...

DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS, both the 1960 film and the 1980's BBC TV mini series.

Vincent Price's earlier version THE LAST MAN ON EARTH, and Charlton Heston's later OMEGA MAN treatment.

Roger Corman's poor but hilarious THE LAST WOMAN ON EARTH. (Laughing at his films really helps the slow parts move along...)

THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE.

PANIC IN THE YEAR ZERO with Ray Milland & Family heading out of LA on a convenient family vacation that one particular morning...

NO BLADE OF GRASS (1971) directed by Cornel Wilde, I believe.

The recent 28 DAYS.

NIGHT OF THE COMET (a 1980's made for American TV show - fairly awful, but in keeping with this genre)

THE DAY AFTER with Jason Robards is almost always listed, but one of my least favorites.

SPECIAL BULLETIN, an American made-for-TV film that I prefer greatly, which mimics a CNN-style news cast as American nuke scientists hijack a bomb and plant it aboard a tugboat in Charleston, SC to hold the govt hostage. "Fun fun fun til Daddy blows the T-bird away..." Isn't that how that song goes?

I'm sure there are other entries. I'm amazed to learn about NO BLADE OF GRASS only in 2005 when it made a local film festival. And THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE, too, is a recent addition to my limited education. Just when I thought I knew all of these films... there's probably a lot more...

Any other titles that I can look for as I build this collection?

lostintown

This is one of my favourite genres as well, here are a few to keep you going.

Miracle Mile
Invasion of the Bodysnatchers
Threads
Any of the Romero Zombie films....

Have a look here for ideas http://www.imdb.com/keyword/end-of-the-world/

[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsup.gif[/img]

ChristineCB

Thanks for those. I hadn't thought of the hyphens in the "end of world" phrase on IMDB. Some other good ones in there. The LIVING DEAD films certainly fit the bill and I haven't grouped those into this obvious category.

INVAS OF BODY SNATCHERS is another one I often fail to recognize as belonging to this genre, but I think it does, even if the ending takes a happy turn.

I'll try to find these other two and add them, thanks.

lostintown

Does the ending take a happy turn?...... [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/eek.gif[/img]

Anyway, if you're interested in mini-series type romps there are a few British ones in there,

The Last Train

Changes

and Survivors (more a full epic) would also fit the bill.

I'm sure that there are many more that other (more knowledgable) boardmembers could help you out with.

dylan

Most of the films mentioned are about the end or transmutation of the human race. For the real thing there's George Pal's WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE (1951) and the up-coming remake.


D

DB7

Bruce Willis' Armageddon.
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy?
Deep Impact.
Day the Earth Stood Still. (Michael Rennie does threaten destruction of the planet)

JamesM

What about The Omega Man and Planet of the Apes both starring Charlton Heston?

And don't forget John Llwellyn Moxey's great venture into the genre with the made-for-television film Where Have All the People Gone? as well as Genesis II, a TV pilot.

Films dealing with the effects of nuclear war such as The War Game, Testament, Threads (British, TV made) and it's US counterpart, The Day After.

British films with this scenario include The Bedsitting Room, The Dark Enemy, Memoirs of a Survivor, Reign of Fire and 28 Days Later.

joegib

The Quiet Earth -- see here:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089869/

The "Mad Max" films

Pip

Hi - this is also my particular favourite genre. I've found the Empty World website very informative, it has lots of info on "end of the world" film, TV and book titles. Have a peek at http://www.emptyworld.info/index.html

Pip

djdave

This is a fantatsic film, with a very downbeat ending.

Try to get hold of the title song, No Blade Of Grass, (by Louis Nelius and Charles Carroll) which was performed by Roger Whittaker.

It's beautiful....wonderfully reflective and haunting. Years ago, my parents had it on a Whittaker collection on tape...BUT I've been unable to find a CD with it on.

p.s. it was directed by Cornel Wilde

penfold

I've always thought Soylent Green had a thoughtful approach to the subject...no aliens, no meteorites, just ecological disaster through overpopulation and a government unwilling or unable to admit the truth...and a superb, moving swansong for Edward G. Robinson, too.

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

djdave

Indeed. In fact, the final, euthenasia scene was the final scene that Robinson did. Charlton Heston is reported as having said that he found it incredibly moving.

And the final line of the film has to be one of the best in movie history...

ChristineCB

Within a few days of finding this forum, it went down for a while. Glad it's back. I've added QUIET EARTH (great first half, rather banal second half, which is often the case in this genre) and THE WAR GAME.

THE WAR GAME was surprising because I believe it had a lot of poor information ("use the kitchen table as a shield against nearby nuclear blasts").

I should rewatch IT HAPPENED HERE, which seemed a considerably better telling of a fantasy tale than WAR GAME's attempt to be a how-to-survive documentary.

I haven't located THREADS yet, but am still looking.

If you've never seen Roger Corman's LAST WOMAN ON EARTH, I don't think I can recommend it except it definitely upholds Corman's reputation for trashy awful films. Just not in a good way. The laughs mostly come from "I can't believe I've left it on this long!" because it just never gets better.

Steve Crook

That was deliberate because that's what the government civil defence booklets told people to do.

Steve

Freddy

Didn't they also tell you to whitewash the windows?
In the same mood as War Game is the animated film 'When the Wind Blows' by Raymond Briggs. This deals with an old couple's efforts to survive the bomb. The voices are Peggy Ashcroft and John Mills. The film was originally from the 'picture book' of the same name and RB has a great play on the words govern-mental instructions. It is very moving.

On a lighter note one of the voices in the film is David Dundas, the men on the forum will remember him as the singer of 'My Blue Jeans' which was the advert for Brutus Jeans in the late 70's.

When I wake up, in the morning light
I put on my jeans and I feel all right,
i pull my blue jeans on,
I pull my old blue jeans on.

regards

Freddy