Animal attack movies are popular summer fare

Movie audiences love a fun animal attack movie. That explains the popularity of the recent Netflix movie “Under Paris” about sharks invading Paris.
In fact, “Under Paris” was so popular, a sequel is already in the works.
Up next is the shark thriller, “The Last Breath,” which is set for a limited theatrical release on July 26.
Earlier this year saw the release of the well-reviewed spider-themed horror movie, “Infested.”
Last year brought a bunch of animal attack movies. Topping the list was horror-comedy “Cocaine Bear.” The year also saw shark thriller “Deep Fear” and alligator attack movie “The Flood.”
Plus, the CW aired the miniseries “The Swarm” about ocean animals attacking humans.

Related articles:

Animal attack movies are a staple of summer cinema (Aug. 28, 2022)

The best animal attack movies of the past 20 years (Jan. 3, 2021)

Photos: Promotional art for “Under Paris,” “The Last Breath,” “Infested,” “The Flood” and “The Swarm.”

Crappy post-apocalyptic movies flood Amazon Prime Video

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)

K-pop filling a gap for boy bands and girl groups

I recently attended a concert with my daughter for Korean boy band Tomorrow X Together at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. A good number of K-pop acts have been touring the U.S. in recent years including girl groups Aespa, Blackpink, (G)I-dle and Itzy and boy bands Monsta X, NCT Dream and TXT.
What’s behind the rise in the popularity of K-pop groups?
My guess is that K-pop is filling an unmet demand among young people for single-sex music and dance groups because the U.S. and Europe aren’t producing them now.
Such acts used to be plentiful in the U.S. and U.K. There were boy bands Backstreet Boys, Boyz II Men, NSync, New Kids on the Block and One Direction. And there were girl groups like Destiny’s Child, En Vogue, Fifth Harmony, Pussycat Dolls and the Spice Girls.
So until the West produces the next wave of such musical groups, expect K-pop to dominate the category.

Photo: TXT promotional poster.