The best post-apocalyptic movies of the past 20 years

After a year of dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, people are hoping things don’t get worse. With vaccines being distributed now, scientists and government leaders are counting on the situation to improve.
Filmmakers have toyed with pandemics in movies imagining post-apocalyptic scenarios. They’ve created worlds ravaged by disease, wars, zombies, aliens and other dire situations. Let’s hope the real world doesn’t imitate art.
What follows is a list of the best live-action post-apocalyptic themed movies from the last 20 years.

Best post-apocalyptic movies of the past 20 years

* based on percentage of positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and only those with a “critics consensus”

1. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), 97%
2. A Quiet Place (2018), 96%
3. The Survivalist (2017), 96%
4. Snowpiercer (2014), 94%
5. War for the Planet of the Apes (2017), 94%
6. Love and Monsters (2020), 92%
7. I Am Mother (2019), 91%
8. Turbo Kid (2015), 91%
9. Blood Quantum (2019), 90%
10. 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016), 90%
11. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014), 90%
12. Zombieland (2009), 89%
13. Cargo (2018), 88%
14. It Comes At Night (2017), 87%
15. Ravenous, aka Les Affames (2018), 87%
16. The Girl with All the Gifts (2017), 86%
17. The Night Eats the World (2018), 86%
18. This Is the End (2013), 83%
19. Light of My Life (2019), 81%
20. Warm Bodies (2013), 81%
21. Ever After, aka Endzeit (2019), 80%
22. Z for Zachariah (2015), 79%
23. Anna and the Apocalypse (2018), 77%
24. Into the Forest (2016), 76%
25. Dawn of the Dead (2004), 75%
26. War of the Worlds (2005), 75%

Bonus movies

These post-apocalyptic movies have been well-reviewed but don’t have enough reviews to merit a “critics consensus” on Rotten Tomatoes.

Diverge (2016), 100%
The Domestics (2018), 100%
The Last Days, aka Los Ultimos Dias (2014), 91%
Riot Girls (2019), 90%
What Still Remains (2018), 90%
Embers (2016), 83%
The Battery (2016), 80%
The Last Survivors, aka The Well (2014), 75%