One of my contributions to the internet has been chronicling notable movies set in a post-apocalyptic world. And it’s not easy.
For starters, most lists of post-apocalyptic movies mix in movies about dystopian futures. And many lists add in movies that take place before or during apocalyptic events. I’ve tried to keep a clean list of movies showing people living a hardscrabble existence after apocalyptic events.
Another issue is dealing with the scores of low-budget, poorly made post-apocalyptic movies that have flooded the market, especially in recent years. You can see many of these flicks in the pay-per-view marketplace on Amazon Prime Video.
To date, I have documented 297 such crummy post-apocalyptic movies on Amazon, including 33 new titles listed below. These movies are not significant enough or good enough to put on my main list of notable post-apocalyptic movies.
But wait! There are other lesser post-apocalyptic movies to be found on Letterboxd. I’ve included 42 titles from Letterboxd below. Together with the Amazon titles, that’s 339 movies in the genre that aren’t significant enough for my main list.
By comparison, my list of notable post-apocalyptic movies has about 240 titles.
Latest lesser post-apocalyptic movies on Amazon Prime Video:
Rats: Night of Terror (1984, Italy) aka “Rats - Notte di terrore”
Savannah Electric (1985)
Deadly Reactor (1989)
Doom Runners (1997)
Against The Dark (2009)
Dark Nemesis (2011)
The FP (2011)
Day of Reckoning (2017)
Zombie Road (2018)
Lection (2019)
Impact Event (2020)
Strain 100 (2020)
The Long Dig (2020)
Among the Living (2022)
Forever’s End (2022)
Some Be (2022, Mexico)
The Inevitable (2022)
Tin Can (2022)
Walking Against the Rain (2022)
America Is Sinking (2023)
Arctic Armageddon (2023)
Darkness (2023)
Day Zero (2023, Philippines)
Dome House Six (2023)
End Times (2023)
Gangnam Zombie (2023, South Korea)
Ravage Nation (2023)
Remnants (2023)
Shelter (2023)
Solace (2023)
2029 (2024)
Once Upon a Time in the Wasteland (2024)
Planetquake (2024)
Lesser-known post-apocalyptic movies from Letterboxd:
The Lost Missile (1958)
In the Year 2889 (1969)
Battletruck (1982, New Zealand) aka “Warlords of the 21st Century”
2020 Texas Gladiators (1983, Italy) aka “Anno 2020 - I gladiatori del future”
Survival Zone (1983, South Africa)
W (1983, Philippines)
Sexmission (1984, Poland) aka “Seksmisja”
The Final Executioner (1984, Italy) aka “The Last Warrior” and “L'ultimo guerriero”
Z for Zachariah (1984, U.K.)
O-Bi, O-Ba: The End of Civilization (1985, Poland)
Survival Earth (1985, Canada)
Dead Man’s Letters (1986, Soviet Union)
Hands of Steel (1986, Italy) aka “Vendetta dal future”
Osa (1986)
Interzone (1987, Italy) aka “Lobos guerreros”
Morning Patrol (1987, Greece)
Spirits of the Air, Gremlins of the Clouds (1987, Australia)
Survivor (1987, South Africa)
Terminus (1987, France and West Germany)
Empire of Ash (1988, Canada)
Escape from Safehaven (1988)
Hard Knuckle (1988, Australia)
Mutant War (1988)
Bunker Palace Hotel (1989, France)
Warlords (1989)
Legend of the Roller Blade Seven (1993)
Return of the Roller Blade Seven (1993)
The Last Border (1993, Finland, Sweden, Germany)
Warlords 3000 (1993) aka “Dark Vengeance”
Sentinel 2099 (1995)
Dragon Head (2003, Japan)
Casshern (2004, Japan)
Puzzlehead (2005)
The Dark Hour (2006, Spain) aka “La hora fría”
20 Years After (2008)
One Hundred Mornings (2009, Ireland)
Arctic Blast (2010, Australia, Canada)
World’s End (2010) aka “Downstream”
Extinction: The G.M.O. Chronicles (2011, Germany)
The Forbidden Dimensions (2013)
Die Gstettensaga: The Rise of Echsenfriedl (2014, Austria)
In My Room (2018, Germany, Italy)
Related articles:
More low-budget, post-apocalyptic movies showing up on Amazon (March 12, 2023)
The complete post-apocalyptic movie list (Updated June 23, 2024)
Photos: Movie posters for “End Times” (2023), “America Is Sinking” (2023) and “Strain 100” (2020)
